Purpose <p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive tumor. Few studies have reported predictors of long-term survival of patients without recurrence at five years after liver resection (LR).</p> Methods <p>We consecutively included 1133 patients with HCC undergoing LR. We excluded patients who developed recurrence or died within five years after LR (<i>n</i> = 639) and patients who were recurrence-free within a follow-up period of &lt; 5&#xa0;years (<i>n</i> = 243). The remaining 251 patients who were without recurrence at five years after LR were included in this study.</p> Results <p>Sixty (23.9%) patients developed recurrence during the follow-up period, of whom, 51 (85%) showed recurrence within Milan criteria and 43 (71.7%) underwent curative treatments. Overall survival (OS) was not significantly different between patients with and those without recurrence (<i>p</i> = 0.63). The 10-year OS of the cohort was 78%; 10-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) was 68%. Multivariate analysis showed that MELD score per one increase (HR = 1.058; 95% CI = 1.005–1.115; <i>p</i> = 0.033) and age &gt; 65&#xa0;years (HR = 2.997; 95% CI = 1.543–5.820; <i>p</i> = 0.001) were associated with mortality, whereas no baseline variable was associated with recurrence.</p> Conclusions <p>Older age and higher MELD score were associated with mortality but no baseline variable was associated with recurrence in this cohort.</p>