Lu rou fan
滷肉飯
Taiwan's braised pork belly rice: finely chopped belly simmered in soy, fried shallots and five-spice until sticky, spooned over hot rice.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 滷肉飯.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 40 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 2 hr
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Lu rou fan is diced pork belly, skin on, braised slowly in soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar and a lot of fried shallots until the fat and skin have melted into a sticky, glossy gravy. It is spooned over a bowl of plain white rice, and that is the dish. A soy-braised egg and a few slices of pickled radish or a bit of blanched green are the usual company. The pork should be chopped small by hand rather than minced so the pieces keep some bite. It needs ninety minutes of unattended simmering and keeps for days.
What you'll need
16 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Ingredients
- To serve
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Pork, belly, skin on, cut into 1 cm dice or thin strips800 g
- Shallot, sliced thin and fried crisp, or 60 g shop-bought fried shallots8
- Soy sauce100 ml
- Dark soy sauce15 ml
- Shaoxing wine, Taiwanese michiu is the local choice80 ml
- Sugar, rock sugar, crushed30 ml
- Garlic, minced4 clove
- Ginger, minced15 g
- Chinese five-spice4.9 ml
- White pepper2½ ml
- Water600 ml
- Neutral oil, for frying shallots59 ml
To serve
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Fry the sliced shallots in the oil over medium heat, stirring, until golden and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain on paper and keep the oil.
10 min
Watch: They go from golden to burnt in under a minute. Pull them a shade early.
Step 2
In 2 tablespoons of the shallot oil, brown the pork over high heat until the fat starts to render and the edges colour, 6 minutes. Add garlic and ginger for 1 minute.
7 min
Step 3
Add both soys, Shaoxing, rock sugar, five-spice, white pepper, star anise and the fried shallots. Stir, then add the water. Bring to a boil.
4 min
Step 4
Cover and simmer very low for 75 minutes. Add the peeled eggs for the last 30 minutes so they take on colour. The pork should be soft and the liquid reduced to a glossy gravy. If thin, simmer uncovered 10 minutes more.
80 min
Tip: Skim some fat if it looks like too much, but not all. The fat is the sauce.
Step 5
Spoon pork and gravy over bowls of hot rice. Halve the eggs and add one to each bowl with greens on the side.
3 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 910 kcal
- Protein
- 69.1 g
- Carbs
- 47 g
- Fat
- 47.8 g
- Saturated fat
- 13.4 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
- Sugar
- 12.2 g
- Sodium
- 2357 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Soy
- Wheat
- Eggs
- Dairy-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 13 November.
Substitutions
Pork belly → Pork shoulder with 100 g extra fat
Leaner and less sticky. The skin on belly is what makes the gravy set.
Tips
- Shop-bought fried shallots are what most Taiwanese home cooks use. No shame in it.
- It reheats better than it serves fresh. Make it a day ahead.
- Sliced pickled yellow radish (takuan) on the side is the usual stall garnish.
History & culture
The most common thing in Taiwan to eat on a stool at a street stall or in a lunchbox shop for a couple of dollars. Breakfast, lunch, supper. Night markets sell it next to the oyster omelettes. Every family has a version, and regional labels matter: southern Taiwan calls the same thing rou zao fan and keeps lu rou fan for larger slices of belly.
A frugal dish from Taiwan's farming past, when pork scraps and fat were chopped fine, braised in soy to stretch them and used to flavour rice. The method is Minnan and Hokkien, carried from Fujian by settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Fried shallots in volume are the Taiwanese signature.
Traditional
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Lu rou fan take?
2 hr all in — 20 min prep, 1 hr 40 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 4 bowls. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Soy, Wheat, Eggs. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Dairy-free.
11 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Dutch oven, Chef's knife, Rice cooker.
How much salt do I put in?
This recipe does not list salt as its own ingredient. Saltiness comes from Soy sauce — 100 ml; Dark soy sauce — 1 tbsp. Taste at the end rather than adding a number we did not write.
How much soy sauce?
100 ml of Soy sauce.
How much dark soy sauce?
1 tbsp of Dark soy sauce.
How much sugar?
2 tbsp (rock sugar, crushed) of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Pork belly → Pork shoulder with 100 g extra fat. Leaner and less sticky. The skin on belly is what makes the gravy set.
What should I watch for?
They go from golden to burnt in under a minute. Pull them a shade early.
Any tips from this recipe?
Shop-bought fried shallots are what most Taiwanese home cooks use. No shame in it. It reheats better than it serves fresh. Make it a day ahead. Sliced pickled yellow radish (takuan) on the side is the usual stall garnish.
Can I prepare this ahead?
It reheats better than it serves fresh. Make it a day ahead.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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