Equipment You’ll Need
- Louisiana Grills 800 Premier
- Hickory Wood Pellets
- Aluminum Foil
- You Need a BBQ Cutting Board
- Yonedas Okami Chef Knife
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Pork Belly
- 1 cup Yonedas Jacek Chocolate BBQ Rub
Instructions
Step 1: Preheat Your Smoker
Set your smoker to 275°F. We recommend hickory wood pellets for this cook, as they pair beautifully with pork belly and enhance the chocolate rub with a rich, smoky backbone.
Step 2: Prep and Season the Pork Belly
Start by removing any excess moisture from the pork belly with paper towels. Then, slice the pork belly into 1-inch thick strips. Cutting it before smoking gives you more surface area to coat in seasoning and helps develop crispier edges all around.
Generously apply the Yonedas Jacek Chocolate BBQ Rub to all four sides of each strip. Press the rub into the meat firmly to help it adhere—pat it, don’t rub it off. Once seasoned, let the pork belly rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. This gives the seasoning time to soak in and ensures a more even cook when it hits the smoker.
Step 3: Smoke the Pork Belly
Arrange the pork belly strips directly on your smoker grates, leaving at least ½ inch of space between each piece so the smoke can circulate evenly. Close the lid and let them cook undisturbed.
Flip the strips every 40 minutes during the first 2 hours. This helps develop a deep, caramelized crust on all sides and promotes even fat rendering. You’re looking for crispy edges and a rich, mahogany color on the outside of each piece.
Step 4: Wrap and Finish
Once the pork belly has that beautiful bark and you’re happy with the color, it’s time to tenderize. Wrap 2–3 strips together tightly in aluminum foil. You can do this in multiple pouches depending on how many strips you have.
Return the foil-wrapped pouches to the smoker and continue cooking for 1 more hour. This steams the pork belly in its own juices, breaking down connective tissue and making it fork-tender without losing that flavorful exterior.
Step 5: Rest and Serve
After the final hour, remove the pork belly from the smoker and let it rest for 15–20 minutes while still wrapped. This step allows the juices to redistribute, ensuring every bite is moist and flavorful.
Unwrap, slice, and serve hot. These pork belly strips are incredibly versatile—you can toss them in a taco, scatter them on top of a salad, serve them over rice, or just eat them straight up. We made tacos with ours and they were next-level good.
Quick Recap
- Preheat smoker to 275°F using hickory pellets.
- Cut pork belly into 1” thick strips.
- Season all sides of each strip with Yonedas Jacek Chocolate BBQ Rub.
- Let rest for 20 minutes before smoking.
- Smoke for 2 hours, flipping every 40 minutes.
- Wrap in foil (2–3 strips per pouch) and return to the smoker for 1 hour.
- Rest wrapped for 15–20 minutes, then slice and serve hot.
Helpful Tips and Notes
What if I can only find pork belly with the skin on?
That’s totally fine and pretty common. For this recipe, you want to remove the skin, but don’t toss it out! Dry it in the fridge for a day or two, then cook it separately to make crackling—a delicious bonus snack.
Can I use a different cut of pork?
Yes! While pork belly gives you the perfect balance of fat and meat, you can also try this method with other fatty cuts like pork shoulder, pork butt, picnic roast, or even pork steaks. Leaner cuts like loin or tenderloin will need a shorter cook time and should be cooked to an internal temp of 145°F for juiciness.
Tell me more about the tacos you made!
Tacos are one of my all-time favorite handheld foods—just under pizza and burgers, but definitely ahead of hot dogs and smokies. When I made this pork belly, I paired it with jalapeño black beans (recipe coming soon!) and served it in hard taco shells. My kids absolutely devoured them—possibly the happiest they’ve ever been about a dinner I made. This pork belly just has that “special occasion” vibe.