Gochujang pork belly ramen offers a tantalizing fusion of spicy, sweet, and umami flavors in every bowl. The rich, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, glazed with gochujang sauce, adds depth and complexity to the broth, while the chewy ramen noodles provide a satisfying texture contrast. Topped with pickled red onions, soft-boiled eggs, crispy snap peas, and savory mushrooms, each bite of this dish is flavorful perfection.
Recipe Highlights
Flavorful: My favorite way to cook pork belly is to braise it for a long period of time, slice it, then sear it in a hot pan with some of the braising liquid. Doing this ensures perfectly tender meat with melt-in-your-mouth ribbons of pork fat with a crispy outer layer.
Comfort Food Perfection: Ditch the microwave ramen for good. This homemade ramen is far tastier and is made with whole food ingredients for a bold taste - no seasoning packet required!
Large Batch: This recipe is a bit of a labor of love but makes enough for up to 6 servings, meaning it's perfect for the whole family and can double as meal prep.
Ingredients
- Pork Ramen Broth: Using pork broth in place of store-bought chicken stock sets this recipe apart from any other you'll taste! Use leftover pork bones from grilled bone-in pork chops or sous vide pork chops. Then, gather oil, garlic, ginger root, green onions, bonito flakes, dried shiitake mushrooms, sake, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and kombu.
- Gochujang Pork Belly (Chashu Pork): Use pork belly, garlic cloves, ginger, green onions, sake, applesauce, gochujang, soy sauce, and rice vinegar for a savory, spicy meat with a sweet, caramelized exterior.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Pork Belly Ramen
This pork belly ramen is a labor of love but it's so worth the effort! Read below for how to make it.
Prepare the Broth
- Step 1: Roast the pork bones in the oven. In the meantime, sauté the garlic, ginger, bonito flakes, dried mushrooms, and onions in oil in a large stockpot until fragrant. Then, add the bones and drippings.
- Step 2: Deglaze the pan with sake, and simmer until the liquid reduces by half. Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and kombu, and fill the pot with water. Simmer for at least 8 hours.
Cook the Pork Belly
- Step 3: Cook the pork belly in a deep skillet over medium-high heat fat side down until the fat renders down and all the sides are brown. Then, transfer the pork to a plate.
- Step 4: Add in the green onions, garlic, and ginger, and cook until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with sake, and add the applesauce, gochujang, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Bring the liquid to a boil.
- Step 5: Add the pork belly, cover, and simmer until tender. Flip the meat a couple of times while cooking if it is not fully submerged in the sauce!
- Step 6: Remove the pork from the sauce, bring it back to a boil, and let it reduce by half. Then, add the pork belly slices back to the pot.
Assemble
- Step 7: After the pork bone broth is strained, bring it to a boil. Then, add in the mushrooms, and boil to soften before removing them from the broth.
- Step 8: To assemble your bowl of ramen, add cooked ramen noodles. Then, pour the broth on top, and arrange the slices of pork belly, eggs, mushrooms, pickled onions, and other toppings around the bowl. Enjoy warm!
Pro Tip
Both the broth and pork belly take several hours to cook. Start the broth in the morning and then start the pork belly around lunch time to time it perfectly for dinner!
Recipe Variations
I like to switch up my ramen toppings to keep it interesting but there are 2 things I always use: pickled onions and soft-boiled eggs. The pickled red onions with apple cider vinegar provide a nice bright contrast to the rich pork belly. Plus, I put them on just about anything I can get away with. They're so good!
Besides the pickled onions and eggs, I like to top my bowl with a variety of flavors and textures. I do usually try to use some type of mushroom as well. See below for a few of my favorite ramen toppings!
- Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms
- Bok Choy or Napa Cabbage
- Bean Sprouts
- Edamame
- Pickled Ginger
- Thai Basil
- Lime Wedges
Recipe FAQs
I love to serve my ramen with pickled red onions, brown clamshell mushrooms, sugar snap peas, soft-boiled eggs, and radish sprouts. However, you can mix and match any ingredients you have on hand. Bok choy, pickled jalapeño, and bean sprouts make great additions, too!
For the best results, store all the components in separate airtight containers. They will stay fresh in the fridge for 2-3 days. To serve, reheat the ingredients in the microwave or a pot over medium heat on the stove, and assemble your bowls as usual.
I have a basic pasta dough recipe that I like to use for all types of noodles, even ramen. Sure they're not really traditional, but they still turn out delicious. I make my typical recipe and cut them into spaghetti size strands and they work perfectly!
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Thank you!
Annie
📖 Recipe
Gochujang Pork Belly Ramen
Ingredients
Pork Ramen Broth:
- 2 lb pork bones
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 1 bulb garlic
- 6 inches fresh ginger root
- 5 green onions, cut into thirds
- 1 cup bonito flakes
- 1 oz dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup sake
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 sheet kombu
Gochujang Pork Belly:
- 2 lb pork belly
- 5 garlic cloves, smashed
- 3 inches fresh ginger root
- 2 green onions, cut into thirds
- 2 cups sake
- ½ cup applesauce
- ½ cup gochujang
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
Other Ingredients:
- 6 cups cooked ramen noodles (homemade or store-bought)
- 8 oz brown clamshell mushrooms (or your favorite mushroom)
- sugar snap peas, cut in half lengthwise
- 3 eggs, soft boiled, cut in half
- fresh radish sprouts
- pickled red onions
Instructions
Pork Ramen Broth:
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a sheet pan with foil. Roast bones on sheet pan for 25-30 minutes.
- Heat oil in large stock pot (mine is 8 quarts). Add garlic, ginger, bonito flakes, dried mushrooms, and green onions. Saute 5 minutes or until fragrant. Add in bones and drippings from the pan.
- Deglaze pan with sake. Simmer until liquid has reduced by half.
- Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, and kombu. Fill stock pot with water. Simmer for at least 8 hours.
- Remove bones from broth. Strain broth with fine mesh strainer. Serve hot. Freeze any leftovers in zippered bag.
Gochujang Pork Belly:
- Heat deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork belly, fat side down. Cook until browned and some fat has rendered down, about 5 minutes. Cook on all other sides until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove pork belly to a plate and set aside.
- While pan is still hot, add in green onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook until fragrant and slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
- Deglaze pan with sake. Add in applesauce, gochujang, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Bring to a boil. Add pork belly into sauce. Cover and simmer for 4-5 hours or until tender. Flip the meat a couple of times while cooking if it is not fully submerged in the sauce.
- Remove pork belly from sauce. Bring sauce to a boil and cook until reduced by almost a half. Add sliced pork belly back to sauce.
- Slice pork belly. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced pork belly to pan and cook until browned, about 1-2 minutes per side. You can add more of the sauce to the skillet while the pork belly is cooking to add more flavor.
Mushrooms:
- After broth has been strained, bring it to a boil. Add in mushrooms and boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove mushrooms from broth and set aside. Keep warm until ready to use.
Assembly:
- To each bowl, add cooked ramen noodles. Pour broth over noodles. Arrange pork belly, eggs, mushrooms, pickled onions, and other toppings around the bowl. Enjoy!
Notes
- Using pork broth in place of store-bought chicken stock sets this recipe apart from any other you'll taste! Use leftover pork bones from grilled bone-in pork chops or sous vide pork chops. Then, gather oil, garlic, ginger root, green onions, bonito flakes, dried shiitake mushrooms, sake, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and kombu.
- Use pork belly, garlic cloves, ginger, green onions, sake, applesauce, gochujang, soy sauce, and rice vinegar for a savory, spicy meat with a sweet, caramelized exterior.
- Both the broth and pork belly take several hours to cook. Start the broth in the morning and then start the pork belly around lunch time to time it perfectly for dinner!
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