The most popular lunch box meal in Taiwan is the Taiwanese Pork Chop Rice. There are two main varieties – the deep fried pork chop or the braised pork chop. I love the deep fried version because the crunchiness of the pork chop complements the soft fluffy rice so well. It’s so opposite yet so good together.
Although traditionally the chop needs to be bone-in, I’ve adapted the recipe so it’s much easier to prep and cook.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless pork chops
- Marinade
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- ½ tsp five spice powder (*optional)
- Crust
- ½ cup coarse sweet potato starch (there are NO substitutes!)
The only way to properly fry anything in Taiwan is to use sweet potato starch. This is true for salt pepper chicken (popcorn chicken) as well as Taiwanese pork chops. There are actually two types. The coarse sweet potato starch is usually used for coating when frying. The fine sweet potato starch is used as a tenderizer or a thickener mixed into the ingredients itself. Sadly, I have not found a good substitute for sweet potato starch. I’ve heard people use corn starch or tapioca starch or Japanese panko but I say use at your own risk.
Directions
To save money, I usually just buy the pork loin as a whole and then cut up the pieces myself. Otherwise, please ask your butcher to cut for you about ¾” thick cuts. Pro Tip: Cut small slits along the fat side of the loin which will prevent the meat from curling when cooking. Use a meat tenderizer and pound the meat to be about ¼” thick to help it cook faster without drying out the meat.
Smash the garlic and then toss into a large gallon ziplock bag along with the marinade of sugar, white pepper, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Mix the marinade until sugar has dissolved. Put the pork chops into the bag and make sure every part of the pork is covered with marinade. Go ahead and massage the meat for a minute and then put the bag in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, or even overnight. Remove the meat from the bag and toss out the marinade. 
Pour coarse potato starch in a shallow container and dredge the meat on both sides so it’s well coated and shake off the remaining flour. Pro Tip: Only dredge immediately before frying because we don’t want the moisture to wet the starch and lose the crunchiness when frying.
Instead of deep frying the pork chops which makes a big mess and waste a lot of oil, we will be pan-frying the chops and it’ll be still as good. Make sure pan is large enough to fit one chop. Heat the pan to medium high and add about ¼” of oil. Gently lay down the chop on one side for about 2-3 minutes and then flip to the other side. After another 2-3 minutes, when the chop is nice and golden brown, remove and put on a paper towel to soak up the rest of the oil.
Let the pork chop cool for about 5 minutes and then cut into thick strips to serve. Typically, Taiwanese pork chop rice is served over rice with a side of stir fried cabbage and a soy sauce egg and some pickles.
- 4 boneless pork chops
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- ½ tsp five spice powder (*optional)
- ½ cup sweet potato starch - lumpy (there are NO substitutes!)
- Cut about 3-4 slits in the pork chop to prevent curling when cooking
- Pound meat to about ¼" thick
- smash garlic
- Put all the ingredients in a zip bag and marinade for at least 30 minutes up to overnight
- Remove the meat and coat the meat with potato starch
- Heat pan to medium high and add about ¼" of oil
- Fry the pork chop on one side for about 3 minutes and then flip over and fry for another 3 minutes until both sides are golden brown
- Remove and drain the oil on paper towels
- Cut into strips and serve with white rice
I cannot find coarse sweet potato starch, only fine starch. Any suggestions as to where I might find it? It is not on Amazon or in our local stores.
Hi Bev,
I’ve used this brand before. You can give it a try here: https://amzn.to/3twr9wf.
The fine starch will have a more even coating but the coarse starch will have more of the panko-like effect.
Mike
Thank you for this recipe! Do you have a recipe for the sweet cucumbers that are typically served with this dish? I plan to make this soon and would love to add those as a side dish – thanks! 🙂
I do not have a sweet cucumber recipe – something I should write next. However, you can follow this Korean Pickled Radish recipe. It would make a good complement. ~Mike
I tried This for my husband and he loves it and says it tastes very authentic. thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the recipe. Very well written. I could never get the taste and texture right until I saw your recipe.. I feel the five spice is required for the authentic flavor as well. Many thanks!!!
Definitely 5-spice powder is the traditional way of making it. Sometimes it’s hard to find this spice mix in the USA though. ~Mike
Yummy!!! Followed the recipe exactly and made it this past weekend! It was so good and authentic! Everyone at the table agreed. I will definitely make it again!
I didn’t want to waste all the yummy garlic that’s in the marinade, so I dredged it in the sweet potato flour and fried it too.
Thinking next time I may take the marinade, boil and reduce it on the stove top to make a drizzling sauce for the pork chop!
If you want to reduce the marinade to be a sauce, I would recommend separating the marinade PRIOR to putting the pork in. Usually the remaining marinades after the meat has been removed contains blood and water from the meat so not as tasty.
If you want, you can just buy soy sauce paste (醬油膏) and add crushed garlic to use a a dipping sauce.