Pork belly is one of the most popular cuts of pork across the world. The problem is, it often comes in large portions not suitable for just 1 or 2 people. So, what do you do with all the leftovers?
Can You Freeze Pork Belly?
Yes, you can freeze pork belly for up to 3 months. Firstly, wrap the pork in a layer of baking paper quite loosely, and follow this with a layer of cling film thatās a little tighter. Once sealed, place the pork belly into the centre of the freezer.
Do Does Pork Belly freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Pork Belly? No
How to Freeze Pork Belly
Freezing pork belly is quite simple, but there are a few steps to bear in mind. We recommend following our instructions to ensure success:
- Trim the Fat: The fat content of meat freezes at a slightly different rate than the muscle content of the meat. For the small pieces of marbling that might run through the muscle but with the slab of meat you get on pork belly, you’ll want to trim that off.
- Wrap in Baking Paper: Wrap the pork belly in a loose layer of baking paper. Make sure to scrunch the ends of the baking paper so that a complete layer is formed.
- Wrap in Cling Film: Follow the loose baking paper with a layer of cling film pressed quite close to the baking paper. The cling film traps a layer of air between itself and the baking paper, leading to any frost forming in that air layer rather than directly on the meat.
- Freeze: Place the pork into the centre of the freezer, making sure to label it with the correct date clearly.
You could optionally pop the parcel into a freezer bag, especially if you are freezing multiple portions of pork belly. This will stop you from losing portions of the belly in your freezer if you have them all in one spot.
3 Tips for Freezing Pork Belly
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing pork belly to have the best results:
Use an Airtight Container
If youāre concerned about myoglobin or blood leaking into your freezer, then using an airtight container to store the pork belly will work well for you. Any blood that leaks during the freezing process would only collect in the container.
Freeze In a Marinade
Freezing meat in a marinade can be a great option. The reason for this is that you can double up on the use of the thawing time. Not only will the meat thaw during that time, but the meat will absorb the flavours of the marinade while it thaws, allowing you to take it straight out of the fridge and start cooking it.
Avoid Perforating the Meat
One of the most important tricks of properly freezing a piece of meat is to ensure that the freezing process takes place as slowly as possible. To ensure this happens, avoid cutting or scoring the meat. This is easily done when trimming the fat so be gentle.
How Long Can You Freeze Pork Belly?
You can freeze pork belly for up to 3 months, which is how long you can freeze most meat products.
To ensure that you take advantage of every second of those 3 months, we recommend following our method above. The last thing you want to do is just toss a packet of pork belly in the freezer, hoping for the best.
Pork belly will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge or until the use-by date, whichever comes first.
How Do You Defrost Pork Belly?
You can best defrost pork belly by using your fridge. Store the meat in the fridge overnight, and the ice crystals should be thawed by morning.
The advantage of using the fridge is that you can ensure that your meat is still stored at a safe temperature, even after it has been thawed. Trying to speed this process up using a microwave or even just the ambient room temperature is not a good idea.
Can You Refreeze Pork Belly?
Not really, no.
The only instance in which you can refreeze meat is if you thaw raw meat, cook it, and then freeze the cooked meat. If youāre thawing raw or cooked meat without cooking it further, then it cannot be refrozen.
Does Pork Belly Freeze Well?
Yes, pork belly does freeze well.
As with all meat, itās quite a dense item, meaning that it tends to freeze quite well and without any level of degradation in texture or flavour.
However, after three months of freezing, the outermost layer of meat may begin to lose some texture as it gets freezer burned.
Related FAQs
If youāve still got questions about freezing pork belly or pork in general, then these may help:
Yes, cooked pork belly can be frozen for 3 to 4 months. You’ll need to allow it to cool fully before bagging it up and then freezing it.
Cured pork belly can be frozen for around 3 months. It’s important to remove any curing salt from the pork belly before freezing overwise, it may become over-cured.
