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    Home » Main Dishes

    Roasted Pork Belly Czech Recipe

    Published: Apr 28, 2020 · Modified: Jan 1, 2022 by Petra Kupská

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    Heavenly delicious! That’s the taste of vepřové výpečky (roasted pork belly), in a style that only Czechs can make. Výpečky are served with potato or bread dumplings and either braised sauerkraut or sautéed spinach. They taste the best with ice-cold Czech beer.

    Czech vepřové výpečky with dumplings and spinach
    Table of Contents show
    What Is Vepřové výpečky?
    Pronuntiation
    Best Meat to Use
    Ingredients
    Instructions
    Serving
    Vepřové Výpečky – Czech Style Roasted Pork Belly

    What Is Vepřové výpečky?

    Vepřové výpečky is one of several classical Czech foods. It’s marbled pork belly, cut into pieces, slowly roasted in the oven together with garlic and onion.

    Pronuntiation

    I recorded a short audio clip on how to pronounce the Czech word "vepřové výpečky" (roasted pork belly).

    Best Meat to Use

    This recipe's best meat is definitely boneless pork belly with nice marbling. It produces enough juice to make a thin gravy which you drizzle over the top of the dumplings before serving.

    Don’t try to make them from lean pork. The recipe wouldn’t work, and the meat would be anywhere from dried out to burnt and definitely not juicy.

    Look at the piece of pork above that I used to make the výpečky.

    The package was labeled „Vepřový bok bez kosti“ – boneless pork side in translation. You can see the part where the ribs were cut off on the left.

    There was a thick layer of fat on the meat originally. I cut it off and set it aside, and I’ll use it to prepare cracklings later.

    MY TIP: Try sekaná, Czech meatloaf made from beef and pork meat.

    Ingredients

    Vepřové výpečky is a straightforward recipe, and you need just a few ingredients and some time to roast it in the oven. The recipe needs these ingredients:

    • Pork belly; containing approx. 50 % of lean meat, see the photo above
    • Freshly ground pepper; or crushed caraway seeds
    • Salt
    • Onion
    • Garlic

    ✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

    You can season the meat either with ground pepper or with crushed caraway seeds, or both. I like to use pepper, and my mom, for example, swears by the crushed caraway seeds.

    Caraway seeds are one of Europe’s oldest seasonings; Czechs often season pork with caraway seeds. Caraway is also commonly used when baking bread and other salty pastry.

    Furthermore, caraway seed is a favorite seasoning to prepare potatoes, cabbage, goose, duck roast, and other Czech cuisine meals.

    MY TIP: Here is another great recipe made with pork belly: Pečený bůček

    Instructions

    Prepare a roasting pan with a lid (you can also cover the pan with aluminum foil), a sharp knife, and a cutting board. Let’s cook!

    1. Dice the pork.
    2. Flavor with salt and pepper.
    3. Peel the onion and chop it up roughly.
    4. Slice the garlic.
    5. Put the ingredients into the pan, mix them and cook for 2,5 hours.
    6. Turn up the oven temperature, remove the lid, and roast for a further 30 minutes, until the pork surface turns a golden brown.

    Serving

    Dumplings are the best side dish for výpečky. Both potato and bread dumplings are awesome. It is also eaten with either Sauerkraut or sautéed spinach.

    Tip: Learn how to make Czech bread dumplings (houskové knedlíky) from scratch!

    If you serve výpečky with bread dumplings and Sauerkraut, the meal resembles another of the Czech classics – vepřo knedlo zelo.

    However, the knedlo vepřo zelo recipe uses a different kind of pork, (pork collar – vepřová krkovice) and the roasting and gravy-making processes are slightly different.

    Czech vepřové výpečky

    Vepřové výpečky are very calorie-rich, and although they taste amazing, they’re not exactly a meal to eat when you’re on a diet.

    That’s why ice-cold beer is usually served with them, which neutralizes the fat at least a little.

    More Czech dishes:

    • Svíčková – iconic Czech sauce with cream
    • Guláš – famous beef goulash with caraway seeds and sweet paprika
    • Rajská – sweet tomato sause with beef

    Recipe card

    Czech vepřové výpečky with dumplings and spinach

    Vepřové Výpečky – Czech Style Roasted Pork Belly

    A classic Czech meal, well-marbled pork slowly roasted in the oven. Served with dumplings and sauerkraut or spinach. Simply delicious!
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Pin
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 3 hours
    Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
    Servings: 4
    Author: Petra Kupská
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: Czech
    Keyword: pork belly, roasted pork, vepřové výpečky

    Ingredients

    • 2 lbs (900 g) pork belly half lean, half fat
    • 1 onion large
    • 4 cloves of garlic
    • pepper freshly ground
    • salt

    Instructions

    • Dice the pork into pieces about 2 and ½ inches in size.
    • Peel the onion and chop it up roughly.
    • Peel and slice the garlic.
    • Flavor all sides of the meat with salt and pepper equally, place it into the pan together with the garlic and the onion, and mix well.
    • Cover the pan either with a lid or aluminum foil.
    • Preheat the oven to 250 °F (120 °C) – roast slowly, but for a long time!
    • Roast the pork belly pieces for two and a half hours. There’s no need to stir it while in the oven.
    • Take the pan out of the oven, remove the lid (aluminum foil), and stir the meat and the veg gently.
    • Return it to the oven, this time without the lid. Turn the temperature up to 390 °F (200 °C) and roast for a further 30-40 minutes until all of the fluid evaporates, and only the fat remains. This way, the výpečky will be a nice golden brown in color, and its crust will be crumbly.
    • You have to mix the meat at least three times in this phase, mostly at the end, so that the výpečky won’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan.

    Notes

    Vepřové výpečky also taste great cold with a slice of fresh bread and pickles.

    DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:

    Conversion chart
    Do you like the recipe?I would be happy for your feedback! Please, rate the recipe and share your opinion or questions in comments bellow. Thank you very much.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Ludmila

      April 29, 2020 at 3:28 am

      5 stars
      Wow!!!!!Petra,it must be very delicious???I feel the nice smell now and I’m going to try it cook?Maybe,immediatly,today.Thanks for good tip???,ahoj Lída....Sorry,případné,pravopisné chyby?

      Reply
      • Petra | Cook Like Czechs

        April 30, 2020 at 1:11 am

        Hello Lída, thank you so much for you comment and happy to see you here! 😉 I know, výpečky are not exactly a light dish, but it tastes simply amazing. Czech cuisine has for me still plenty of treasures waiting to be discovered! 🙂 Many greetings to you, Petra

        Reply

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    Hi there, I’m Petra, a Czech mom of two teen boys with more than 20 years of cooking experience. I am here to share traditional recipes from the Czech Republic, a small country in the very heart of Europe.

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