Chinese cuisine is known for utilizing different parts of the whole animal to create delicious meals. For example, chicken liver and pork liver are used to create tasty stir fries. Oxtail makes a super luxurious stew. Beef tripe, lung and tongue with red chili oil makes a rich tasting cold appetizer. Bones are often made into hearty bone broth for noodle soup and stews.
Braised pork trotters is one of my favorite homestyle dishes that my mom has been making since I was a kid. The trotters are carefully boiled first to remove the impurities. They’re cooked until very tender in a pressure cooker, then braised with aromatics and sauces to achieve a rich, savory flavor. The end dish is fall-off-the-bone tender but doesn’t taste greasy at all. The connective tissue becomes so tender, and the lean meat in between just melts in your mouth. On top of steamed rice, it makes a satisfying main dish without breaking the bank.
Braised pork trotters ingredients
Pork trotters
You can find pork trotters at most Chinese markets and Asian online grocery deliveries. These days, most shops sell the pre-cut trotters that you can cook directly. If you’re purchasing whole trotters, make sure to let the butcher cut them into large bite-size pieces (they usually cut one trotter into 6 pieces). The butcher has a very sharp saw to make clean cuts, which is much nicer than chopping them at home using a cleaver.
Mise en place
Making braised pork trotters requires a few common pantry ingredients:
- Pork trotters, cut into small pieces
- Aromatics: ginger and green onion
- Spices: star anise, clove, dried chili pepper
- Sauce: dark and light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar and salt
I used rock sugar in this recipe, which gives the sauce a more glossy look. You can use regular sugar as well.
Dark soy sauce is used in this recipe to add an appetizing dark brown color to the sauce. If you don’t have it on hand, you can use regular soy sauce (with a touch of molasses if you have it). The sauce will come out with a lighter color but still be delicious.
Cooking process
Cooking braised pork trotters is quite easy, but it involves a bit of passive waiting time. That’s why I usually prefer to make a large quantity at one time and freeze the portion that I plan to serve later.
- Start the cooking with pork trotters, cold water and ginger
- Once boiling, skim the brown bits off the top
- Boil and skim until the broth almost runs clear
- Transfer the trotters with some of the broth into an Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Pressure cook until the trotters turn tender
- Move the trotters and the broth to a large pot to cook on the stovetop
- Simmer with aromatics, spices and sauce
- Cook until the pork has become flavorful and super tender
- Reduce the sauce so it becomes thick and glossy
- Add back the pork and mix well
The whole cooking process does take some time, but most of it is passive. I highly recommend making the dish on the weekend, so you won’t be in a hurry and can use the time in between to do other things.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cook braised pork trotters without an Instant Pot?
Yes! It is quite easy to do so but will require a longer cooking time. It will take about 2 hours to simmer the pork in this case.
If you do cook this dish on the stove, I would also add the aromatics and spices at the beginning (once you finish skimming the broth). Then add the sauce ingredients after 1 hour. This will give the pork an even richer taste.
Do I have to reduce the sauce at the end?
I took the extra step of removing the pork from the pot and reducing the sauce, so the sauce will be thick and glossy. The thicker sauce stays on the pork better and gives it a richer flavor.
To simplify this step, you can leave everything in the pot and use high heat to slightly reduce the sauce at the end. In this case, make sure to constantly stir the pot, so the pork won’t stick to the bottom.
It’s also totally OK to not reduce the sauce at all, if you’re happy with the seasoning the way it is.
How to serve braised pork trotters
I always love to serve braised pork trotters over a bowl of steamed rice. Although some Chinese restaurants also serve them in noodle soup. Check out this simple tomato noodle soup recipe if you want to serve the trotters over noodles.
Since braised pork trotters are so rich tasting, I would pair them with a simple side dish such as Fried Cabbage, Baby Bok Choy Stir Fry, Spinach and Peanuts Salad, or Cucumber Salad.
How to reheat and store braised pork trotters
I like to store the extra portion in small containers in the freezer. They stay good for 3 to 4 months. To reheat, the best way is to thaw them overnight in the fridge, then heat them up thoroughly in a steamer. If you haven’t reduced the sauce much, you can also reheat them in a small pot over medium-low heat (you need to stir frequently to prevent it from sticking).
It’s possible to directly reheat them without thawing first, but it will take longer.
Do not heat the trotters in a microwave. The skin and connective tissue don’t heat well and will make explosive sounds. The dish will end up heating up unevenly and leave a mess in your microwave.
Other delicious make ahead main dishes
- Instant Pot Curry Beef Stew
- Chinese Chicken Dumplings (鸡肉饺子)
- Coca-Cola Chicken Wings (可乐鸡翅)
- Instant Pot Chinese Sausage Rice (腊肠饭)
- Easy Salt Baked Chicken (简易盐焗鸡)
- Chinese Braised Beef Shank (酱牛肉, Jiang Niu Rou)
Chinese Cooking Made Easy
Are you new to this website? This free email series is a great place to start. I’ll walk you through a few of my most popular recipes and show you how and why they work. You’ll quickly start to cook better Chinese food in your own kitchen.
Chinese Braised Pork Trotters (红烧猪蹄)
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 lb pork trotters , cut into large cubes (*Footnote 1)
- 2 thumbs ginger , thickly sliced and divided
- 4 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 4 green onions , cut into 4” pieces (or 2 Chinese scallions)
- 5 dried Chinese chili peppers
- 2 star anise
- 4 cloves
- 1 heaping tablespoon rock sugar (or regular sugar)
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Place the pork trotters and half of the ginger slices in a large pot and add cold tap water to cover. Bring the water to a boil. Stir occasionally to prevent the bottom from sticking. Continue boiling while skimming off the brown foam from the top until the broth is mostly clear, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pork to an Instant Pot (or pressure cooker). If the boiling broth is clear and doesn’t have a strong smell, transfer 5 cups of broth to the pot with the trotters, or until the broth almost covers everything. If the broth looks very cloudy and smells strong, discard the broth and add 5 cups of cold tap water. (*Footnote 2)
- Set the pressure to high and timer to 15 minutes for fall-off-the-bone tender pork (or 12 minutes for tender pork with some texture). Press start. (*Footnote 3)
- Once the Instant Pot is done cooking, release pressure naturally for at least 15 minutes. Then switch the valve to fast release. Transfer pork and the broth back to the large pot.
- Add the rest of the ingredients into the same pot and turn to medium-high heat. After bringing the broth to a boil, reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for 40 minutes or so, until the pork has absorbed a lot of flavor. Stir pork occasionally to avoid burning on the bottom.
- Transfer the pork to a large bowl. Use a ladle to remove and discard the solid spices and aromatics from the broth. Turn to medium-high heat to boil the broth until it reduces to half of the volume and gets thicker, 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye on the broth so it doesn’t reduce too much. The broth will continue to thicken when it cools down a bit, so you don’t need to reduce it too much.
- Add the trotters back to the pot and mix everything together. Serve hot as a main dish. You can store the leftovers in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 to 4 months.
Video
Notes
- If you purchase the pork feet in an Asian market or online, most of the time the pork feet are already pre-cut into cubes. If you purchase whole pork feet, ask the butcher to cut the pork feet into 6 pieces using their saw. This recipe cooks up to 4 lbs (2kg) pork trotters, which is about 4 whole pork trotters.
- The pork will release juice during the cooking process, so you don’t need to add too much water to fully cover the pork.
- To cook without a pressure cooker, add boiled pork, water and all ingredients into a dutch oven. Add the broth (or water) until it covers the pork. Once boiling, simmer for around 2 hours. If the water level becomes too low while pork is still tough, add hot water, 1 to 2 cups at a time, and continue braising once the pork becomes very tender. Reduce the sauce according to step 6 if needed.
Nutrition
Have a question or feedback? Add a Comment
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Selom
If I can’t butcher the pig trotters (don’t have the strength and knife sharp enough), how long should it be in the instant pot for? The same time or do I need to increase it a little?
Thank you
Maggie Zhu
I would increase the time to 20 minutes if using whole trotters.
Tony M.
Can I substitute pork chops or tenderloin in place of trotters and cook in a crock pot.
Maggie Zhu
The best alternative cut for this recipe are pork shoulder, which will become very juicy and tender. Pork chops would work but I would avoid tenderloin because it’s too lean.
Abigail
I love this recipe, wow it is different from the way i cook it,great recipe. Thank you
Karen
Hello Maggie, I will definitely make this recipe but I have a question:
I have spent some time Googling, but I’m still confused! I know what pigs feet are & I know what front & back lower legs of pig are: to me the lower part of the legs are the trotters. Am I wrong? Should I just buy pigs feet? Thanks for your help, dish sounds so delicious!
Maggie Zhu
I don’t really distinct the name trotters and feet, but it should be the lower part of the leg and feet. When you shop the un-chopped ones at the market, it has a short section of the leg with the feet part.
heure.du.loup
Great recipe, thank you for sharing! I don’t have a pressure cooker, so it took a long time for the trotters to become tender, but it was so worth it. 🙂
Odesa
Just curious. If I’m correct you originally had this being made in a wok. Why did you change. I prefer the former.
Maggie Zhu
I made the change because I often get questions about making this in an Instant Pot. I personally do enjoy the Instant Pot method, because it’s much easier (The original recipe also has a step to cook in the pressure cooker, then finish in a wok. So I think it’s much easier to just finish everything in one step). Once you boil down the sauce, the taste was quite similar to the one made in the wok. I also included the stovetop method in the footnote. It’s quite interesting to know that you prefer the wok method. I will keep that in mind when I develop future recipes and update old ones.
Celine
I love this recipe! It is easy and come out perfect everytime! I would love a recipe for chicken feet. (As an appetizer server room temp). Thanks for the amazing recipes!
Janice
I currently live across the country from my mom and recently I have been feeling very homesick. I rarely ever cook, but I gave this recipe a try and it tastes so close to how my mom makes hers!! I think she adds extra ginger to give it a “spicy” kick to it. Thank you for this recipe, Maggie! I will be making this again!
Teresa H.
hi Maggie, thank you for this recipe! I have been looking for one to recreate a comfort food from my childhood. One comment about the intro to your recipe – it mentions that trotters are a source of collagen and “healthy fats”. The fats from pigs feet are still saturated fat, so I would not call it a healthy fat. But agree they are an amazing source of natural collagen and a tasty and healthy part of a well balanced diet!
Jun Anabo
This is closest to the well-loved HUMBA recipe of the Filipinos!
Annelise Williamson
Very nice!!
Ron
Great recipe, ours is similar. I used to do Pork Knuckles more of a german style but have converted to chinese style because my wife is Chinese. She helps me cook them but we invented the recipe together and its surprisoingly close to yours.
We wash and cook to clean as do you. Then in the pressure cooker with chicken of vegetable broth, star anise, cloves, black pepper corns and some times a cinamon stick , we cook for about 25-30 mimnutes. Then in the wok we prepare a little oil, ginger and garlic and stir fry the knuckles in dark soy and oyster sauce to color and add flavor. Garnish with green onions. They do not last long….lol.
Maggie Zhu
Your method sounds super delicious too! I do like German style pork knuckles as well, although I don’t know how to make it at home. We have a German restaurant we love and we order the pork knuckles there 🙂
Ron
The German style takes a longer time in the oven. Ill do that at Christams with about 6 hocks or sometimes a pork Butt that has the skin still on like a giant hock. Basically its some simmering with spices 60-90 minutes, than patting dry and roasting in the oven to develop the crackle. Germans use carrots onions garlic and fennel seeds, bay leaves and salt. https://www.recipetineats.com/crispy-german-pork-knuckle-schweinshaxe-with-beer-gravy/ this recipe is ok. takes like 2 hours plus. https://www.quick-german-recipes.com/pork-hocks-recipe.html and this one from a real German. Some boil the hocks in spices and others roast over a pan of liquid, vegetables and spices, but in all cases the skin must be exposed to dry out and form crackle.
Lately i have done Pernil, a cuban recipe for a summer roast, it was so good and so simple.
Maggie Zhu
Thanks so much for sharing the recipes! It’s interesting that the recipe looks similar the way we cook with mutton legs in China (slow simmer first, then rub with spice and bake).
Now that it’s winter here, the dish sounds perfect for the holidays. Maybe we will cook it for Christmas as well 🙂
ron
A correction we use caraway seeds.
Linda
Excellent recipe! Thank you so much for sharing!
My only complaint (which actually surprises me because I am not usually a sensitive person) was the use of the words “strange” and “weird” when describing some foods that Chinese and Asians consume. SOOO many cultures eat tendons, pork hocks, chicken feet, organs, etc. These things are only unfamiliar to some. As a person of mixed-Asian descent I often heard distasteful jokes about the foods that Chinese eat which, honestly, became old after awhile. I love to cook foods from all cultures and found myself searching for chicken feet in a Jamaican market, for example. Places like the local Albertsons or Walmarts might consider these foods odd, but for most grocers worldwide they are the norm. (As you know, pork feet are a common staple all over the world, for example.)
I’m sorry to call that out as a bit insensitive or pandering to Westerners, but I feel it was a slightly poor choice of words. However, I’m so glad I put that aside (after several readings) and decided to make this recipe. You have a winner, here, and I am most appreciative for that!
Kathleen Beavers
Was looking for a new way to cook trotters. I was raised on them southern style-Hungarian peasant style. Poor people all over the world eat the cheaper cuts of meat, unless their religion forbids it–like Muslims
and Jews don’t eat pork, and Hindus don’t eat beef. What I really take issue with is pigs’ feet having a bad smell. My mom didn’t use much beyond paprika, onion, garlic, and a little vinegar. I don’t think pigs’ feet smell bad! Am looking forward to trying this recipe, though. Sounds yummy!
Thelma Pruitt
I’ve been looking for another way to make pig feet. This sounds great, will cook it tonight.
Ken Fletcher
Good recipe, but the idea that pig’s feet are unusual in England is nonsense. Known as trotters, they are relatively common. In fact, they are eaten world-wide.
Odesa
Amahhhhhzing
Roy
Ths history on this recipe and story line made me try this recipe. Simmered for 2 hours using dutch oven, pork leg was tender. Added shitake mushroom. Was really good.
Jane Doe
I loved this recipe so much!
Crazy Dave
I’m not Chinese, but I love all the weird parts of the animal” cooked in the Chinese style. In fact, mao xue wang is one of my favorite dishes, so eating pigs feet is not a big stretch for me. I followed the recipe as written and it turned out great. I have a heavy cleaver, but I did find chopping the pigs feet to be difficult. Next time I’ll have the butcher cut them up on the band saw. I am gluten sensitive and have a mild allergy to soy, so I used Fu Jian wine instead of Shaoxing and a soy free soy sauce. For the dark soy I mix the soy free soy sauce with Black Strap Molasses. My wife will not touch pig’s feet, so I used 5 xiao mi la chilies and it came out quite hot but not too hot, and I really enjoyed the dish. I like it much hotter than she does!