A silicon carbide porous body according to the present invention contains silicon carbide particles, metallic silicon, and an oxide phase, in which the silicon carbide particles are bonded together via at least one of the metallic silicon and the oxide phase. The primary component of the oxide phase is cordierite, and the open porosity is 10% to 40%. Preferably, the silicon carbide porous body contains 50% to 80% by weight of silicon carbide, 15% to 40% by weight of metallic silicon, and 1% to 25% by weight of cordierite. Preferably, the volume resistivity is 1 to 80 Ωcm, and the thermal conductivity is 30 to 70 W/m·K.