Ultimate Smoked & Candied Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Lip-smacking succulent Candied Pork Belly Smoked Burnt ends. Smoked to perfection. these crispy and melt-in-your-mouth bites of pig candy are the perfect addition to any game day or BBQ gathering.

Succulent Pig Candy aka “Meat Candy”

I didn’t grow up eating pork belly but I honestly think I’m making up for lost time now! I swear I’m making this weekly if not every 2 weeks. I’ll mix up the flavors and seasonings but it always turns absolutely perfect thanks to smoking it on my Yoder Smokers YS640!

Grab Your Ingredients

The beauty of this recipe is that it only requires a few ingredients:

• Pork belly – cubed and the skin removed if it doesn’t come already removed. *You can leave the fat cap on
• Seasonings – Chupacabra Ribnoxious & Chupacabra A Fine Meat Rub
• Light Brown Sugar
• Juice – peach, apple, or white grape works
• BBQ Sauce – go with your favorite type

Let’s Make Smoked Candied Pork Belly Burnt Ends

1. Add the cubed pork belly, the Chupacabra Ribnoxious, and the Chupacabra A Fine Meat Rub seasonings to a large plastic bag. Seal the bag and coat all of the pieces evenly with the seasonings. Place the bag into the fridge overnight (or at least 2 hours) to allow the seasoning to soak in.

2. Grab a rimmed baking pan and place a cooling rack on top. Place the coated pork belly ends on the cooling rack. If needed, dust with a bit more seasoning.

Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640

When it comes to cooking anything pork in the smoker, I opt to go with an all-fruit pellet or a mix of competition and fruit.

3. When you’re ready to smoke the pork belly, preheat the Yoder Smokers YS640 to 250F. I used fruit pellets for this smoke. The damper is 1/2 way open.

Into The Smoker

4. To make it easier, place the cooling racks with the pieces on them onto the smoker rack. Place foil or tray on the lower rack below the pork belly to help catch the fat and drippings. Insert a MEATER probe to watch the temps. Close the lid and smoke for about 3 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 175 F.

5. Increase the smoker temperature to 300F. Take 2 large pieces of foil, double stacked, and place the pork belly pieces onto the foil. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and juice. Close up the foil around the pieces to make a foil packet and place it on the top rack for another 40-60 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 200F.
6. Open up the foil packet, brush on the BBQ sauce, and smoke with the foil open for another 15-20 minutes to set the sauce. * Alternatively, you can coat the pieces and place them directly on the smoker grate (make sure you spray the grate with neutral oil) to set the sauce.

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Burnt Ends

So Mr. Fantabulous is full of surprises these days. When I made this batch, we had a friend over who was crazy-excited that I was making these. Mr. Fantabulous was iffy as he is weird when it comes to stuff like this. For example, he’s just meh when it comes to bacon. I know, right?!

So when I made this I told the guys to try it. Ricky was all about these and was 2-fisting shoveling these in his mouth (so loved that!). Mr. Fantabulous looked it, looked at me and I guess gave into peer pressure or the fact that Ricky said he was going to take his if he wasn’t going to eat it.

He took 1 bite and you could see the “WOW!!!” look pop up in his eyes. He was hooked. Like we’re talking madly in love with these things. Almost too much as I almost didn’t get any.

These just squish between your fingers like you’ve seen in all 9 bajillion videos and clips out there. But these were too amazing to play with my food to show you. I can tell you that one piece that is squished in the image, I threatened both guys that if they touched it I would never feed them again. Needless to say, when you threaten that, they listen

Oven Directions

I’ve already shared with you how you can make burnt ends in the Instant Pot but you can also make these in the oven if you don’t have a smoker.

Now you won’t quite get the same smoked flavor as what you’d get from the Yoder Smokers YS640 but you can use some smoked seasonings to give it some smoky flavors.

1. Preheat the oven to 275F. *I would also add some smoke paprika or chipotle powder to the seasonings to give it some smoky flavor. Follow the instructions on cubing, seasonning and placing on a wire rack atop a rimmed baking sheet. Place the pork belly tray on the top rack of the oven and place the rimmed baking sheet below it to catch all of the drippings.
2. Check it at the hour mark and if needed, give it a spritz with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and peach/apple/white grape juice. Close the oven door and continue cooking until it reaches 175F.
3. Add the bites to a baking pan, add the brown sugar and juice. Cover with foil tightly and continue cooking until it reaches 200F. Uncover, remove the liquid, baste with BBQ sauce and broil until the sauce is set.

Ultimate Smoked & Candied Pork Belly Burnt Ends

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Lip-smacking succulent Candied Pork Belly Smoked Burnt ends. Smoked to perfection. these crispy and melt-in-your-mouth bites of .pig candy are the perfect addition to any game day or BBQ gathering.

• Author: Lori
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 4-5 hours
• Total Time: 6 hours
• Yield: ~5 pounds
• Category: pork belly, pig candy, football foods, snacks, finger foods, cookout, bbq pork
• Method: smoker
• Cuisine: pork belly, pig candy, football foods, snacks, finger foods, cookout, bbq pork

Ingredients

• 5 pounds pork belly, cut into 1–2” cubes
• 3 Tablespoons Chupacabra Ribnoxious, plus extra if needed
• 3 Tablespoons Chupacabra A Fine Meat Rub, plus extra if needed
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peach/apple/white grape juice (your choice of flavor)
• 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce

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Instructions

1. To a large plastic bag, add the cubed pork belly, the Chupacabra Ribnoxious, and the Chupacabra A Fine Meat Rub Seal the bag and coat all of the pieces evenly with the seasonings. Place the bag into the fridge overnight (or at least 2 hours) to allow the seasoning to soak in.
2. When you’re ready to smoke the pork belly, preheat the Yoder Smokers YS640 to 250F. I used fruit pellets for this smoke. The damper was 1/2 way open.
3. Grab a rimmed baking pan and place a cooling rack on top. Place the coated pork belly ends on the cooling rack. If needed, dust with a bit more seasoning.
4. To make it easier, place the cooling racks with the pieces on them onto the smoker rack. Place foil or tray on the lower rack below the pork belly to help catch the fat and drippings. Close the lid and smoke for about 3 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 175 F.
5. Increase the smoker temperature to 300F. Take 2 large pieces of foil, double stacked, and place the pork belly pieces onto the foil. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and juice. Close up the foil around the pieces to make a foil packet and place it on the top rack for another 40-60 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 200F.
6. Open up the foil packet, brush on the BBQ sauce, and smoke with the foil open for another 15-20 minutes to set the sauce. * Alternatively, you can coat the pieces and place them directly on the smoker grate (make sure you spray the grate with neutral oil) to set the sauce.
7. Once set, remove from the smoker and serve.

Notes

*Time does not include fridge chilling

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