This 3-ingredient slow cooker supper leans hard into the rich, silky flavor of pork belly and the ease of a weeknight dump-and-go dinner. You literally lay raw pork belly strips straight into the slow cooker, pour over a simple sweet-and-savory sauce, add onions for depth, and walk away. The flavor profile nods to Midwestern pot roasts—comforting, familiar—while borrowing a bit of that sticky, caramelized edge you find in East Asian pork dishes. It’s the kind of low-effort, high-reward meal that perfumes the whole house and has neighbors asking what’s in your slow cooker.
Serve the pork belly strips over fluffy white rice, mashed potatoes, or buttered egg noodles to soak up all the glossy sauce. A crisp green side—like steamed green beans, a simple cucumber salad, or roasted Brussels sprouts—helps balance the richness. If you’re feeding a crowd, add a pan of cornbread or crusty bread on the table to swipe through the juices. For something lighter, tuck the pork into lettuce cups or pile it over shredded cabbage for a deconstructed, hearty salad-style bowl.
3-Ingredient Slow Cooker Pork Belly SupperServings: 4
Ingredients
2 pounds raw pork belly strips
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup bottled teriyaki sauce (or your favorite thick, sweet-savory sauce)
Directions
Lay the raw pork belly strips in a single, even layer on the bottom of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. It’s fine if they overlap slightly, but try to keep them mostly flat so they cook evenly and the fat renders well.
Scatter the thinly sliced onion evenly over the pork belly strips, tucking some slices down between the pieces so they can soften and melt into the sauce as they cook.
Pour the teriyaki sauce evenly over the pork belly and onions, making sure every strip gets at least a light coating. Do not add extra liquid; the pork belly will release plenty of fat and juices as it cooks.
Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours, or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the pork belly is very tender and the onions are silky. The fat should be rendered and the sauce slightly thickened around the edges.
Once cooked, use tongs to gently transfer the pork belly strips to a serving platter or shallow bowl. Stir the onions and rendered sauce together in the slow cooker to combine, then spoon this mixture over the pork belly.
Taste the sauce and adjust at the table as needed with a splash of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, or a squeeze of citrus if you like more brightness. Serve hot, with plenty of the onions and sauce over each portion.
Variations & Tips
For a slightly lighter version, trim off some of the visible surface fat from the pork belly strips before placing them in the slow cooker, or chill the finished cooking liquid and skim the solidified fat from the top before reheating and serving. If you prefer more of a barbecue profile, swap the teriyaki sauce for a thick, smoky barbecue sauce; the process is identical, but the result leans toward sticky, rib-like flavors that love coleslaw and cornbread. To push the dish in a more overtly Asian direction, add a teaspoon of grated ginger and a clove of minced garlic to the sauce before pouring it over the pork (this technically increases the ingredient count, but they’re easy flavor boosters). You can also broil the cooked pork belly strips on a foil-lined sheet pan for 3 to 5 minutes to crisp the edges—watch closely so the sugars in the sauce don’t burn. Leftovers reheat beautifully: shred the pork and use it in rice bowls, tacos, or stuffed into soft buns with pickled vegetables for a quick second-night supper.
