Chinese Bacon Rice is delicious and easy to make. It's made with Chinese Bacon (also called Lap Yuk or Chinese Cured Pork Belly) which can be purchased online or in Chinese markets. Just slice off a piece and cook it with rice in the rice cooker. Slice, mix, and eat! Rich and flavorful.
Why This Recipe Works
Savory and flavorful Chinese Bacon, steamed with rice. Mix and eat, it's so onolicious!
With just two ingredients (Chinese Bacon and rice) you can create a simple meal that really hits the spot any day of the week.
We like to make this for a quick lunch or a decadent breakfast treat. When serving this at dinner, we also like to pair it with a few vegetable side dishes.
Chinese Bacon is a powerhouse ingredient that is always good to keep in the pantry or freezer. We'll dive more into this special ingredient in the section below. Just keep some on hand and you'll be able to whip up this meal in no time.
Everything is prepared in the rice cooker. All you do is press the "cook/start" button the rice cooker. Ta-dah! Breakfast/lunch/dinner is served.
Chinese Bacon (Lap Yuk)
Chinese Bacon goes by a few other names:
- Chinese Bacon
- Lap Yuk
- Chinese Cured Pork Belly
Whichever name you go by, they're all the same and delicious!
Like any other bacon, it is quite fatty and rich. Full of flavor. That's why it pairs so perfectly with rice. It's different from most "regular" bacon that we see at the markets...these are not strips that we pan fry crisp to eat with eggs and toast. Chinese Bacon is best when steamed!
Chinese Bacon is made from pork belly. The pork belly is cut into long and skinny pieces. It's then marinated for days in a savory mixture of soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, bay leaves, and many more spices. Then it's cured / air dried for a week, and ready to be used for cooking.
Don't worry, you don't have to make the Chinese Bacon from scratch. It can be purchased online or at most Chinese markets.
You can store Chinese Bacon in the freezer. I like to do this so that we always have Chinese Bacon on hand when we are craving it.
You can slice it and stir fry it with other vegetables to make lap yuk stir fry. Or simply steam it, slice and serve alongside rice. Or my favorite method, today's recipe, which is where you cook it directly with the rice in the rice cooker. It's like an easy version of Chinese claypot rice.
Ingredients
All you need are TWO ingredients for this recipe:
Rice
We usually use a Japanese short grain rice or jasmine rice. If you're in Honolulu, make sure to check out The Rice Factory ^_^
Chinese Bacon (aka Lap Yuk or Chinese Cured Pork Belly)
Where to buy lap yuk? There are many different places where you can find it! A friend made a homemade batch and was kind enough to share with us (that's the one you see pictured in this post). Chinese butcher shops carry them.
You can also purchase packaged versions at most Chinese markets - they will look like this.
P.S. If you're up for an adventure, you can make you own Chinese Bacon from scratch (requires time and effort, but worth it).
Step by Step Directions
Here's what you'll need to do:
Prepare the rice.
Rinse the rice, and place it in the rice cooker. Fill up to the water line.
Prepare the Chinese Bacon.
Quickly rinse and place on top of the rice.
Cook the rice.
Press the cook/start button on the rice cooker.
Slice the Chinese Bacon.
Once the rice cooker has finished cooking, remove the Chinese Bacon and slice thin.
Mix and eat.
Place the sliced Chinese Bacon back into the rice cooker, mix well. Spoon into bowls and eat! Enjoy ^_^
FAQs and Tips
3-4 days in the refrigerator. You can reheat in the microwave or a steamer.
Vegetables! Because this is simple but rich dish, you'll want some nice and fresh vegetables to go with it. I like to eat Chinese Bacon Rice with:
- Bean Sprouts Stir Fry
- Japanese Avocado Salad
- Stir Fried Lettuce
- Hot Sesame Oil Tofu
- Garlic and Fish Sauce Eggplant
You can also make this recipe by steaming the dish!
Make sure to try our Rice Cooker Recipes. You can cook an entire meal using just the rice cooker! Here are a few favorites:
- Edamame and Hijiki Rice
- Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage) and Rice
- Turmeric Rice
- Edamame and Nametake Rice
- Scallop (and butter!) Rice
Chinese Bacon Rice Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Chinese Bacon Rice
Chinese Bacon Rice is delicious and easy to make. We always keep Chinese Bacon (also called Lap Yuk or Chinese Cured Pork Belly) in the freezer. Just slice off a piece and cook with rice in the rice cooker. Slice, mix, and eat! Rich and flavorful.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Rinse the rice several times in water until the water runs almost clear (I like to rinse it directly in the rice cooker pot). Fill the pot with water up to the “1 cup rice” line.
- Rinse the piece of Chinese bacon under running water for a few seconds. Gently place the Chinese bacon on top of the rice. Do not press the Chinese bacon into the rice, just lay it on top.
- Cook the rice as you would normally cook rice in the rice cooker (there should be an automatic setting). Once it’s finished, both the rice and Chinese bacon is ready to eat!
- Remove the Chinese bacon from the rice cooker (be careful, it will be hot). Place it on a cutting board. Then slice the Chinese bacon into thin quarter-inch pieces.
- Place the sliced Chinese bacon back into the rice cooker. Use a rice paddle to mix the cooked rice and Chinese bacon together.
- Spoon into individual bowls. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
*We are referring to a "rice cup" (which should come with your rice cooker) and not a "regular measuring cup." A regular measuring cup is 240ml. A rice cup is 180ml.
To measure using a regular cup: ¾ of a regular cup = 1 rice cup.
We typically use Japanese short grain or jasmine rice with this recipe.
Aloha...
Can you soak it for 5 hours in water? I wanted to use for fried noodles. Is that possible?
Is there any reason why you didn't slice the bacon before cooking rather than after?
Aloha Leslie - Good question! The dried bacon is hard/difficult to cut when dry. After it "cooks" in the rice cooker, the bacon softens up a lot and is much easier to slice ^_^
Kathy
Glad to see you posting again. I was worried a bit. When I make this dish, I use glutinous rice since I like this dish to be "sticky". Sorta like the "lotus leaf wrapped rice" that you get when you go to eat dim sum. I love this dish.
Thanks, Alan! Hope all is well 🙂 Love the idea of using glutinous rice, oh yes similar to lo mai gai type dish!