• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Greedygirlgourmet
  • Recipes
  • SEO for Food Blogs
  • Authentic South East Asian Recipes
  • Privacy policy
  • Subscribe
  • Accessibility

Greedy Girl Gourmet

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Under 30 minutes
  • Recipes
  • Blogging
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Under 30 minutes
    • Recipes
    • Blogging
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Home » Meat » Pork

    Published: Oct 9, 2022 by Zen · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Tau Yew Bak (Braised Pork in Soy Sauce)

    Sharing food makes everyone happy! :)

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Tau Yew Bak, or Chinese Braised Pork in Soy Sauce, is a beloved Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese comfort dish. It's so easy, it's the 1st dish most Singaporean Chinese learn to cook when they go away!

    A plate of Singaporean tau yew bak with carrots and rice.
    Jump to:
    • ⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
    • 🐖 Ingredients
    • 🐓 Variations
    • 🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
    • 🍚 How to Serve
    • 👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips
    • 🥘 Suggested Accompanying Recipes
    • Tau Yew Bak (Braised Pork in Soy Sauce)
    • 💬 Comments

    ⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star

    1. Tau Yew Bak is a much loved dish in the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese community that is as easy to make as it is delicious: You only need simple ingredients and most of the cooking time is passive braising.
    2. If you want to eat this delicious warming dish you need to make it yourself: it's so simple to cook, it's not commonly found in hawker centres or restaurants!

    Fun fact: Originating from Fujian China and also known as Soy Sauce Braised Pork, "kong tau yew bak", "tau yu bak", "tau eu bak", "Lou bak", "lor bak" etc, Singaporeans have put their own touch on by pairing it with a side of sambal belacan.

    "Tau yew/yu/eu" is the Hokkien word for soya sauce and "bak" meat so, as you can see, the name is rather literal!

    Note: for more Singaporean recipes, try dry Mee Siam, Mee Siam Soup, Salted Egg Tofu or 1 of these popular Singaporean sweet treats.

    🐖 Ingredients

    The ingredients needed for Singaporean Tau Yew Bak in bowls next to each other.

    This soy sauce braised pork belly recipe uses 5 simple ingredients:

    1. Pork: traditionally, tender pork belly was used but I prefer pork shoulder or pork butt as it is less fatty. To be frank, whilst the shoulder and butt are tender after braising, they're not quite as beautifully unctuous as using pork belly, even if you cook with homemade lard. Hence, if you can, the best thing to do would really be to use a mix of pork belly and pork shoulder/ butt.
    2. soya sauce: both light soy for flavour and dark soya sauce are used for colour and some sweetness respectively. As it is the star of Tau Yew Bak, please use good quality soy sauces. (More on this below.) If you don't have thick dark soy sauce, which is less common than regular light soy, here are some dark soy sauce substitutes as well as a 2-ingredient, 2-minute DIY recipe. You can substitute with kecap manis if you don't have dark soy, but don't add the sugar till the pork has been cooked and you've tasted the sauce (as kecap manis is already sweet.)
    3. white granulated sugar: you can also use rock sugar which is a traditional Chinese sweetener. However, it comes in lumps and is difficult to break up into exact amounts!
    4. Chinese 5-spice powder: or substitute by adding a variety of aromatic spices such as star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns when braising the meat. This a flexible recipe and the proportions are more of a guideline so feel free to experiment. Add an extra cinnamon stick, a couple more star anise, throw in some white peppercorns for more fragrance! (If you have too much 5 spice, here are ideas to use the aromatic Chinese powder up.) 

    For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down to the recipe card.

    Note: Chinese soy sauce tastes different from Japanese.

    What Kind of Soy Sauce?

    There are many types of soy sauces in Asian cuisine: light soy sauce, thick soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, seafood soy sauce...

    Despite the similar names, they can't be used interchangeably as they all add different elements to the dish!

    As the name of the dish is literally Soy Sauce Meat, you can see that Soya Sauce is the 1 of the stars of the dish. Use the best soy sauce that you can find.

    For everyday Chinese cooking, I use Lee Kum Kee (LKK) Soy sauce and when I want to be fancy, I use locally-made soy sauce that has been naturally fermented for 12 months, such as Nanyang Soy Sauce and Kwong Woh Hing Soy Sauce (preferred.) (Soy sauce was traditionally fermented over a long time to build flavour but many companies now use chemical hydrolysis to expedite the process and thus make more money.)

    Fun fact: LKK was voted the best tasting soy sauce in an independent Cooks Illustrated blind test! Do note that LKK has different versions of light soy sauce, ranging from regular to premium.

    A lot of Chinese restaurants in Singapore, including the fancy ones in 5-star hotels, use Pearl River Bridge soy sauce.

    If you're wondering how I know, my family made friends with lots of chefs (we also used to have a restaurant.) Some were so close they even used to send me off with their homemade XO chilli and mooncakes when I went to St. Andrews, Scotland for University!

    However, I don't use Pearl River Bridge as it had a cancer warning food scandal a while ago. 

    Optional Additions

    To reduce the cost of the dish- meat is expensive!- other ingredients can be added to bulk up the dish about 10 minutes before you switch off the fire.

    1. tofu: go for firm or tau pok (tofu puffs.) Don't use silken tofu or egg tofu as they'll dissolve right into the sauce.
    2. hard boiled eggs
      • If you want the eggs to be steeped in the flavour, add them straight away but if you're fussy about over-cooking, add them towards the end of the cooking time. Alternatively use quail eggs which are smaller- the flavour of the marinade liquid will seep right in.
    3. carrots: adds sweetness to the sauce

    Note: some families like to add dried shiitake mushrooms to the fragrant soy gravy. I usually don't as I find the mushroom flavour is quite overpowering. If you want to add some, just add in 1-2 pieces!

    🐓 Variations

    • Soy Chicken Stew: If you don't take pork, you can replace it with chicken. Use chicken thigh as it is a more flavourful cut of meat, and is less likely to dry out whilst cooking. The cooking time would change too.
    • Vietnamese Thit Kho: use coconut water instead of regular water to braise the meat, and you'll get something similar to this Vietnamese comfort dish. Switch out the dark soy for Vietnamese caramel, and it'll be even more similar!
    • Filipino Pork Adobo: add some vinegar and bay leaves.

    🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions

    Sauteeing minced garlic in lard.
    1. Take your pork out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you want to cook, so that it will be at room temperature before cooking.
    2. Add both soy sauces, the sugar and the 5-spice powder to the pork and mix well.
    3. Heat vegetable oil till almost smoking on medium heat.
    4. Add the minced garlic and quickly stir-fry till fragrant.

    Note: When I have rendered lard in the fridge, I use that for more flavor instead of oil. Don't let the garlic burn- lower the heat if it looks too hot!

    Tip: If you have whole spices such as star anise, white peppercorns and cassia cinnamon, you can add them to the oil for a more aromatic dish.

    Lightly browning pork cubes in a pan.

    5. Add the pork and lightly sear till brown. It should caramelise nicely thanks to the sugar and dark soy added!

    Note: Reduce the heat to medium-low if using pork belly. If not, your dish will be super oily!

    6. Cover the pork with water (or pork stock, if you have some on hand) then simmer for 40-60 minutes, or till you get a nice syrupy sauce.

    Tip: Don't add too much water at first or you may be braising for ever. You may also need to top up some extra water if your pan gets dry.

    7. Season with salt and sugar, to taste, then serve with a bowl of piping hot white rice.

    🍚 How to Serve

    Tau yew bak is a comfort food that goes hand-in-hand with white rice or even teochew porridge! (Somehow it doesn't taste quite the same to me with noodles, even though they're both starches.)

    Although this braised soya sauce pork is already very tasty, a lot of Singaporeans can't do without their spice, so we like to add some sambal chilli.

    In the Singaporean Chinese home, we usually cook a couple of dishes to share, so pair this slow cooked Chinese pork dish with a plate of stir fry vegetables, such as kailan in oyster sauce, an omelette, or other Asian side dishes.

    👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

    Tip #1: The Tau Yew Bak gravy becomes more flavourful the next day, so make a large pot and keep some in the chiller overnight. You'll thank me when you taste that sweet soy sauce broth!

    Tip #2: You can also make this dish in a slow cooker (so you don't have to watch the stove) or pressure cooker (if you want to speed up the process.)

    Tau Yew Bak with white rice in a Chinese bowl.

    🥘 Suggested Accompanying Recipes

    You may also enjoy these Singaporean Chinese dishes with the braised pork:

    • A plate of seared mushrooms tossed in a butter soy sauce.
      Quick Eryngii Mushrooms (3-ingredients)
    • Close-up of sweet potato fries topped with spicy sambal mayo.
      Easy 3-ingredient sambal mayo sauce
    • A plate of Cantonese soy sauce with white rice and green onions.
      Best Poached One Pot Soy Sauce Chicken
    • A Singporean meal with 2 types of pandan rice, fried egg, eggplant and sambal kangkong.
      Pandan Rice (2 ways)

    Enjoyed this savory Chinese Soy Sauce Pork recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & if you REALLY liked this Singaporean comfort food dish, a comment would make my week! Thank you and have a great day!

    Close-up of a spoonful of braised pork shoulder with carrot and coriander.

    Tau Yew Bak (Braised Pork in Soy Sauce)

    Zen
    A super easy recipe to make for a weekday dinner after work, this braised pork dish is a delicious comfort food that doesn't require much prep time.
    5 from 43 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 40 mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Chinese, Nyonya, peranakan, singaporean
    Servings 2 people (with rice and other dishes)
    Calories 456 kcal

    Equipment

    • Pot

    Ingredients
      

    • 0.55 lb pork (250g) (8.81 oz) Cut the pork into small pieces, about twice the thickness of your little finger Traditionally pork belly but I find that too oily. You can mix with pork shoulder butt for a great combination of fat and lean meat or use 100% pork butt.
    • 1½ Tablespoon light soy sauce
    • 1½ Tablespoon dark soy sauce If you like your food on the sweeter side, you can use kicap manis instead of dark soy sauce.
    • ¼ T 5 spice powder Substitute: spices such as cinnamon stick, star anise and peppercorns
    • 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar or to taste.
    • Oil About 1 Tablespoon or to taste. Substitute: lard
    • 1 bulb garlic peeled and minced
    • Water Enough to just about cover the meat in the pan. Substitute: pork stock
    • Salt to taste
    • white granulated sugar optional seasoning, to taste Substitute: rock sugar
    • Hard boiled eggs/ firm tofu/ cooked peanuts/ dried shiitake mushrooms/ carrots Optional
    • Coriander leaves Optional garnish, rough chop
    • Sambal belacan chilli Optional

    Instructions
     

    • 15 minutes before you want to cook, add both soy sauces, the white sugar and the 5-spice powder to the pork. Mix well and leave covered on the counter to come to room temperature.
    • In the meantime, mince up your garlic.
    • Heat your pot over low-medium heat, then add some vegetable oil or lard. When the oil is shimmering, add the garlic and stir fry till fragrant.
      Tip: If you have whole spices such as star anise, white peppercorns and cassia cinnamon, you can crush them then add and stir fry in the oil for a more aromatic dish.
    • Increase the heat to medium then add the pork and lightly brown the pieces. It should caramelise nicely thanks to the sugar and dark soy added!
      Note: Reduce the heat to low if using pork belly. If not, your dish will be super oily!
    • Add enough water (or pork stock) to cover the pork then cover and simmer for 40-60 minutes, or till the pork is soft, cooked and you get a nice syrupy sauce.
      Remember to top up the water if the pan is drying out!
      Tip: Don't add too much water at first or you may be braising for ever. You may also need to top up some extra water if your pan gets dry.
    • If including hard boiled eggs/ tofu/ carrots to bulk up the dish, add them in during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. (You can actually add the other ingredients earlier if you want their flavour to be more concentrated, however this will give you overcooked eggs with the tell-tale green rim around the powdery yolks)
    • At the same time, taste and season the stew (salt and maybe more sugar- will depend on the dark soy you use) accordingly to taste then serve with a bowl of piping hot white rice.

    Notes

    Here's a recipe for homemade 5-spice powder
    If adding dried shiitake mushrooms to your loh bak, add 1 or 2 pieces at the most as the mushroom flavour can overpower the other ingredients.
     
    Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its accuracy. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 456kcalCarbohydrates: 98gProtein: 14gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gSodium: 1031mgPotassium: 896mgFiber: 14gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 3286IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 1252mgIron: 45mg
    Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @GreedyGirlGourmet or tag #greedygirlgourmet!

    If you try this easy Asian pork recipe, let me know what you think in the comments or tag me @greedygirlgourmet on Instagram!

    If you'd like to receive more such Asian meat recipes for fall, sign up for my news letter here!

    I have other recipes you may like here! :)

    • A piece of Chinese pork jerky held up by a pair of chopsticks.
      Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky)
    • Close-up of a pork rib with fingerlicking sticky sauce and caramelised bits.
      10 Authentic Chinese Pork Recipes
    • A piece of Chinese Char Siew picked up by a black chopsticks.
      What to Serve With Char Siu Pork (17 ideas)
    • Close-up of kimchi fried rice with Chinese pork jerky and eggs.
      What to do With Leftover Bak Kwa 2023

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Claire says

      October 16, 2022 at 11:03 pm

      5 stars
      This was absolutely delicious! I used pork loin and i also added some hoisin sauce with the 5 spice sugar and soy sauces. It was super simple and flavorful

      Reply
      • Zen says

        October 17, 2022 at 3:07 am

        Hi Claire, your comment made my week! Thank you for taking the time to let me know you found this braised pork dish and I am SOOO happy you enjoyed it! 🙂

        Reply
    2. Gabriela Herrera says

      May 30, 2021 at 12:11 pm

      5 stars
      I have never seen this cuisine. Looks great and tasty.

      Reply
      • Zen says

        June 06, 2021 at 5:43 am

        Glad to have introduced something new, and hope u like it if u make it 🙂

        Reply
    3. Cindy Mom the Lunch Lady says

      May 30, 2021 at 1:43 am

      5 stars
      This is such a simple recipe, but one that I am sure is so full of flavour! I definitely need to make some 5 spice powder to try this!

      Reply
      • Zen says

        June 06, 2021 at 5:43 am

        yay! it is indeed!! 🙂

        Reply
    4. Meenakshi Thakur says

      May 29, 2021 at 8:05 pm

      5 stars
      Oh! it looks so delicious. Thanks for the recipe.

      Reply
      • Zen says

        June 06, 2021 at 5:44 am

        thanks for visiting and hope u like it!:)

        Reply
    5. Nora says

      May 29, 2021 at 7:51 pm

      5 stars
      This looks delicious! Have to try your recipe! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • Zen says

        June 06, 2021 at 5:44 am

        thanks for visiting Nora!:) Let me know how it goes! 🙂

        Reply
    6. Emily Flint says

      May 29, 2021 at 2:57 pm

      5 stars
      I cannot wait to try this pork recipe! All of the ingredients are exactly what we like in my house but I have never tried this one before. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • Zen says

        June 05, 2021 at 2:55 pm

        yay glad u have the ingredients on hand! let me know if u try it! 🙂

        Reply
    7. Colette Zaharko says

      May 29, 2021 at 2:48 pm

      5 stars
      Yes, please! This looks so good. I love Asian food. I love that you mentioned that the pork shoulder butt is better to use because it's not too oily. That's very good to know.
      Thanks for the recipe. I can't wait to try it!

      Reply
      • Zen says

        June 05, 2021 at 2:55 pm

        awww so happy the pork shoulder tip was useful!! 🙂 it's currently my fave cut 🙂

        Reply
    8. Dorenecheo says

      May 29, 2021 at 6:12 am

      5 stars
      So tasty

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Greedygirlgourmet eating 2 sandwiches in Scotland

    Hi I'm Zhen also known as GGG! I couldn't boil water till I was 18 but after living abroad (in St. Andrews then London) for 11 years and having to cook for myself, I now love cooking for friends and family. Learning to cook late, I make sure my recipes go into enough detail for those new to Asian cuisine or who love a test kitchen approach to cooking!

    More about GGG ->

    Under 30 Minutes

    • A plate of coconut jelly and pandan jelly arranged as a flower.
      Pandan Jelly (Agar Agar)
    • A plate of coconut jelly and pandan jelly arranged as a flower.
      Coconut Jelly (Dim Sum) (3-ingredients)
    • Cup of pink lychee juice with a lemon.
      Easy Lychee Juice Recipe
    • A jar of homemade pickled cucumbers with chilies and an onion next to it.
      Asian Quick Pickled Cucumbers (5-min)

    Popular Dishes

    • A plate of seared mushrooms tossed in a butter soy sauce.
      Quick Eryngii Mushrooms (3-ingredients)
    • A plate of Cantonese soy sauce with white rice and green onions.
      Best Poached One Pot Soy Sauce Chicken
    • A golden yuzu marmalade jelly in the shape of a flower decorated with lemon zest
      Yuzu konnyaku jelly recipe (15 minutes)
    • 2 glasses of milk tea with brown streaks on the walls of the glasses.
      Tiger Milk Tea Boba (3-ingredients)

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Greedygirlgourmet
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy
    • All Recipes

    Newsletter

    • Sign up here!

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Buy Me a Coffee :)

    As an Amazon Associate, at no cost to you, I earn from qualifying purchases :)

    Copyright © 2023 GreedyGirlGourmet