Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork)
Lacquered, honey-glossed barbecue pork with burnished edges, Guangdong’s roast-shop crown jewel, oven-adapted.
Cantonese · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 45 min
~608 cal · 61g protein · 14g carbs · 32g fat · 0g fiber · 13g sugars · 11g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Char siu, Cantonese barbecue pork, is the lacquered, honey-glossed roast that hangs in the windows of Guangdong's roast-meat shops, its name meaning 'fork-roasted' for the traditional method of skewering strips over fire. Marinated in a sweet-savory blend of hoisin, bean paste, five-spice, and honey, it roasts to burnished, caramelized edges.
The balance of sweet, savory, and smoky, and the signature reddish glaze, are hallmarks of Cantonese roast cooking, one of the great pillars of Chinese cuisine. Achieving the perfect char and glisten is a craft, the meat basted and roasted at high heat until the edges blacken slightly.
Sliced over rice as 'char siu fan,' tucked into fluffy steamed buns, or added to noodles, char siu is everyday and celebration food across Guangdong and Hong Kong.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into long strips
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp honey (for the glaze)
2 tbsp shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
1 tsp five-spice powder
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 cube red bean curd (optional, for color and depth)
for 4 steamed rice and greens, to serve
Instructions
1
Whisk the hoisin, soy, half the honey, wine, five-spice, garlic, and fermented bean curd into a smooth marinade.
2
Coat the pork (or mushrooms) all over and marinate, covered, in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
✎ Chef’s note
Cut the pork into long, thick strips before marinating so more surface catches the glaze and it cooks evenly.
3
Heat the oven to 400F (200C). Set the pork on a rack over a water-filled pan to catch the drips.
4
Roast for 30 minutes, turning once halfway through.
5
Meanwhile, stir the remaining honey into the leftover marinade and boil it 2 minutes to make a glaze.
6
Brush the strips generously with the glaze, then roast or broil 10 minutes more, glazing once again, until the edges char and lacquer.
7
Rest 10 minutes, then slice thick and serve over rice with the pan juices and greens.
Guangdong siu mei tradition, home-oven method.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Guangdong. Two words outsiders tend to swap around: yum cha is the outing, literally drinking tea, and dim sum is what arrives with it. The other daily institution is the roast meat window, where char siu, crisp-skinned pork belly, soy-sauce chicken and roast goose hang in a row and are chopped to order over rice.
🗺️
China. China holds eight great regional cuisines within one border, the fire of Sichuan, the delicacy of Cantonese dim sum, the wheat noodles of the north, and more. Techniques like stir-frying, steaming, and braising, plus soy, ginger, and rice wine, unify an endlessly diverse table.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from China
Mapo TofuSilken tofu in a glowing, numbing-hot chili bean sauce, Chengdu’s most famous export.
Dapanji (Big Plate Chicken)A heroic platter of chicken, potatoes, and peppers in a star-anise chili sauce, with wide noodles for the gravy.
Hongshao Rou (Red-Braised Pork)Pork belly lacquered in caramel, soy, and rice wine until it trembles, Shanghai’s definition of home.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Whisk.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork)?
Lacquered, honey-glossed barbecue pork with burnished edges, Guangdong’s roast-shop crown jewel, oven-adapted.
Where does Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork) come from?
Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork) is a Cantonese dish from Guangdong, China.
Can Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork) take to make?
About 60 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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