Pork Belly Burnt Ends – A Game Day Favorite

Pork Belly Burnt Ends is a great option for your tailgating menu. Pork belly makes an amazing gameday burnt ends recipe, after all, it’s what bacon comes from!

They are easy to cook. Cube them, dust them with a BBQ rub, smoke them, and sauce them! Let’s talk about it.

What is Pork Belly

Pork belly, what is it? Pork belly is a boneless cut of meat from the pig’s belly. This is a delicious and flavorful piece of meat that is layered with fat for some amazing “bacon” flavor.

The pork belly can be cooked by itself, cooked whole, or cured and made into bacon. Oh, and it can also be cubed for pork belly burnt ends! That’s why you are reading this blog post, right?

Pork Belly Burnt Ends – What is so Special About Them

Burnt ends are tender, juicy, and if cooked right, they become candy pork belly!

The term “burnt ends” often conjures images of a brisket burnt ends. After smoking a brisket, part of the point is cubed, tossed in BBQ sauce and BBQ rub. Put back on the pit, and the result is brisket burnt ends.

I would argue that they might be a better candidate for burnt ends vs brisket.

Burnt Ends - Picture This

Let me try to paint a picture. Think of burnt ends pork belly as being cubed, “marshmallowy” bacon chunks.

These fluffy bacon chunks are smoked, tossed with your favorite BBQ rub—I like to use Butcher BBQ Honey Rub. Then smoked with a fruit wood, like apple or cherry. Finally, smothered in your favorite BBQ sauce for that sticky, tacky BBQ goodness we are looking for!

Are you getting hungry, because I am!

Pork Belly Burnt Ends – How to Cook Them?

Ok, let’s get back to the pork belly burnt ends recipe for your next tailgate!

As soon as you pull your pork belly out of the refrigerator, start to cut it into chunks. The colder the better for your boning knife to easily slice through the belly.

I would suggest cutting your pork belly into 1-inch by 1-inch square chunks. If you want larger pork belly cubes, by all means, cut them in larger cubes.

We also have a video below explaining how to smoke pork belly burnt ends:

Add the BBQ Rub

Now we are on to the fun part, dust your pork belly burnt ends with your favorite rub.

I like to use Butcher BBQ Premium Rub with my burnt ends. It is a sweet BBQ rub that pairs very well with pork!

You will want to make sure and toss your pork belly chunks so all sides are coated with rub.

Now place your pork belly cubes on a wire rack and let them rest in your refrigerator for about an hour.

Time to Fire Up the Pit

Now we are getting somewhere! Fire up your pit and get it to 250-275°F. Add your favorite wood chunks or flavored pellets. I like to use apple wood when I smoke any pork.

After about an hour, your pork belly chunks should be wet and ready for the smoker. Put them on the smoker and let them cook for about two hours. After two hours, check and see how they are looking.

Your pork belly burnt ends should have rendered a lot of fat. They should have started to form a delicious brown colored bark. If you probe them with a thermometer or toothpick, they should have very little resistance. We are more interested in the texture of your burnt ends at this point, but an internal temperature should be around 170-180°F.

Pork Belly Burnt Ends Into a Half Pan

Ok, now we are getting somewhere! Move your pork belly cubes to a half pan and add the following ingredients:

• Sprinkle about a half cup of brown sugar on your chunks.
• Squeeze about 2 ounces of honey on your burnt ends.
• Cut up a stick of butter into 1 tbsp chunks and place them all around the pan.

Back on the Pit

Cover your pan of pork belly burnt ends with aluminum foil and put them back on the pit for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take a minute and toss your burnt ends in that delicious au jus sauce! The sauce in the bottom of that pan is packed with flavor!

Ok, now take them out of the first half pan and put them into a new half pan. This is the step where we make them tacky and delicious!

Find your favorite BBQ sauce, I like Butcher BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce, and drizzle your sauce over burnt ends and put them uncovered back on the pit for 10-15 minutes.

This is only a suggestion, let them smoke longer until the BBQ sauce is tacked up to your liking!

The internal temperature we are looking for should be between 190-200°F.

You can pull your burnt ends earlier, but I like mine to be marshmallowy tender!

Let the burnt ends rest for about 15 minutes. Then holler at the crew and dig in before the game starts!

In Conclusion

Pork belly burnt ends are truly pork belly candy and they melt in your mouth! Combine it with Butcher BBQ Premium Rub and Butcher BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce and “it’s good”!

Now let’s get that pit fired up at your next tailgate and smoke some pork belly candy for the win!

Oh, leave us a comment below how you did with your cook! We love to hear from our readers.