Pumpkin Spice Pork belly exists, and it’s fantastic. During the winter months, my family loves warming our souls and belly with little cubes of perfection we call pumpkin spice pork belly. I find that it’s an elegant protein filled with great flavors but amazingly easy to grill. From tacos to pasta, Pumpkin Spice Pork Belly Recipe & Pumpkin Spice Rub is the embodiment of fall & winter.
My pumpkin spice pork belly recipe sounds like something like that is difficult to make, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Pork belly and pumpkin spice are two trendy ingredients that have been very popular over the last several years. Sometimes, trendy isn’t necessarily a good thing, but in this case, it’s an incredible thing when they are combined. The fall flavors of pumpkin spice are a natural companion with a rich and tasty pork belly.
Snake River Farms Kurobuta Pork Belly has a fun name with fantastic flavor. A pork belly is a boneless cut of pork that remains after the loin and spare ribs have been removed. You can cook pork belly in a number of different that are succulent and richly flavorful, but one of my favorite methods involves grilling it using a slower cooking method.
I often add smoke to my pork belly recipes using a pellet or charcoal grill. However, this pumpkin spice pork belly doesn’t need much smoke, although a little isn’t bad. You can cook this recipe quickly in a traditional oven, but grilling it is best. To do this, having a grill with excellent heat control to achieve constant indirect heat will make all the difference. For this recipe, I used my Bull Angus Grill, which contains ReliaBull heat technology, which helps with cooking.
Pumpkin Spice Rub
The super-easy spice rub will add those remarkable fall & winter flavors to our pork belly. The main ingredients are the one-two knockout punch flavorful combination of Spiceology pumpkin pie spice and five-spice powder. Rather than individually adding cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, peppercorns, star anise, and fennel seeds, using both of these spice blends saves time and heartache. The combinations will give us flavorful pork with slight notes of spiciness. Sometimes, I also add a little chili powder to increase the heat level of the pork.
After cutting a crosshatch pattern into the pork belly, I rub the spice blend into both sides of the meat. Usually, after I’ve rubbed the pumpkin spice rub blend into the pork, I wrap it for at least a couple of hours. The flavors are so robust that the pork doesn’t need long to absorb the pumpkin spice rub.
One of my favorite recipes to pair my pumpkin spice pork belly is the always yummy Pumpkin Spice Cream Sauce and fresh pasta. However, that isn’t the only winning combo for pork belly. It’s fantastic in tacos with a mole sauce or on its own with fresh vegetables.
Pumpkin Spice Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup pumpkin spice
- 1/4 cup 5 spice powder
- 1/4 salt
- 1 tbp white pepper
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp ancho chili powder
- 1
large piece of Pork Belly
Instructions
- Combine all the seasoning in a medium-size bowl and mix together.
- Place the pork belly on a roasting rack that sits on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Using a sharp knife score the fat side in a diagonal pattern. Try to stop short of cutting into the meat.
- Use the pumpkin pie spice to liberally season both sides of the pork belly. Be sure to press the pumpkin spice mixture into the meat.
- Place in the middle of a Bull Grill that’s been preheated to high using indirect heat. Close the lid and wait about 15 minutes. Then turn the pork 180 degrees and close the lid again and wait another 15 minutes
- After 30 minutes of high heat lower the temp of the outer burns to medium-high and the innermost burners to low.
- Let it cook for a good hour and remove the meat once it’s tender but not mushy. Remove from the grill and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Slice into 1-inch size cube shapes and serve.
