Slow Cooker Lechon made easy in the crockpot! Moist and juicy on the inside and golden and crunchy on the outside, it's easy and convenient weeknight dinner or party dish everyone will love!
Lechon kawali is my favorite comfort food ever, just the sight of these crunchy morsels is enough to make my Filipina heart go pitter patter!
But as much as I love this Pinoy delicacy with all my foodie heart, I don't make it at home as often as I'd like. The simmering, the cooling, the deep-frying, who has time for that? And don't get me started about all that hot oil splattering all over the kitchen!
Now, I have found lechon sa hurno as a better alternative but even that comes with an inconvenience. Who wants to tie up the oven for five long hours? The last thing I want especially in the horrendous heat of hot summer months is to have my oven humming all day long to roast one lonely slab of meat.
So how to satisfy cravings for crispy pork without a whole lot of work? Slow cooker lechon is your newfound answer!
What inspired this recipe technique? One of G's favorite foods is Mexican carnitas, a deep-fried slab of pork butt much like our lechon kawali. Instead of deep-frying the meat in a vat of sizzling lard, I like to cook it in the crockpot until tender and then finish it off in the oven on high heat until beautifully golden and crisp.
I was prepping one the other day when it got me thinking this might work on lechon as well and work it did! Just look at that gorgeous crackled skin below!
Trust me, my peeps, it can't get easier than making lechon kawali in the slow cooker. All you do is generously season the meat, place it in the crockpot with NO liquids added, and allow it to cook while you go about your daily chores. When tender, arrange the pork on a roasting pan (in my case, a cookie rack set over a foil-lined pan) to finish off on high heat in the oven until golden and crunchy.
Tips on How to Make Slow Cooker Lechon:
- You can use boneless belly or with ribs. Just have the butcher cut through the bones of the belly to make it easier to chop to serving pieces.
- DO NOT add liquids! Don't panic, have faith. The pork is not going to burn or dry out, it will release its own juices as it slow cooks in the crockpot.
- A major battle in lechon making is keeping the meat tender and succulent. Make sure to cook in the slow cooker until tender but not falling apart.
- Roast the tender pork on a wire rack so it's elevated by a few inches to allow the heat to circulate around the pork and crisp it all over.
- Let the roast pork stand for about 10 minutes before cutting to pieces so the juices will redistribute and keep the meat moist and flavorful.
Enjoy crispy lechon this Christmas season! Golden and crunchy on the outside yet moist and juicy on the inside, it's the perfect weeknight dinner or holiday dish family and guests are sure to love. For a recipe this super easy, albeit taking a few hours, you'll be pleasantly surprised!
Slow Cooker Lechon
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pork belly with ribs
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Season pork with salt, pepper and garlic powder, massaging all over the meat.
- Place meat in the slow cooker (NO LIQUIDS) and cook on low for about 7 to 8 hours or until tender but not falling apart.
- Remove pork from the slow cooker and arrange on a roasting pan or rack. Bake in a 430 F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes or until skin is golden and blistered.
- Remove from heat. Skin will crisp as it cools. Let stand for about 5 to 10 minutes before cutting.
Nutrition
We tried this turn out great will never fry again
Thanks
Glad it turned out great for you, Charles!
Have you tried this method using a pork tenderloin or any other pork cuts?
Hello Matt,
Unfortunately, pork tenderloin won't work very well in this recipe as it doesn't have enough fat to be moist and juicy and I don't think that cut is sold with a thick cap of skin like a pork belly. The skin is what makes a very "lechon".
Hi, I normally don't write reviews but I just want to say that this is the best home made pork belly recipe I've used by far. To the person who wrote the review about the lacking ingredients, you know you can always tweak to your own preferences right?, anyway, thank you so much for sharing this method. It turned out to be the best one I've made.
Thank you for your feedback! I am glad you enjoyed this recipe, it's really tasty and easier to make than traditional lechon kawali 🙂
lacks lemongrass, not really lechon
Lechon from Cebu uses lemongrass. When you go north, they usually don't use any seasoning except salt or maybe even gralic
Everyone's own grandmother always makes the only "real" and "the very best" version of every recipe on the planet. Traditions and recipes vary from family to family, from region to region, and from century to century. Personal taste, the availability of any given ingredients, family traditions, and talent for cooking, are what tend to dictate these variations. Cuban or Puerto Rican Lechon is also "real" Lechon. That's why one adds the name of the region, country, restaurant, or cook of origin, to indicate the use of specific ingredients, cooking methods, or other variations.
Tried this recipe with 2 slabs of fresh pork belly on top of each other, following the recipe to the letter with one slab (finishing to crisp in the oven while still hot), and it turned out perfect. I saved the 2nd slab to cool in the fridge and crisp in the hot oven tomorrow and see if there's a difference.
Thanks so much, Lalaine for making out lives easier. 🙂 I've been making your Lechon sa Hurno with great success, but I think this is my new favorite method. Frees up the oven too for baking deserts and sides. Thanks so much again!
Thank you so much, Minda, for the feedback. I've never tried doing more than one slab at a time and good to know they'll cook ok. Please let me know how the cooled one turns out! Happy holidays 🙂
Hi Lalaine. Had pork overload while my husband was home for Christmas from the UAE (Pork is scarce in the Middle East), so had to freeze the second slab.
Finally got to crisp it in the hot oven today and it turned out just as perfect as the first one that I put in the hot oven to crisp straight from the slow cooker. Crisp time was about 10 minutes shorter, but the finished product was just as skin-crisp and meat-moist/tender. Yum!
This will be the only way I'll be cooking my Lechon! Thanks again!
Hi Minda! Glad it worked out well for you!!
Hi Lalaine. I was wondering if you tried the new air fryer for the lechon. It does well with frozen eggrolls.
My daughter just got me an air fryer for Christmas, I haven't opened the box yet but I am excited to try it with lechon definitely the first on the list 🙂
HI Lalaine, was wondering if this would work as well if I use whole chicken instead for pork