Making Taiwanese minced pork sauce is probably the best way to use ground pork. It's savory, slightly sweet, and very fragrant, plus there's endless options of using it. My mom makes the best Taiwanese minced pork sauce, people who've tried it can never forget about it.
Not only does this go well with rice, but also with any kind of noodles or cooked veggies. Sometimes I will mix it with some boiled green beans, top with blanched spinach or any kinds of leafy green, or make a quick and easy braised tofu with it. As a busy mom, it's definitely a must-have in my fridge!
When I was in college, my mom will make me a big batch of minced pork sauce separated in small Ziploc bags for me to store in the freezer. With some minced pork sauce on hand, I can quickly put together a simple but super delicious meal by mixing it with noodles and veggies, topping it with a fried egg.
Every time when I heat up the sauce, my house mates will come out from the room and beg me to share some with them. Even until today, they still sometimes mention how good that sauce is.
After I came to the US, however, I could never make Taiwanese minced pork sauce that tasted the way my mom made it, even by following her instructions. Thankfully, when my mom visited me few months ago, I watched her making it and finally realized what I did wrong. I used to always add too much soy sauce, but the key to this dish is the fried shallots, which bring an amazing aroma and depth to the dish.
I tried making it again with this adjustment and the result was the same as if it was made by my mom! This dish is super easy; all you need is ground pork, soy sauce, rock sugar, white pepper and lots of fried shallot. You can learn how to make fried shallot at home from my Crispy Fried Shallot and Shallot oil post, or you can buy it from Asian grocery store. Be warned, though, the homemade fried shallots taste better!
With this Taiwanese minced pork sauce, you can easily enjoy a good meal or late night supper in no time, hope you can give it a try!
Best Taiwanese Minced Pork Sauce (rou zhao fan)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground pork
- 3 tbsp shallot oil or vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup + 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rock sugar, can be replace with regular sugar
- ¾ tsp white pepper powder
- 1 cup fried shallot, about 3-4 big fresh shallots
- ¼ cup water, optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a dutch oven and stir fry minced pork until it's loose and water starts to come out.
- Mix in soy sauce, rock sugar, white pepper powder, fried shallot, and stir to combine.
- Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 30 minutes. Stir twice during the 30 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn. If it looks too dry, add water.
- After it's done cooking, let it sit for another 30 minutes before opening the lid.
- Serve with rice, noodle, veggies or any of your choice.
Omg , I just tried this super easy recipe , and it’s so delicious and mouthwatering. It only takes me like lesson than 20mins to cook as I did it in pressure cooker. I bought dried shallot in Chinese grocery store to save a little time . But definitely I’ll do the fried shallot my own when time allows . This is a must try recipe and it’s very tasty . This is the best Taiwanese ground pork recipe I have ever tried !!!!!
Thank you so much, Esther! I'm so glad you like it 🙂
Love this simple recipe
Thank you so much!!
You are so talented! I will try this recipe!
Thank you so much! This meat sauce is super useful, I especially like to cook it with tofu. Cut tofu into cubes, add some meat sauce and water, and cook it together for 5 - 10 minutes, top with some green onion, chili sauce and enjoy it with rice, so good!
Where is the 5-spice? Or any spices?
Hi Alli, 5 spice isn't necessary for this dish. The flavor primarily comes from fried shallots and white pepper, adding other seasonings could cover or complicate the flavors that we are looking for in this dish. Of course you are more than welcome to add five spice or anything else you'd like, if that's your preference.
This is so good Edwina!
Thank you!!
This is sooo simple and sooooo delicious! It's become my family staple too whenever I'm too tired or lazy to cook. And you can cook this in large batches too! I make mine for the whole week for me and my husband!
The recipe was easy, did not require a pantry full of ingredients, and best of all, tasted like I spent HOURS making it! Thank you!
Hi Ann, I'm glad you enjoy this recipe! This is one of our family's favorite 🙂
I used to live in Taiwan and missed this dish so much! Love this recipe! What kind of noodles are used in the pictures?
That's cool! I made those noodle from scratch using pasta maker 🙂
Made this tonight for the family - everyone loved it. The fried egg tasted really good with the meal. I made my own fried shallots per your recipe. One pound of meat was enough for our family of four but next time I'll cook it with 2 lbs so we'll have leftovers next day.
I'm wondering if anyone had made this without sugar? How does that affect the taste? Will be making this again for sure!
Hi Bellis, I'm so happy to hear your family enjoy it! Sugar is necessary for this dish as it helps round up and balance the saltiness from soy sauce; however, if you don't want to use sugar you can possibly replace it with honey. Hope this help 🙂
Hello, what kind of side dishes would be best with this dish? I see some vegetables on the pictures. Are those persian cucumbers sliced thinly? Thank you!
Hi Faye, I usually like to eat it with some simple stir fried veggies like Taiwanese cabbage, bok choy, snow peas. And yes, those are sliced Persian cucumber. I just did a quick pickle with salt, sugar and rice vinegar.
At first no one liked it, including several Hong Kong emigres and one 78yo immigrant with culinary training from Guangdong. But after we omitted the sugar, which everyone found cloying, people loved it. One person asked for a little more salt, and another wanted some hot sauce. But overall, it made a good base sauce without the sugar.
Hi Bryan, thanks for the comment! In Taiwanese cuisine, we like the combination of sweet and salty, but feel free to adjust base on your preference. 🙂
Would like to know what brand or type of soy sauce you use?
Hi Chris, I use the regular Kikkoman soy sauce.
Do we use light soy sauce or dark soy sauce?
Hi Mich, I used regular soy sauce 🙂
This recipe is awesome as my kids do not like the spiced version. Made for lunch n dinner but it seems there's not enough to go around for dinner😂. Great with hard boiled eggs. Tq for sharing your recipe.
Thank you Elaine! I'm so happy to hear your kids like it 😀
Delicious. Well received by my family. Thanks for sharing the yummy recipe
Thank you Yan Yin! I'm so happy to hear your family enjoy it. This is also very popular in my family 😀