Instant Pot Char Siu: Easy Recipe and Wine Pairing

I grew up eating char siu — over rice, in dim sum, chopped into fried rice. It’s a total comfort food. But store-bought char siu can be hit or miss. Some places use cheap cuts of meat that are dry and tough. They also dye it red with food coloring to distract you from the fact that you’re eating cheap meat. Of course, I had to attempt my own (more natural) version of Instant Pot Char Siu.

The verdict? These tender chunks of honeyed pork are utterly magical, especially when paired with the rich, spicy dark fruit of a Vacqueyras.

But first, the wine pairing. Char Siu is essentially the Chinese version of barbecued pork. Its flavors range from savory, to umami, to honeyed sweetness. Therefore, it pairs well with wines that have ripe, jammy fruit to match the hoisin sauce, acidity to stand up to the soy sauce, and tannins to match the smoky caramelization that will happen on the meat.

One wine that meets all of the above criteria is a Rhone blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre. As quality can vary widely across the Rhone region, we like to go with specific AOCs for greater consistency.

If you’re going higher end, a Chateauneuf-du-Pape will have the perfect balance of plush dark fruit, supple tannins, savory herbs. But if you’re seeking value and are willing to decant the wine before serving, Vacqueyras is an excellent bet. It’s right next to Chateauneuf du Pape — hence the nickname “poor man’s Chateauneuf du Pape” — and shares a similar mediterranean terroir, minus the giant galette stones in the soil. Since Vacqueyras is so small (only 1300 hectares, less than half the size of CdP) its wines are consistently good quality. 2016 was a particularly excellent vintage worth buying and laying away now. You can also go with a Californian Rhone-style blend, although it will have decidedly less minerality and potentially less acidity.

For our Instant Pot Char Siu recipe, we nabbed the Jean Marie Arnoux from Whole Foods. It was originally $20, but went on sale for just $14. We suspect it got overlooked, and Whole Foods was trying to move the inventory — we’ll gladly keep this secret to ourselves! As mentioned before, decanting is necessary with young Vacqueyras. This wine started out very closed up, but after decanting truly opened up. Its profile was like that of a rebellious teenager, starting with a punch of concentrated blackberry and blackcurrant, backed by an energetic spine of acidity, minerality, and firm yet fine-grained tannins.

If you have leftover char siu, consider tucking it into some fluffy char siu bao buns! Check out our recipe and wine pairing here.

But now, on to the char siu recipe. Many recipes require over an hour of roasting. Save time and energy by doing most of the cooking via Instant Pot. Then, simply transfer the cooked meat to the oven for a final roast to let it caramelize.

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