Smoked Pork Belly Burnt Ends
My smoked pork belly burnt ends are melt-in-your-mouth tender, juicy, and so very flavorful that it will be easy to understand why it's called "meat candy."
Servings: 6
Calories: 889kcal
Equipment
- Electric Smoker or pellet smoker, propane smoker or charcoal smoker.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork belly
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper or black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or your favorite oil
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the smoker to 250 degrees.
- Fill the smoke tube with your favorite wood chips. For this recipe, we used cherry wood. Pecan and apple wood are also good choices.
- Add the kosher salt, white pepper, ground sage, and garlic powder to a small bowl and whisk to thoroughly combine the seasonings.Set aside until needed.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the pork belly slab into one -inch cubes.
- Place the cubes in a disposable aluminum pan or baking pan that can go into the smoker.
- Add the olive oil to the pork belly cubes and mix to coat all the pieces.
- Add the seasoning blend to the pan and toss to evenly season all of the pork belly cubes.
- Place the foil pan with pork belly into the preheated smoker.
- After 2 hours check the smoker tube and add more wood chips if needed. You'll get a feel for how often you need to add wood chips, make sure to keep it loaded so that delicious smoked flavor gets into every little nook and cranny of the meat.
- Continue to let the pork cook for an additional 2.5 -3 hours, until the pork belly cubes reach an internal temperature of 200 degrees. That's the sweet spot for smoked pork.
- When the pork has reached 200 degrees remove the pan from smoker.
- Toss with my semi-homemade bbq sauce or your favorite brand of barbecue sauce.
- Return the pan to smoker for additional hour, giving the cubes time to crisp up and absorb the bbq sauce.
- Remove the pan from the smoker and let the pork belly sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- You can make soft or hard tacos with the pork belly or use it make a sandwich. You can also stick toothpicks in the pieces as serve it as a Meat Candy appetizer.
Nutrition
Calories: 889kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 83g | Saturated Fat: 30g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 39g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 902mg | Potassium: 397mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 123IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg