How to Make Easy and Healthy Lu Rou Fan in 30 Minutes

Why I Love Lu Rou Fan

Lu Rou Fan is a delicious Taiwanese dish of braised minced pork served over rice. My family is a big fan of Lu Rou Fan or Lo Bah Png (in Hokkien pronunciation). Almost every other two weeks, my mom will request I cook Lu Rou fan for dinner.

Hands down, and no doubt, the best Lu Rou Fan I tried is in Taiwan. However, I wanna make it as easy, healthy, and accessible for everyone. Here, I modified the ingredients and cooking methods to suit our motto best, “Easy Cook Plan.” Everything can be done within 30 minutes. I keep the taste as close as possible, if not better.

Whether you are doing a regular diet, keto diet, low carb, or anything, the braised minced pork recipe here is for everyone. If you wanna read more about my story and Lu Rou Fan’s story. Keep reading; otherwise, jump straight to the recipe. No hard feelings : )

What Does Lu Rou Fan Mean? 

Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯). Whether you are reading Lu Rou Fan or Lo Bah Png. Both are similar in Chinese writing. Lu Rou means braised meat. Fan means rice. Lu Rou Fan is a rice dish in Taiwan.

The Origin and History of Lu Rou Fan

The origin of this dish is disputed. According to Wikipedia, some people claim it originated in Taiwan. Others say it came from Shandong, China. Well, I don’t know. I would love to go to Shandong to try one day. Anyway, whether it is from Taiwan or Shandong, even in Taiwan itself, I can assure you that everyone has their unique recipe, and the taste will be different from one cooking recipe to another.

My Personal Connection with Lu Rou Fan

During my student year, I used to date a Taiwanese lady. I stayed in Tainan and Kaohsiung area for about a month during one summer break. During this month, I discovered many mouthwatering foods; one food I found I particularly like is Lu Rou fan. That was the pre-smartphone era; you only know what food is in Taiwan if you go there yourself. 

Before I did keto, a Lu Rou Fan was on my eating list whenever I traveled to Taiwan. If you have a local friend, ask them where is the best place to eat locally. 

I tried braised pork dishes in tourist areas. It makes a lot of difference. Don’t worry if you are not going to Taiwan; the good news is I will share my straightforward, healthy, and taste-good braised ground pork recipe with you. 

How to Cook Lu Rou Fan in a Simple and Healthy Way

We are going to simplify our home cooked braised minced pork. The only thing I modified is the sweet sauce or sugar. I replaced them with Coconut Aminos. I will also list the traditional ingredients as replacement ingredients below. 

Coconut Aminos has a unique taste which I really like. IT is sweet too, but low in carbs. Just head over to Amazon and order one. Or, drive to Walmart to get one. 

This source has been gaining popularity these couple of years. How cool is it that you don’t need anything extra like sugar or sweet sauce to make it sweet? 

Note: Coconut Aminos is this awesome sauce to spice up your food. It’s made from coconut flower juice and salt, aged like cheese or wine. It tastes like soy sauce but less salty and sweeter. It’s also free of soy, wheat, and gluten.

For the minced pork meat, we will be using pork belly. Why? Pork belly consists of fat and lean meat, making this dish exceptionally flavorful.

I also cut out many ingredients to make cooking easy and faster, including the deep-fried dry shallots, spices like five spice powder, mushroom, sugar, sweet sauce or dark soy sauce, etc. Believe me, simplicity is always the yummiest.

I don’t use a slow cooker; We are going to cook it fast. Since we are cooking the pork in minced form, we can avoid braising for a few hours, as many recipes suggest. 

In the end, we save time and save money. However, a big slab of pork belly does require longer braising time. Check out my ultimate cooking guide for braised pork belly. So, if you are ready, let’s make this dish together!

Ingredients for Lu Rou Fan

• Ground Pork Belly 2lbs / 1 kg
  
  
• Onion 200g, diced 
  
  
• Garlic 30g, diced
  
  
• Coconut Aminos 150ml
  
  
• Bragg Liquid Aminos or Light Soy Sauce or Tamari 150ml
  
  
• Neutral oil 1 Tablespoon
  
  
• White Pepper 1 teaspoon

Replacement Ingredient 

To replace Coconut Aminos. You have two options:

1. Use dark soy sauce and sugar combo
   
   
2. Use sweet sauce (sweet sauce is a black sauce with sweetness in it)
   
   
   

Optional Ingredient

Deep-fried Shallot:  This takes time to make. You can also buy this in Asian stores. I usually made this myself. I keep the onion oil. Onion oil can be used for salad.

Instructions for Making Lu Rou Fan with Photos

1. Gather the ingredients listed above. Prepare the onion and garlic accordingly. 
   
   
2. Put one tablespoon of neutral oil into a wok.
   
    
   
   
3. Onion in. Stir fry for 2 minutes or until the color changes to transparent.
   
    
   
   
4. Ground pork in. Stir fry for 5 minutes or until the color of the pork changes from raw to cooked.
   
    
   
   
5. Put in garlic and stir evenly. The reason we put the garlic in now is that garlic will become bitter and burnt if we stir fry at first with the onion.
   
   
   

    
   
   

    

6. Put white pepper. Do not use black pepper. This will alter the taste completely.
   
   
   
   
7. Add the sweetness in the Coconut Aminos or replacement ingredients listed above the ingredient section. Stir evenly.
   
    
   
   
8. Stir in Bragg Amino Liquid or Light Soy sauce to add saltiness. If you have deep-fried shallots, throw them in.
   
   
   
   
9. Cover the Lu Rou Fan. Let it simmers for 10 minutes.
   
    
   
   
10. You can garnish with something green on top, like the green onions. Done. A healthy, delicious, mouthwatering braised pork meat is ready to be served.
    
    
    

    
    
    

     

What to serve Lu Rou Fan with?

Rice: This seems obvious, or why are we calling Lu Rou “FAN,” right?

Noodle: Nowadays, people also eat braised meat with noodles. Sometimes, they will call this Lu Rou Mian. Mian means noodle in Chinese.

Lettuce: If you are low carb or keto, lettuce is the best with braised pork. Raw lettuce or steamed lettuce both works equally yummy. 

Konjac noodles: We instantly switch a Lu Rou Fan to a Japanese or keto version with Konjac. It tastes as good as the authentic noodle.

The sky is your limit. Click the link for more ideas on what to serve with the braised pork belly.

The braising method is one of the easiest and best ways to cook pork belly or minced pork. The dish is sweet and savory. You can try to cook the classic one and my version of Lu Rou Fan. Let me know what you think below.