These Pork Belly Burnt Ends are smoked in an electric smoker and caramelized in a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. They are the perfect smoked meat appetizer to serve at a party.
Pork belly is the part of the pig from where bacon is cut. We think of pork belly as 3D bacon! Unlike bacon, pork belly is not cured or smoked, so it's a blank canvas that allows you to add your own seasoning and smoke.
A trendy way to cook pork belly these days is to cube it, then season and smoke it, and finally sauce it for the most delicious appetizer for bacon lovers.
Because of the high fat content of pork belly, it can take time to render that fat and make the meat nice and tender versus rubbery and inedible. Here we show you exactly how to cook the pork belly so it's one of the best meats you've ever tasted!
We treat pork belly similarly to baby back ribs or pork spareribs, following a modified 3-2-1 method of smoking, wrapping, and saucing. We find this makes for a super tender meat with great bark and lots of flavor.
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Purchasing Pork Belly
When purchasing pork belly, look for a package in your store's meat case with leaner strips of pork belly with lots of meat, around 50% meat to fat ratio. Stay away from strips that look like they are almost all fat.
Make sure you are purchasing pork belly that does not have skin on it.
We prefer to buy the kind that is already cut into strips, but you can get the full pork belly and cut it yourself.
The meat will shrink by about ½ the size when it's finished cooking. Plan on about 3-4 cutes per person as an appetizer, or more if you're serving it as a main course.
Cube and Season
Pork belly is very easy to prepare for smoking because it doesn't have to be washed or trimmed. Just simply use a good boning knife like this one from Imarku to cut it into chunks.
Cut into evenly sized cubes about 1 to 1.5 inches wide. Our package was 5 lbs.
Next, it's time to season the cubes with your favorite BBQ rub. We like using a combination of Meat Church's Gospel BBQ Rub and Three Little Pigs Championship Rub. The Gospel provides some sweetness, while the Three Little Pigs imparts salt and savory flavors.
Keep in mind that the pork belly is not already salted like bacon, so you'll need to make sure you choose a rub that does have a good amount of salt in it. Alternatively, you can just salt the meat separately from the rub.
Season the meat evenly on all sides, mixing around to coat. Set the meat aside for 20-30 minutes to let the seasoning set up on the outside of the meat while you get the smoker started.
Start the Smoker
Set the smoker temperature to 265°F. If you have a new Masterbuilt electric smoker, you may want to review How to Start a Masterbuilt for specific step by step instructions.
You will want to use a water pan for this stage to keep the cooking chamber moist.
For wood chips, we typically like to use apple, cherry or hickory. We also like pecan on pork, so we used that this time.
Lightly oil the smoker grates so that the pork doesn’t stick.
- Contains most popular flavors- Apple, Mesquite, Hickory, and Cherry
- Made in the USA
Stage 1: Smoke
Once the smoker is up to temperature and making smoke, put the pork belly cubes in smoker spaced evenly with the fat side up where possible.
The purpose of the first stage is to impart smoke flavor and to develop a bark on the cubes of meat.
Although we normally go by internal temperature for all types of meat, for this stage of the pork belly we are actually going for the look of the bark rather than a specific internal temperature.
Smoke the meat for about 2.5 - 3 hours. For longer smoking times like this, we like using the Masterbuilt cold smoker attachment that has tall chute for the wood chips, eliminating the need to refill the chips.
After about 2.5 -3 hours, the pork cubes should have a nice dark color with the bark set in place. At this point, they will be softer but not yet falling apart because a lot more fat still needs to render.
Once this occurs, it's time to wrap the meat.
- Continuous smoke when cold smoking or hot smoking up to 275˚F
- Automatically heats wood chips with the push of a button
- Continuous wood feed system provides up to 6 hours of continuous smoke without reloading
Stage 2: Wrap
Just like with our baby backs and spareribs, the second stage for pork belly is to wrap them to render out a lot of the fat.
Place the cubes in a single layer in 1 or 2 foil pans, sprinkle with brown sugar, place slices of butter on top, and drizzle with honey.
Cover in the pans in foil and place them back in the smoker.
Continue cooking the meat for about 2 more hours.
You are looking for the meat to be very soft and falling apart because more of the fat has rendered. After 2 hours, we recommend performing a "taste test." If the fat is still chewy, put the covered pans back in the smoker for another 20 minutes.
Stage 3: Sauce
Once the fat has rendered enough so that the meat is soft and falling apart, remove the pans from the smoker. Take the cubes of meat out of the melted fat and butter and place them in a new, clean foil pan.
Drizzle the meat with BBQ sauce. We recommend Blues Hog Champions' Blend sauce. Toss to coat all sides. This is a good time to taste a small piece to make sure there's enough salt and adjust accordingly.
Place the pan back in the smoker, uncovered, with the smoker vents open for 30 minutes to get the sauce to firm up and get tacky.
There's no need to rest the meat. Serve it immediately while it's still hot.
📖 Recipe
Pork Belly Burnt Ends in an Electric Smoker
Equipment
- 1 Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Pork Belly
- 3 tablespoon BBQ Rub such as Meat Church Gospel and Three Little Pigs
- ½ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 8 tablespoon Butter sliced into 8 pieces
- ¼ Cup Honey
- ½ Cup BBQ Sauce such as Blues Hog Champions' Blend
Instructions
Prepare the Pork Belly
- Cut the pork belly with a sharp knife into evenly sized cubes, about 1 to 1.5 inches wide.5 lbs Pork Belly
- Season the meat evenly on all sides with a BBQ rub containing salt, mixing around to coat.3 tablespoon BBQ Rub
- Set the meat aside for 20-30 minutes to let the seasoning set up on the outside of the meat while you get the smoker started.
Start the Smoker
- Set the smoker temperature to 265°F. You will want to use a water pan for this stage to keep the cooking chamber moist.
- Fill the wood chips in the wood tray.
- Lightly oil the grates so the meat doesn't stick.
Step 1: Smoke
- Once the smoker is up to temperature and making smoke, put the pork belly cubes in the smoker spaced evenly with the fat side up where possible.
- Smoke the meat for about 2.5 - 3 hours. The cubes should have a nice dark color with the bark set in place.
- At this point, they will be softer but not yet falling apart because a lot more fat still needs to render. Once this occurs, it's time to wrap the meat.
Stage 2: Wrap
- Place the cubes in a single layer in 1 or 2 foil pans, sprinkle with the brown sugar, place the slices of butter on top, and drizzle with the honey.½ Cup Dark Brown Sugar, 8 tablespoon Butter, ¼ Cup Honey
- Cover in the pans in foil and place them back in the smoker.
- Continue cooking the meat for about 2 more hours.
- You are looking for the meat to be very soft and falling apart because more of the fat has rendered. After 2 hours, we recommend performing a "taste test." If the fat is still chewy, put the covered pans back in the smoker for another 20 minutes.
Stage 3: Sauce
- Once the fat has rendered enough so that the meat is soft and falling apart, remove the pans from the smoker. Take the cubes of meat out of the melted fat and butter and place them in a new, clean foil pan.
- Drizzle the meat with BBQ sauce. Toss to coat all sides. Taste a small piece to make sure there's enough salt and adjust accordingly.½ Cup BBQ Sauce
- Place the pan back in the smoker, uncovered, with the smoker vents open for 30 minutes to get the sauce to firm up and get tacky.
- Serve immediately.
HAL LISKE says
Pellet BBQ different temps ???
Meghan Martigan says
Pellet grills tend to run a little hotter than what they say, so I would do 250 if you're not sure how accurate yours is.