So everyone knows I love bacon but I don’t want anyone to think that I discriminate against any of the other amazing things you can do with pork belly. Lately, I have been working hard at mastering my own homemade bacon but I haven’t perfected it enough to share yet. Since I had a plethora of pork belly though I decided I would make a new, simple recipe that everyone can enjoy. If you have a smoker, great, if not you should probably buy one ;). Just kidding, you can totally roast this in the oven as well. I included instructions for both so everyone can be happy with this delicious swine.
I get emails and questions all the time asking how learning how to cook or what flavors to combine. Truth is, I know just as little as most of the people asking me do, I just experiment and learn my lessons along the way. One of the things to remember when cooking is, simple will always be better. If you are always striving to use the highest quality ingredients that you can, you want your food to be the star and not your seasonings to mask something. Don’t ever underestimate the value of salt and pepper on anything. Whether it is this pork belly, your burgers, or an amazing grass fed steak. Some of the most amazing restaurants around the world only season with salt, pepper and love.
Point is, don’t ever be intimidated to try something new and when in doubt just keep it simple. With that being said, I am simply out of things to talk about besides how amazing this tasted. So scroll down a bit, and get to work. Also don’t forget that if you want to keep receiving my recipes via email in case you can’t check my website every now and then, ensure you subscribe to my newsletter.
Chocolate Espresso Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 3 pound pork belly skin removed
- 2 tablespoons Choffy see notes
- 2 tablespoons espresso or ground Hug In A Mug Coffee
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Smoker
- Before you prepare your pork belly, preheat your smoker to smoke at 225 degrees Fahrenheit (107 Celsius)
- While your smoker is warming up, wash your pork belly with cold water and pat dry
- Score the fat side of the pork belly in a checkerboard pattern without cutting into the meat
- Mix your choffy (or cocoa powder), coffee, sea salt, and black pepper together and liberally season your pork belly over the checkerboard. Ensure you get seasoning into the grooves
- If you have a leave in meat thermometer, now is the time to insert it
- Place your pork belly on your smoker and go take a nap
- Let your pork belly smoke for 4-5 hours
- You can pull your pork belly off when it reaches an internal temperature of 150 Degrees Fahrenheit (66 Celsius) or you can leave it up til 170 degrees Fahrenheit (77 Celsius)
- Once it is done, remove it from the smoker and slice to serve to the size you prefer
- I like to serve my roasted pork belly with roasted root vegetables like my carrots or sweet potatoes to contrast the saltiness and cut the richness
Oven
- Before you prepare your pork belly, preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (218 Celsius)
- While your oven is preheating, wash your pork belly with cold water and pat dry
- Score the fat side of the pork belly in a checkerboard pattern without cutting into the meat
- Mix your choffy (or cocoa powder), coffee, sea salt, and black pepper together and liberally season your pork belly over the checkerboard. Ensure you get seasoning into the grooves
- If you have a leave in meat thermometer, now is the time to insert it
- Place your pork belly on an elevated rack over a cookie sheet or pan and place it in your preheated oven
- Roast for 30 minutes and then reduce the temp to 350 degrees and roast for 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until the internal temperature reaches anywhere between 150-170 Degrees Fahrenheit (66-77 Celsius) which is your preference. It is almost impossible to overcook pork belly
- Once it is done, remove it from the oven and slice to serve to the size you prefer
- I like to serve my roasted pork belly with roasted root vegetables like my carrots or sweet potatoes to contrast the saltiness and cut the richness
Notes
****Disclosure: If you purchase any of the products linked in this post or products through the links on the right side of my page, I receive a small percentage from the respected affiliate programs****
Sausage and Onions
Would this work on a pork tenderloin how long would I smoke it with a 2.5 pound loin.
How long before putting on the smoker should you season it I usually!ly do it the night before to let the flavors soak in. N
Would it be possible for this to be prepared in a slow cooker?
DEFINITELY!
I made this tonight and it was done after about an hour! I am curious if there is a missing step, such as reducing the oven temp, or it the 425 degrees was not the correct temp?
Regardless, the pork belly was delicious!
I just changed it, you were supposed to reduce the temp and I forgot to type that :)
Dear sweet God almighty that looks good! I do have one question, when you smoke it, what kind of wood smoke would you recomend? I would think an Apple wood would go really well with it. Maybe Cherry wood.
Patrick, I use a blend of apple, hickory and cherry mostly but any of them work amazing
Awesome thank you Patrick
Sigh….George, can I just come and cook with you for a month? I’ll do all the dishes!
Haha why
Woohoo you will love it
Hi, this looks really delicious and I love how exotic the flavors are. However, no one in my family can eat/drink coffee- do you think replacing it with more raw cacao powder would be a bad idea? Thanks :)
I think it would work great
CHOFFY? Do you really use Choffy or did my eyes see what I wanted to see? Do you use it before you have brewed it or the grounds? If before, do you grind it to powder? Gotta go get some pork belly and try this (sans smoker
I really use Choffy and I just run it through my coffee grinder to make it finer before brewing. After brewing I add it to my banana bread
Hey, thanks for the great post. I have the same response when someone asks me how I come up with what I cook. Jump in and don’t make it difficult is my thought. I really like the melange of flavors you have in this recipe. I used something similar once when I smoked a fillet of salmon. Really delicious.
I’m wondering why you remove the skin? It is our favorite part of a good piece of belly pork. We roast it close to the broiler element to get the skin really crispy, then lower the temp to finish roasting. I imagine we could take off the skin and crisp it up separately, but the fatty layer underneath is so delicious with the crispy skin…mmmm…
Anyway, thanks for the great ideas!
I remove the skin because I do it separately and most people will find it easier that way
This will be my first time making pork belly. If I want to leave the skin on, what do I need to do differently?
Nope you can do it the same, just at the end turn the oven up or the broiler on to crisp the skin if you like :)
Thanks George! I’m going to cook it on the grill on Sunday and I’ll finish it up in the broiler! You have some really delicious recipes on your website and my family has not been disappointed in anything we have tried. We’ve been paleo for 3 weeks now and you’ve made the transition very tasty and easy for us! Thanks again!
Woohoo that is awesome, please keep up the awesome work :)
And by grill, I mean smoker. And by me cooking it, I mean my husband, lol.
Mmm I love the idea of a choco-coffee rub for pork. For those of us without smokers, do you think this rub would work with oven-roasted pork? Chocolate-coffee rubbed pork chops, maybe?
Yes Jo, I put oven instructions too, did you see them?
Ahah! I am a dufus. Thank you.