Smoked Pork Belly Recipe (Step By Step)

Glazed pork belly in a foil pan with bbq sauce.

4.80 from 15 votes

Smoked Pork Belly Recipe (Step By Step)

Our method for smoked pork belly sears the exterior crisp like bacon while leaving the inside melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It's so good, it doesn't even need a sauce! (But we include our favorite cherry bbq sauce for good measure!)

Course Barbecue

Cuisine Barbecue

Keyword cherry pork belly, pork belly smoker recipe, smoked pork belly

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 2 30

Additional Time 30

Total Time 3 15

Servings full steam table pan

Calories 116kcal

Author Sarah Penrod

Equipment

Ingredients

1 whole pork belly
1/3 cup favorite pork dry rub rib rubs, barbecue pork rubs, hot and sweet rub, asian rub, etc.
2 disposable foil pans and 2 baking racks make this procedure much easier

Sauce:

1/2 c. favorite barbecue sauce I like Stubb's or Meat Mitch
1/2 c. cherry preserves
1 T. yellow mustard
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1/2 stick butter 4 tablespoons

Instructions

Prepping the Pork Belly

1. Preheat the smoker to 275 degrees. (Fill your pellet grill with fresh pellets or your electric smoker with wood chips, enough for a 3-hour smoke.)
2. Chill the slab of pork belly in a refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes. On an extra large cutting board, lay the pork belly out fat side up and slice vertically to cut slabs 1- 1 1/2 inches thick.
3. Cut these slabs into cubes of about 1 1 1/2 inch thickness. As stated in the post, the size and shape of your pork belly is customizable. We like cubes, but larger portions like rectangles can also be done depending on your final desired presentation.
4. Place your dry rub of choice in a small bowl and roll each cube in the spices. Don't be afraid to coat them fully. Then place it on a baking or cooling rack.
**We like these baking racks which we use to cool cookies. The pork belly can also be placed onto the smoker on top of grill grates, but really some vehicle should be used to move the cubes in 2 large batches and 2 baking racks seem to be the best way.

Smoking the Pork Belly: Part 1

5. Place the baking rack full of seasoned pork belly onto the smoker over indirect heat and close the chamber. A meat thermometer may be placed into a cube if preferred, but I like to start checking them after about 2 hours with a digital thermometer, such as the Thermoprobe. They are little and loaded with fat and so it's hard to get a temperature probe to stay correctly inserted throughout cooking.
6. Smoke the pork belly bites until the internal temperature is 190-195 degrees F. A full pork belly took approximately 2.5 hours on our pellet smoker.
7. Pull the smoked pork belly out of the smoker and transfer it into a foil roasting pan. (I used 2 half steam table pans.) Make sure you try one at this stage before saucing because you may even like them naked. We certainly did!

Glazing the Pork Belly: Part 2

8. In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup of your favorite bbq sauce, cherry preserves, mustard, butter, and vinegar. Microwave for 1-2 minutes and whisk well. Pour this over the cubes of pork belly, tossing well so that each cube is covered in sauce.
9. Place back in the smoker for 30 minutes to set the glaze.
10. Remove from the smoker and serve immediately.

Nutrition