How to Smoke Pork Belly, the Best Bite on the Barbecue

This article was published in partnership with 5-hour ENERGY

Grilled chicken thighs, smoked pork butt, beef brisket, and ribs are probably on rotation in your home, whether in a smoker, charcoal grill, or gas grill. Are you missing the best bite of barbecue? Today, we'll cover how to smoke pork belly, a fatty cut of pork that's the raw material for bacon before it's cured, smoked, and sliced.

“Pork belly is the best meat—fatty, tender, sometimes steak-like,” says Alejandro Najar, executive chef of The Butcher’s Cellar in Waco, TX. “It’s a very versatile cut of meat, and almost every country has a recipe for it.”

In Italy, panchetta is known as bacon that is essentially smoked but not cured, and Asian cultures often eat it with sweet and savory sauces, but barbecue enthusiast and fire fanatic Jordan Morris recommends cubed, smoked, and marinated pork belly, which he calls “burnt ends of pork belly.”

Below, we highlight tips and tricks for smoking pork belly and walk you through Morris's step-by-step preparation process so you can take the belly beyond bacon.

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How to Smoke Pork Belly

Whole pork belly can be purchased with or without the skin on. The skin may require extra care to cook properly, but it's a must if you're looking for a maximum crispy chicharron-like exterior on your finished product.

Morris uses skinless pork belly for his pork belly burnt ends recipe, then cuts the belly into 2-inch-by-2-inch cubes to speed cooking. Just as with the pork shoulder, Morris then rubs the cubes with a binder such as mustard and coats them with a spice mixture.

From there, he smokes the cubes at 250 degrees until they are tender and cooked through with an internal temperature in the 180 to 190 degree range. This should take 2 to 3 hours when cubed, or 4 to 5 hours if you choose to leave the belly whole to smoke.

The cubes are then mixed with a sweet sauce made of brown sugar, a dash of cola, ¼ cup of barbecue sauce, and enough butter so that the mixture evenly coats the cubes. Morris tosses the cubes into a chafing dish, which then acts as a cooking vessel that returns to the smoker for another hour, until the cubes are tender and their exteriors are lightly caramelized.

The finished cubes can be served alone as a barbecue appetizer, chopped for taco filling, or used in a sandwich. They also make a great topping for a barbecue sundae, piled on mashed potatoes and drizzled with barbecue sauce.

Other Ways to Smoke or Grill Pork Belly

Whether cooked on a charcoal grill or in a pellet smoker, pork belly responds well to the classic low-and-slow heat that melts the fat and cooks the meat gently. But the way the belly is finished and marinated creates a multitude of potential dishes.

Jack Yoss, vice president of culinary for Hai Hospitality and Loro Asian Smokehouses in Texas, says fusion dishes blend Asian sauces with traditional Texas barbecue techniques.

“We take the smoking and preparation seriously, and we keep that part of the process true to oak log-smoked Central Texas-style barbecue,” Yoss says. “The way we sauce, glaze, and finish the food is where we add our own unique touch.” Try finishing the pork belly with sweet, salty, and spicy Asian sauces like nam jim, hoisin, sweet chili, curry sauce, gochujang, or even miso sour pickles, Thai herbs, and more.

Content creator and food entrepreneur Jack Cuso has a recipe for Chicharrones Burnt Ends, similar to Morris' pork belly burnt ends, but covered in skin for a crispy texture. The skinned belly is smoked for 3 hours and crisped at 450 degrees, then sprinkled with a hot honey spice blend like Cuso Cuts Great Tasting Hot Honey BBQ Seasoning Rub.

Despite the variety of possible treatments, many chefs we spoke with still prefer a more traditional method of preparing barbecue. Try the simple method favored by Food Network personality and executive chef of Omaha Steaks David Rose: Dry-brine in a simple barbecue spice blend of brown sugar, chili powder, black pepper, celery, garlic, and salt, then slowly smoke over hickory wood until cooked through.

Unlike other tough cuts of meat, like pork shoulder, pork belly can be cooked quickly for barbecue flavor without waiting hours. “It can be sliced ​​thinly, so it can cook quickly without creating too many flare-ups on the grill,” Nguyen says. “Be sure to season it well with a spice blend or marinade.”

Why You Should Smoke Pork Belly

Pork belly is the fattiest part of the pig, making it a rich and flavorful cut of meat that remains flavorful and juicy despite a variety of cooking methods.

“Prepare this using any cooking method—smoked, grilled, fried, boiled,” says Najar. “Pork belly is, in my professional opinion, the easiest of all cuts of pork.”

Pork belly is also a fairly affordable cut, especially when purchased whole. Larger grocery stores like Costco and better butcher shops often carry it, but not all grocery stores that outsource their butchering carry it.

While easy to cook, the volume of fat in the belly means that the richness needs to be balanced, and this fat content leads to some challenges when cooking near the flame.

“Pork belly is arguably one of the most flavorful and beautiful cuts of pork, but it can be difficult to perfect when cooking outside,” warns Albert Nguyen, chef at the Institute of Culinary Education’s New York City campus. “The most sought-after feature of pork belly is its delicious ratio of fat to meat [approximately 30 percent fat]. That’s what makes it harder to manage.” Dripping grease can cause flare-ups on the grill, causing the temperature to rise, charring the outside and leaving off-flavors.

At the same time, it’s important to render the fat to avoid making your finished product oily or too oily. “When cooking pork belly, you have to be careful to render the fat properly. Otherwise, it can be too oily for some people,” says Serge Krikorian, executive chef/managing partner of Vibrant Occasions Catering.

Basic Equipment for Smoking Pork Belly

Lavatools Javelin Instant Read Digital Thermometer

An instant-read meat thermometer gives extremely accurate probe temperature readings in seconds and is a must-have piece of equipment for proper grilling. The Lavatools Javelin is a very affordable model that Jordan Morris uses. “The revolution from my parents’ generation to mine is cooking by temperature instead of cooking by time,” Morris says.

Four Roses x Ooni Bourbon Barrel Honey

Four Roses x Ooni Bourbon Barrel Honey is a collaboration between none other than the renowned bourbon maker and pizza oven master. It’s one of the easiest ways to enhance smoked meats. The sweetness is a perfect complement to the richness of pork belly, and the subtle smokiness of this bourbon barrel-finished wildflower honey makes for a great finishing drizzle or barbecue sauce ingredient.

Fire & Smoke Society Pork Perfect Spice Mix

Fire & Smoke Society Pork Perfect Spice Rub is a general purpose rub that perfectly blends heat and spice. Apply a generous rub to your pork belly before smoking, or use as a post-cooking flavor enhancer – alone or mixed into a finishing sauce.

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