Before I being this post, I would like to give a huge shout out to Nami over @justonecookbook. I don’t know her, never met her, but I do know that she has helped my cooking evolve immensely. And with, it helped us create this easy recipe for some Japanese braised pork belly!
When I started cooking over 20 years ago (was about 00015 years old), the only dishes I knew were the ones that my mom made. My mom was/is an excellent cook, but she usually cooked her ‘own’ dishes (some of which are mind-blowingly delicious and I will post the recipes for in the near future).
So when it came to more traditional Japanese dishes, she didn’t really know how to cook them. I looked for recipes to cook these traditional dishes, but almost everything I found didn’t turn out very well.
So it was about 4-5 years ago that I had stumbled on her site. All of her recipes are in English, in imperial measurements and for the most part, straightforward and delicious! So if you’re interested in making some traditional Japanese dish, definitely check her out!
Now, coming back to our version of Braised Pork Belly, I simplified a couple of things and of course, made it low-carb/keto! However please note that this dish does take a very long time to make.
It isn’t hard, just takes a while. So please provide yourself around 3 hours to create this dish. I assure you though, the end results will be a melting block of meat that sets off flavors like Pop Rocks!
This dish is as low-carb/keto as you can get – around ~0.5g of carbs per bite. So feel free to indulge in this one! Tasting note would be a melting block of sweet, savory pork rounded out by a hint of ginger.
For this dish, you will need Swerve/Monkfruit, Bonito Flakes and Soy Sauce. All of which can be purchased on Amazon or a local Asian supermarket (aside from Swerve/Monkfruit).
Now, let’s get started!
Prepping Time 15M
Cook Time 2H45M
Total Time 3H
Net Carb/Piece ~0.5g
Servings 8-10 pieces
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb Slice Pork Belly (the Costco one is about 10″ in length)
- 2 Inch Ginger
- 4 Cups Dashi
- 2-4 Hard Boiled Eggs (link on how to make easy peel hard boiled eggs)
- 1/4 Cup Swerve/Monkfruit
- 5 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Cup of Vodka
Directions
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) Fill stove top pot with enough water to completely submerge entire pork belly and bring to boil.
3) Cut 1 inch of ginger into thick slices.
4) Once the water is boiling, add pork belly and reduce to low/simmer heat. Add sliced ginger from step 3), cover and cook for 1 hour.
5) In the meantime, make 4 cups of Dashi and set aside.
6) Take the remaining 1 inch ginger and cut julienne. Set aside.
7) Make 2-4 hard boiled eggs. Here are the directions if you are interested.
8) After 1 hour has passed, transfer pork belly to a cutting board and cut into 1/2 inch bite size width. Discard liquid.
9) Bring Dashi from step 5) back to boil. Once boiling, reduce to low-simmer, add vodka, Swerve/Monkfruit, cut pork belly, hard-boiled eggs and ONLY 2 TBSP of Soy Sauce (if you do not add Soy Sauce in increments, it will be overly salty). Mix well, cover and cook for an additional 1 hour. Check water level periodically and add water to keep pork and eggs covered.
10) After an hour has passed, add another 2 tbsp of Soy Sauce and cover. Cook for an additional 30 minutes.
11) After 30 minutes have passed, add the last tbsp of Soy Sauce and cook for 15 additional minutes.
12) After 15 minutes, pork should have a nice soft glaze. Pull from stove top pot and transfer to plate. Top with a couple of pieces of julienned ginger.
Hope you enjoy your low-carb/keto Braised Pork Belly dish!
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Braised Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb Slice Pork Belly the Costco one is about 10" in length
- 2 Inch Ginger
- 4 Cups Dashi
- 2-4 Hard Boiled Eggs link on how to make easy peel hard boiled eggs
- 1/4 Cup Swerve/Monkfruit
- 5 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Cup Vodka
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Fill stove top pot with enough water to completely submerge entire pork belly and bring to boil.
- Cut 1 inch of ginger into thick slices.
- Once the water is boiling, add pork belly and reduce to low/simmer heat. Add sliced ginger from step 3), cover and cook for 1 hour.
- In the meantime, make 4 cups of Dashi and set aside.
- Take the remaining 1 inch ginger and cut julienne. Set aside.
- Make 2-4 hard boiled eggs. Here are the directions if you are interested.
- After 1 hour has passed, transfer pork belly to a cutting board and cut into 1/2 inch bite size width. Discard liquid.
- Bring Dashi from step 5) back to boil. Once boiling, reduce to low-simmer, add cut pork belly, vodka, Swerve/Monkfruit, hard-boiled eggs and ONLY 2 TBSP of Soy Sauce (if you do not add Soy Sauce in increments, it will be overly salty). Mix well, cover and cook for an additional 1 hour. Check water level periodically and add water to keep pork and eggs covered.
- After an hour has passed, add another 2 tbsp of Soy Sauce and cover. Cook for an additional 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes have passed, add the last tbsp of Soy Sauce and cook for 15 additional minutes.
- After 15 minutes, pork should have a nice soft glaze. Pull from stove top pot and transfer to plate. Top with a couple of pieces of julienned ginger.
Video
Nutrition
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