Korean Braised Pork

Friends…we need Smell-O-Vision in a big way for this recipe!

Trust me when I tell you that you do not want to miss this one.

Korean Braised Pork could not be easier, more tender, tastier — dig out your crock pot/slow cooker and this one practically cooks itself!

And options! We have many delicious options for serving this from rice bowls to tacos to eating it right out of the pot.

Here’s what you need:

Boneless Pork Ribs, Green Onions, Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce/Tamari, Chili Garlic Sauce, Ginger, and Brown Sugar

Click here for a Korean Braised Pork Shopping List

My friend Jen made me a version of this recipe for one of our famous carpool dinners. Yeah, imagine that you’re expecting to eat fast food in the car and your best friend brings you a warm rice bowl full of slowly marinated tender pork. That’s a friend worth keeping!

As with most of my crock pot cooking, this is a Dump & Run Recipe – no pre-cooking or browning the meat – just dump it all in there, set the crock pot, and go about your day.

You can make the sauce directly in the crock pot. Combine ¼ cup rice vinegar, 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (I use Tamari for gluten free), 2 Tablespoons Chili Garlic Sauce (use more if you like things spicy), 2 Tablespoons minced ginger, and 2 Tablespoons brown sugar.

Stir that all together until smooth and then place 2 pounds of boneless pork spare ribs on top of the sauce. At my store these are sometimes called Country-Style pork ribs.

For this recipe I like the boneless ribs just to make life easier when it comes to shredding the meat.

For a little extra flavor, I’ve cut 3 green onions into 1-inch pieces and placed them on top of the meat.

If you’re feeling extra enthusiastic, you can toss all of this together in the sauce to combine.

Put the lid on the slow cooker (crock pot, same thing) and set it to cook on high for 4 hours.

After about 2 hours, if you are around and smelling the goodness, go turn the meat in the sauce.

After 3 hours, my ribs were so tender they were already falling apart in the pot. Note:  This is not a recipe you want to cook all day long in the crock pot or the pork will dry out. It’s worth investing in a crockpot with a timer function that will stop the cooking after 4 (6, 8, 0r 10) hours and keep your meal warm.

Shred the meat and try not to eat it all right out of the pot.

Because the sauce is now very greasy, I used it sparingly on the meat allowing the grease to rise to the top and spooning most of it off.

Now for the fun part! What are you going to do with your delicious Korean Braised Pork?

I tried to recreate the rice bowl Jen brought to me in the carpool by adding the shredded pork to a bowl of rice, kimchee, carrots, and avocado. Top with some sesame seeds and some Sriracha mayo for a little extra zing.

The next time I made it I mixed my Asian food experiences and threw in some cucumber and some seaweed salad that I had in the fridge. Authentic? Nope. Delicious? YES!

No one would complain if you put a nice runny fried egg on top of that bowl either!

But probably my favorite way to serve the Korean Braised Pork was to throw it on tacos!

This was my friend Nikolay’s idea (also an awesome clarinet player…I love having friends who cook and feed me!) who made a tasty Asian inspired cabbage and green apple slaw for the tacos. That recipe is coming later this week.

So let your creativity go wild and let me know how you would serve Korean Braised Pork…that’s assuming you didn’t eat it all out of the pot. I’m telling you, it’s a temptation!

Here’s the recipe – inspired by Jen Gerth

Korean Braised Pork