Burnt End Bologna Bites

A chub of bologna cubed and seasoned then smoked. Then transfer the cubes to a disposable aluminum pan and slather with butter, BBQ sauce and honey and smoke again until pillowy soft to make Burnt End Bologna Bites.

What meat makes the best burnt ends?

What qualifies as a burnt end?

Some argue the only true burnt ends are from the brisket point But I would counter that it’s not called burnt points. And near as I can tell, there is no rhyme or reason as to why they are called ends, other than the point is on one side of the brisket. So that leaves the burnt part. That takes its name from the fact that the brisket point is essentially cooked twice. Overcooked in fact, to make them pillowy soft. Overcooked is pretty similar to burnt. Essentially, a burnt end is overcooked meat that is beyond tender. Pillowy perfection, if you will.

Burnt Ends aren’t just Brisket Anymore

So people began using other cuts and proteins. Pork Belly Burnt Ends are positively addictive. (And pork belly hot dogs are incredible!) Also, poor man’s burnt ends made from chuck roast are divine.

Here, I give you really poor man’s burnt ends that I made with bologna. Specifically pork bologna. We actually cooked these Burnt End Bologna Bites with both pork and beef, but trust me on this one, pork is the only way to go.

Also, some people prefer the word bologna and some baloney. I’ll be interchanging them throughout this post. 

Burnt End Bologna Bites Ingredients:

• 1/2 chub** of bologna, cubed into bite sized nuggets
• Cheap ass yellow mustard
• Your favorite low salt or no salt BBQ rub, divided
• 1-2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• Toothpicks
• A dusting of BBQ rub for the end (hence the divided part above)

**A “chub” of bologna is actually a technical term that sounds made up. Similar to a group of Rhinoceroses (Rhinoceri?) being a “charge.” The whole tube of bologna that cold cuts are sliced from is called a chub. 

Pork and Beef

For our inaugural run of this recipe, we tried both pork bologna and beef bologna:

This is going to look a little unsettling side by side:

Bologna Prep

Start by cubing the bologna into bite size chunks, place them in an aluminum tray and hit them with some of the cheap ass yellow mustard:

Then go over them with enough rub to coat, between a 1/4 – 1/2 cup.

Work the mustard and rub around to coat all sides of the cubes:

What cut of meat is poor man’s burnt ends?

Burnt ends made out of bologna would seem like poor man’s burnt ends, but poor man’s burnt ends are actually made from beef chuck roasts. Where that is funny is that chuck roast and bologna cost more than brisket right now so brisket is actually the cheaper cut. 

How to Grill Burnt End Bologna Bites

Now spark up the smoker to 250F degrees and place the baloney bites directly on the grill grates to maximize smoke penetration:

30 minutes in:

About 45 minutes in

More Baloney Prep:

We smoked these for about 45 minutes until they reached 160 degrees.

Then we pulled them from the smoker, put the baloney into another aluminum pan with the BBQ sauce, salt free butter, honey, and a little rub (not pictured):

If you let the bologna bites cool, you can just use your fingers (again gloves are great here) to swirl baloney around to mix all the ingredients in or just use some tongs:

Back on the grill

Then, cover the aluminum pan(s) with foil and place back into the smoker:

The Burnt End Bologna Bites are done when they are probe or toothpick tender.

That means the temperature probe from a thermometer or a toothpick slide in and out of the majority of these with the greatest of ease.

It should be about 30-40 minutes.

Plating the burnt end bologna bits

When they are probe or toothpick tender, remove from the heat, place on a serving tray, stab each one with a toothpick and dust with a little rub. Serve and smile. 

And then serve:

Burnt End Bologna Bites Summary

Sorry the amounts, times and directions are a little vague here. We aren’t making Beef Wellington. These things have a large window to get them right and are pretty simple to cook. Just make sure to limit any extra salt in this recipe. There’s puh-lenty in the chub itself. And as long as you cook them long enough to be probe/toothpick tender, they will be perfect.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email. 

Also, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook page, Instagram, and YouTube feeds

Burnt End Bologna Bites Recipe Card

Print Recipe

4.50 from 2 votes

Burnt End Bologna Bites

Bologna cubes, double smoked until pillowy tender and slathered in a buttery, honey slathered barbecue sauce to make burnt end bologna bites

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs

Course: Appetizer, Finger Food

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Finger Food, Grilling, Pork, Street Food

Keyword: Baloney, Beef, Bologna, Bologna Bites, Bologna Burnt Ends, Burnt End Bologna Bites, Burnt Ends, Green Mountain Grills, Pellet Cooker, Pellet Grill, Pellet Smoker, Pork, Smoked Pork, Smoker

Servings: 10 People

Equipment

• toothpicks

Ingredients

• ½ chub bologna cubed into bite sized nuggets
• cheap ass yellow mustard
• your favorite low salt or no salt BBQ rub divided
• 1 to 2 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter (½ stick)
• ½ cup honey
• your favorite BBQ rub for dusting at the end

Instructions

• Cube the bologna chub and slather the cubes with yellow mustard before dusting with salt free barbecue rub
• Once the cubes are coated all the way around, prep the smoker for 250 degrees and your choice of smoke wood
• Place the bologna bites an inch apart throughout the smoker
• Once they hit about 160F internal (about an 45 minutes later), remove from the grill and place in another aluminum pan with the sauce, unsalted butter, honey and some more rub
• Use tongs to work the sauce, rub and butter around all sides of the baloney bites and cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil
• Place the pan(s) back on the grill
• After another 30 minutes do a probe/toothpick test on a few of the bites. If the probe or toothpick slide in and out with ease, they are done. If the probe/toothpick does not, cook another 10 minutes and check again

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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