Black Garlic Pork Belly Porchetta
This black garlic pork belly porchetta is a twist on the classic Italian roast pork! The meat’s tender, the crackling is crisp & the black garlic adds a sweet unami flavour which cuts through the rich pork.
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We’re putting a unami twist on a classic Italian porchetta!
The secret ingredient here is tangy black garlic, which we’re using in the porchetta marinade instead of the raw garlic that would usually be used. This gives the pork a rich, slightly sweet flavour that balances out the flavours from the fatty pork belly & punchy porchetta marinade.
To make our porchetta pork belly as tender as possible, we’re going to be slow roasting it for several hours before giving it a blast of high heat at the very end to crisp up the skin & make the perfect crackling. The meat practically melts in your mouth, it’s that tender! This is way of roasting pork guarantees success every single time…
If you’re looking for more main courses to try, check out our ever growing collection of dinner recipes! And for dishes to serve with your porchetta, take a look at our collection of side dish recipes.
Ingredient Notes
- Pork Belly – For this porchetta, we’re using a 2.5kg boneless pork belly which will comfortably feed 6 people. However, this recipe can be scaled up to use a bigger piece of pork if you need to feed more people. Make sure to ask your butcher for a boneless pork belly with the skin left unscored (we’ll be scoring the skin ourself).
- Black Garlic – Black garlic is made by aging whole bulbs of garlic for several weeks. It has a sweet, tangy, more milder flavour than regular garlic & adds a savoury unami flavour to dishes. Black garlic is available to buy in some supermarkets or online.
- Herbs – We’re using classic porchetta herbs for our marinade, including fresh rosemary, sage & thyme. Feel free to use just one or two of these herbs if you’d prefer.
- Salt – You’ll need both fine table salt & sea salt for this porchetta.
- Oil – We’re using olive oil in the porchetta marinade & vegetable oil to coat the pork skin before cooking.
Black Garlic Porchetta Marinade
This black garlic marinade is a twist on a classic porchetta stuffing. We’re still using the usual porchetta ingredients, including fresh rosemary, sage & thyme, orange & lemon zest and toasted fennel seeds. But instead of regular garlic, we’re using black garlic which has a sweet & tangy flavour that’s more mild than the regular stuff. Black garlic adds a savoury unami flavour to our porchetta that cuts through all the richness from the fatty pork belly.
How To Make Black Garlic Porchetta Marinade
- Add fennel seeds into a small saucepan then toast over a medium-low heat until fragrant. This will only take a minute or so.
- Transfer the toasted fennel seeds to a pestle & mortar then grind into a coarse powder. Place them into a bowl & set to one side for now.
- Next, add black garlic into the pestle & mortar then grind into a smooth paste.
- Add the crushed fennel seeds into the garlic along with olive oil, lemon & orange zest, chopped rosemary, sage & thyme, salt & pepper.
- Mix to combine then then the marinade is ready to use.
How To Butterfly & Roll Pork Belly
To increase the surface area of the pork belly, we’re going to be butterflying the pork open so that our marinade covers more of the meat before we roll it up. This is a great way to get more flavour into the meat & doesn’t take long to do!
As well as butterflying the meat, we’re also going to be scoring the pork belly’s skin which helps render down the fat & crisp up the skin as it cooks. For both of these steps, a large, sharp chef’s knife works best.
Step By Step Instructions
- Place your belly onto a chopping board so that it’s facing skin side down. If there’s any sinew or stray bits of bone on the meat, trim these off with a sharp knife.
- Next, use a sharp knife to butterfly the pork belly open like a book. To do this, hold your knife parallel to your chopping board then cut the meat through the middle, stopping just before you cut all the way through (cut the belly so that it opens up on the longer side).
- Open up the pork belly then use a sharp knife to lightly score the meat in a criss cross pattern. Fold the meat back over then flip the belly over so that it’s facing skin side up.
- Next, using a really sharp knife (or a Stanley knife), score the pork belly’s skin, in 1½ cm intervals. Make sure not to cut too deeply. We only want to score the skin not cut into the meat!
The scores should run between the 2 longer edges so that when we roll the pork belly up, they run horizontally down the roast. - Flip the belly back over, open the meat back up then spoon the marinade all over. Massage the marinade into the meat with your hands then roll the belly into a tight log, with the skin covering the outside. Once rolled, place seam side down on your chopping board.
- Tie the belly up with the butcher’s twine, leaving a couple of centimetres between each piece. To avoid losing any of the filling, tie a piece of twine in the middle & at each end then work towards the centre.
To Help Crisp Up The Skin
The key to getting crisp pork crackling is to get the skin as dry as possible before roasting. The best way to do this is to pat the skin dry with kitchen paper then cover with a light coating of table salt all over. Once we’ve done this, we place the pork onto a tray then leave uncovered in the fridge overnight.
How To Cook Pork Belly Porchetta
I cook my porchetta the same way as my slow roasted pork! Here we roast the porchetta at a low temperature for several hours, until the meat is super tender then we finish the roast in a blistering hot oven to crisp up the skin. This is by far my favourite way to cook roasted meats & I use it for roast pork shoulders, legs of lamb & sirloins of beef.
Slow Roasting
Before cooking our porchetta, we need to take it out of the fridge, place it onto a rack set inside a roasting tin then let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, whilst we preheat an oven to 135°c/275°f.
Once our oven is up to temperature, we coat the pork skin with a good amount of vegetable oil & plenty of sea salt. Then we slow roast the porchetta until it’s tender, which will take around 5-6 hours (for a 2.5kg porchetta). The best way to check whether your porchetta is ready, is to give the meat a poke with a food probe or skewer. If it slides in with little to no resistance, it’s ready. The pork should probe soft like butter!
Crisping Up The Skin
Once our porchetta is cooked, we take it out of the oven then increase the temperature to 240°c/464°f. Then once the oven is blistering hot, we return the porchetta to the oven & cook for 10-15 minutes until the skin is crisp & golden.
Resting & Slicing
Before slicing our porchetta, we need to let it rest for at least 30 minutes, or up to an hour. It’s best to loosely cover the porchetta in foil as it rest to keep it warm whilst keeping the crackling crisp.
To slice the porchetta, we carefully remove any string then cut into slices with a sharp serrated knife. Your slices of pork won’t need any extra salt but a light seasoning of freshly cracked black pepper will work nicely.
Serving Suggestions
Porchetta goes really well with roasted or pan fried veg like new potatoes, tenderstem broccoli & fennel. A fresh salad or some creamy polenta & a homemade salsa verde would work great as well. Sides that are light & fresh work especially well as they will cut through the rich, fatty pork. I’d recommend using seasonal vegetables & salads as these will have the best flavour.
Tips & Tricks
- To save time, ask your butcher to take the bones out of your pork belly. These can be saved for stock!
- Score the skin with a sharp knife before cooking or get your butcher to do it for you.
- Let your porchetta marinate for at least 12 hours before cooking, for the best flavour.
- When tying the rolled porchetta, it’s best to start tying from each end & work your way into the middle. This prevents any stuffing being pushed out from either end
- Dry & salt the pork belly’s skin (with table salt), the night before cooking the porchetta then let it sit uncovered in the fridge overnight. This is key to making crispy crackling.
- Before roasting, rub vegetable oil & lots of sea salt into the scored skin.
- Slow roast the porchetta until the meat probes soft like butter (this means that it’s tender!) then finish with a quick blast of high heat to crisp up the skin.
- Let your porchetta rest for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Cover it loosely with foil to keep it warm whilst still keeping the crackling nice & crisp.
Frequently Asked Questions
Porchetta is Italian roast pork! Here, pork belly (sometimes with the loin attached) is marinated in fresh herbs, garlic, citrus & fennel seeds then roasted until it the meat is tender & the skin is crispy.
The best way to tell when pork belly is cooked is to give the meat a poke with either a food probe or a skewer. If it slides in with little to no resistance, it’s tender & ready. The meat should feel soft like butter!
For the best flavour, porchetta should be left to marinate overnight in the fridge or for at least 12 hours. However, once marinated, porchetta can be left in the fridge for up to 2 days before cooking.
To get the crispiest crackling on your porchetta, you need to get the skin as dry as possible before cooking it! The best way to do this is to pat the skin dry, coat it with a light layer of fine table salt then leave the porchetta uncovered in the fridge overnight. When you come to cook your porchetta, coat the skin with a good layer of vegetable oil & plenty of sea salt before it goes into the oven.
A sharp serrated knife is best for slicing porchetta as it will cut through the crackling with ease.
Cooking Pork Belly Porchetta In An Aga
With all of my recipes, I include cooking instructions for conventional ovens, fan ovens & also Agas. Here’s how to cook this recipe in an Aga…
To cook pork belly porchetta in an Aga, slow roast in the simmering oven, on the second from bottom set of runners until tender. To crisp up the skin, roast the pork in the roasting oven, on the second from bottom set of runners.
Equipment Used
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More Dinner Recipes To Try!
- Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder (With Crackling!)
- Reverse Seared Fillet Steak
- Nduja Stuffed Porchetta
- Smoked Pulled Lamb Shawarma
- Beef Wellington
- Black Garlic Hanger Steaks
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Black Garlic Pork Belly Porchetta
Equipment
- Large Roasting Tin With Rack
- Digital Food Probe
- Pestle & Mortar
- Microplane/Grater
- Butcher's Twine
Ingredients
- 2½ kg Boneless Pork Belly (See Notes)
Black Garlic Porchetta Marinade
- 2 tsp Fennel Seeds
- 15 g Black Garlic (Roughly 10 Cloves)
- 2 tsp Finely Chopped Rosemary
- 2 tsp Finely Chopped Sage
- 1 tsp Finely Chopped Thyme
- 1 Large Orange (Zested)
- 1 Lemon (Zested)
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
- ¾ tsp Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
- 4 tbsp Olive Oil
To Cook
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- Sea Salt
Instructions
Black Garlic Porchetta Marinade
- Place the fennel seeds into a small frying pan then cook over a medium-low heat until toasted & fragrant. This will only take a minute or so.
- Add the toasted seeds into a pestle & mortar, grind into a coarse powder then transfer to a small bowl.
- Next, add the black garlic into the pestle & mortar, grind into a smooth paste then add in the fennel seeds, chopped herbs, zests, salt, pepper & olive oil. Stir to combine then set to one side.
Pork Belly Prep
- Place your belly onto a chopping board so that it's facing skin side down. If there's any sinew or stray bits of bone on the meat, trim these off with a sharp knife.
- Next, use a sharp knife to butterfly the pork belly open like a book. To do this, hold your knife parallel to your chopping board then cut the meat through the middle, stopping just before you cut all the way through.Make sure to cut the pork belly so that it opens up along its' longer side. I find that a large chef's knife works best for this. There's a visual guide to doing this in the post above.
- Open up the pork belly then use a sharp knife to lightly score the meat in a criss cross pattern. Fold the meat back over then flip the belly over so that it's facing skin side up.
- Next, using a really sharp knife (or a Stanley knife), score the pork belly's skin in 1½ cm intervals. Make sure not to cut too deeply. We only want to score the skin not cut into the meat!The scores should run between the 2 longer edges so that when we roll the pork belly up, they run horizontally down the roast.
- Flip the belly back over, open the meat back up then spoon the marinade all over. Massage the marinade into the meat with your hands then roll the belly into a tight log, with the skin covering the outside. Once rolled, place seam side down on your chopping board.
- Tie the belly up with the butcher's twine, leaving a couple of centimetres between each piece. To avoid losing any of the filling, tie a piece of twine in the middle & at each end then work towards the centre.
- Next, sprinkle the skin with a light coating of fine table salt then leave in the fridge overnight, uncovered.This is key to getting the best crackling!
Cooking The Porchetta
- Take the porchetta out of the fridge, place onto a rack set inside a roasting tin then let the meat sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.The pork needs to be facing skin side up.
- In the meantime, preheat an oven to 135°c/115°c fan (275°f/240°f).
- Next, coat the pork skin with the vegetable oil then season generously with sea salt. Rub the salt into the scores in the skin with your hands.
- Place the porchetta into the preheated oven then cook until the meat feels soft like butter when you insert a food probe. This will roughly take 5-6 hours.It's best to cook pork belly to feel instead of internal temperature. However, if you check the internal temperature with a food probe, it needs to be over 75°c/167°f.
- Next, take the porchetta out of the oven then turn the temperature up to 240°c/464°f. Once up to to temperature, continue cooking the pork for 10-15 minutes, until the skin has crisped up nicely.
- Once cooked, loosely cover the porchetta with foil then let rest for at least 30 minutes.
- To serve, carefully remove the string from the pork then cut the meat into slices with a sharp, serrated knife.
