Crispy Thai Pork Bites is just the sort of dish you’d expect to find at modern Thai restaurants – golden cubes of pork tenderloin, crispy on the outside, succulent inside, tossed in a sticky limey, sweet chilli sauce. Just 6 ingredients. Gluten free. No deep frying. All the flavour. None of the fuss!
Crispy Thai Pork Bites
This recipe came about for no reason other than me standing in the kitchen on a Wednesday night, staring at a pork tenderloin that needed using on that day. My default method is to cook it whole, like a little roast with a nice sauce. But I felt like doing something different – though quick (it was late), and definitely no grocery run.
So I thought to cut it up into bite size pieces instead, then my natural instinct sent me in the direction of something crispy, sticky, with Asian flavours.
Thus, Crispy Thai Pork Bites in Sweet Chilli Sauce was born. They have a crunchy golden cornflour coating, are succulent inside and coated in a sticky, limey sweet chilli sauce.
6 ingredients. Gluten-free. No deep frying. Yay!
(Note: This is not authentic Thai, but is a copy of Sweet Chilli sauced dishes I’ve had at modern Thai restaurants.)
PS. Pork tenderloin is a lean cut. Which means, we must cook it for a short period of time so it doesn’t dry out. Which means, not only is this a quick recipe, it has to be a quick recipe so your pork bites are succulent inside, like this:
Ingredients in Sweet Chilli Crispy Thai Pork Bites
As mentioned above, this recipe invented from a need to use up a pork tenderloin but actually, any quick-cooking cut of pork will work fine here – chops, loin etc. See below for more information.
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Pork tenderloin – Its neat shape makes it easy to cut into even cubes that cook evenly and crisp up beautifully on the flat sides. The meat is very tender (hence the name), softer than regular chops. That said, any quick-cook cut works – chops, loin, scotch fillet (neck) – as long as it’s at least 2 cm / 0.8″ thick. This lets you cut pieces large enough so they have sufficient time for the outside to turn golden and crisp (3 minutes) without the meat inside overcooking. Overcooked tenderloin is not forgiving because it’s such a lean cut!
Slow cooking cuts – Pork shoulder (Boston butt) and shank can also be used but the meat needs to be tenderised overnight like we do with Sweet and Sour Pork otherwise it will be chewy. Toss pork with the fish sauce and 3/8 teaspoon baking soda, leave 12 – 24 hours to tenderise. Then proceed with recipe (directions also in recipe notes).
Not recommended – belly and spare ribs (recipe steps would need to be altered).
Other proteins – Chicken, fish or prawns would be amazing! Also for a slightly more authentic Thai fish version, see Chilli Lime Fish (based on pla tort sahm rot).
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Sweet chilli sauce – Just your everyday cheap and cheerful sweet chilli sauce from regular grocery stores! On its own it is a little one dimensional (just sweet!), but a quick simmer with fish sauce and lime juice transforms it into something more interesting.
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Fish sauce – More depth of flavour than salt, even more than soy sauce! We use it to season the pork bites as well as for the sauce. You can substitute with light or all-purpose soy sauce, but I feel like the sauce may lack a bit of depth.
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Cornflour / cornstarch – Makes things crispier than flour, and more staying power too. A little is mixed into the pork with the fish sauce to make the surface sticky before coating each cube completely in the cornflour.
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Garlic – Adds tasty fresh garlic flavour into the sauce.
How to make Sweet Chilli Crispy Thai Pork Bites
This is not deep fried, it’s very shallow fried. You only need about 0.5cm / 1/5″ of depth of oil. This much bubbles enough up the sides of each 2cm-thick piece of pork so you only need to turn them once, rather than 6 times. You will never catch me turning 40 cubes of pork 6 times to crispy up each side!!
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Sticky seasoned pork – Toss the pork in the fish sauce, then add the 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornflour and toss again. You’ll end up with a pale brown milky coating on each piece which is a bit sticky (cornflour does that) and this is what will make the cornflour dusting stick to each piece of pork.
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Crispy coating – Add the 1/2 cup of cornflour and use your fingers to coat each piece, separating pieces stuck together.
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Squeeze each piece to make a good amount of cornflour adhere firmly onto the surface. This is key for a great crispy shell without deep frying! You can do two or three pieces at a time in each hand.
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Shake off excess – Put the pork pieces in a colander then give it a shake so the excess falls through the holes. This too is key when making I-want-crispy-without-deep-frying things as loose cornflour falls off, quickly burns and sticks to the pork. Also, too much cornflour = undesirable powdery coating.
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Shallow fry – Heat 05.cm / 1/5″ oil in a non-stick pan over high heat. It’s hot enough when the pork sizzles immediately on contact. Spread half the pork in the oil, separating so they don’t touch, and cook for 3 minutes in total until golden as follows (this is specific!):
– Scatter pork in pan, start timer
– Cook 1 minute undisturbed
– Flip and cook for whatever time is remaining so total time in the pan including flipping time (~30 to 45 seconds) is 3 minutes -
Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel-lined tray to drain excess oil. Cook remaining pork.
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Simmer sauce – Pour all the oil out of the pan into a metal bowl (not glass, which risks cracking due to hot oil). Give it a quick wipe then add the sauce ingredients and simmer for 2 minutes until it thickens a bit. If it’s too watery it will make the surface soggy immediately on contact.
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Quick toss – Add the pork and quickly toss to coat in the sauce, then serve over rice.
Matters of serving and crispiness
I like to serve this over jasmine rice which is on-theme with the Thai flavours in this dish, though any type of rice or faux rice will work a treat here. I could also see these stuffed into bao buns.
On the side, I went classic Thai street food style with plain tomato and cucumber chunks. The fresh juiciness balances the sweet-savoury richness of the crispy pork bites perfectly.
As for crispiness: this is seriously crunchy for something not deep fried. About on par with regular deep frying, though not quite at the double-fry level (like here and here and here). Once sauced, the coating softens a little, but even half an hour later the edges stay crisp (just ask the kids across the road who were nibbling leftovers on the sidewalk yesterday!).
So yes, deep frying is crispier. But then again, this is a shallow-fried, one-pan recipe with fewer steps and dinner on the table in 20 minutes. How good is that?! – Nagi x
PS In case you’re curious, the other recipe thoughts that crossed my mind were: pork filet mignon, pork fries, mini pork schnitzels, smothered pork medallions, ribbon skewers (think – ruffles). Drop a comment below if any of these jump out at you!
