Pork Belly Pig Shots

Cubed pork belly is seasoned and smoked on a pellet grill to make pork belly burnt ends. The burnt ends are then wrapped in thick bacon and topped with a cheese and pepper jelly filling. Then we place the assembled pig shots back on the pellet smoker again for more sultry smoke flavor. Finally the pig shots were glazed with agave nectar to form pork belly pig shots.

Before we move into this recipe, I wanted to share some other pork belly recipes from this site just in case you are diving down a pork belly rabbit hole:

• Pork Belly Burnt Ends
• New and Improved Pork Belly Burnt Ends with Hot Pepper Jelly
• Pork Belly Hot Dogs (these will blow your mind!)
• Crispy Pork Belly Sandos

What are Pig Shots?

Pig shots? Pork belly pig shots? Let me explain. So a typical pig shot is about a one inch section of smoked sausage, with a half a slice of bacon wrapped around the top creating a sort of pork shot glass. Then the open space at the top created by the bacon is pumped full of a filling (usually cheese based) and then glazed with something sweet like syrup, barbecue sauce or honey. They are absolutely wonderful. But of course I couldn’t do the typical pig shot. I had to change it up. Instead of sausage, I went with pork belly and I stepped outside the box for that sweet glaze at the end.

Pork Belly Pig Shots Ingredients:

• 2 lbs pork belly
• 3 disposable aluminum pans (1 to season the raw belly, and 2 for the final round of cooking)
• 1/4 cup your favorite barbecue rub (we used Firebox Rib Rub)
• 8 oz grated pepper jack cheese
• 16 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 3 tbsp hot pepper jelly
• 2 tbsp of that barbecue rub
• 1 resealable plastic bag or piping bag
• 2 lbs of thick bacon
• toothpicks
• 1/2 cup agave nectar

Scroll down to the bottom and check out the video we made of this cook that I posted to our YouTube channel and please subscribe.

Pork Belly Preparation:

First, grab the pork belly which is just uncured bacon:

Look familiar?

Then, slice the succulent belly into 1″-1.25″ cubes:

Then put the porcine cubes into an aluminum pan:

Hit the belly with whatever rub you like. We used this stuff – Firebox Spice Co Rib Rub:

For this pig shots recipe, simply sprinkle the barbecue rub over the pork belly cubes and mix it together until the cubes are coated all the way around. Keep adding rub until you get the amount of rub on the pork that you prefer:

Pork Belly Grilling Instructions:

Now it’s time to get the pellet grill going, which in this case is my Green Mountain Grill. I used some oak wood pellets simply because oak is probably my favorite smoke flavor. It’s soooo versatile. I can use it on almost any protein. Indeed, if I had to have just one smoke wood for the rest of my life it would be oak.

Next, set the cooker for 275F and place the pork belly on the grill:

Pro Tip ~ Space the pork cubes out so the chunks don’t touch each other. 

If the chunks of pork touch, it will take longer to cook them and it will cut down on the amount of bark that forms on the outside, so make sure to space them out on the cooker.

How Long to Smoke Pork Belly?

It’s more important to cook to temp than to time. Because the heat of the fire, size of the pork belly cubes as well as fat content of said cubes. All that being said, pork belly cut into 1 inch cubes at 275 take between 60-90 minutes. I believe these took about 70 minutes. 

If the chunks of belly are touching one another, then no bark will form where they touch. 

Close the lid and let those oak pellets and the heat work their magic on the little pillows of pork deliciousness.

Pig Shots Stuffing Prep

While those cook, it’s time to make the stuffing:

Then, shred half of that block of pepper cheese:

Then add that cream cheese (we highly recommend pulling the cream cheese out of the fridge a few hours before doing this so it softens up):

He-Man grilling themed t-shirt

I included this pic which doesn’t show the cream cheese being added so well, but does show my He-Man grilling shirt including that awesome detail of He-Man’s apron reading, “By the Power of Grill Skull.”  Which is a nice touch along with Skeletor holding a rack of ribs! Get it? A skeleton guy holding a rack of ribs! Yeah, I’m easily amused!

OK, back to the pork pig shots. Now add the garlic and hot pepper jelly:

Then add some more of that rub. A couple tablespoons is all it needs:

Next, grab a wooden spoon or a spatula and work all the filling ingredients together:

This process will be much more difficult if the cream cheese was not taken out of the fridge for a few hours.

In fact, how cold the cream cheese is, just happens to be directly proportional to how difficult it is to blend it all together:

A piping bag is your friend

But you aren’t a baker and don’t have a piping bag?

Easy, grab a resealable plastic bag and transfer the filling to the bag:

Then simply cut the corner of the resealable bag to turn the bag into a piping bag one might use for icing:

Pro Tip ~ Cut the corner of the piping bag smaller than you think you will need and test running some of the filling through it.

You can always cut the hole a little bigger but you can’t make it smaller.

I cut this a little bigger than I should’ve so learn from my mistake. 

When the pork belly burnt ends looks like this, about 60-90 minutes in, it’s a good time to pull them from the smoker:

Pig Shots Assembly:

Now remove that bacon from the package and chop it in half.

Next up, lay a chunk of pork belly on the end of a half slice of bacon with some of the pork belly hanging off the edge of the bacon:

Then roll up the pork belly in the bacon:

Pin the bacon in place with a toothpick.

If the bottom of the pork belly is not flat, you can trim off the uneven bottom so it will stand up in the pan:

Can you freeze pig shots?

Now, stand the pig shots up in a double layer of aluminum pans and pipe in the filling into the top of the pig shot:

Back on the cooker

Once they are fully assembled, let’s get the pig shots on the grill to infuse them with that oak smoke

And let’s get our glaze ready. Most people use honey or syrup or brown sugar. For this pig shots recipe I stepped outside the box of the typical sweeteners and went with agave nectar:

I don’t care if it is organic or not.

This is what my grocer had so I went with it.

I poured it into a little sauce pan.

Then I brushed the agave nectar onto the pork belly pig shots:

Keep glazing every 30-40 minutes until the bacon browns:

Now we officially have some pork belly pig shots ready to come off the smoker:

Finally, here’s what will be a typical portion:

Pork Belly Pig Shots Summary:

I know it seems like it’s a large portion but if you’ve ever made pork belly burnt ends, then you know. Think about it. This is a pork belly burnt end, wrapped in bacon and topped with a savory cream cheese filling and glazed with agave nectar. So don’t expect a anyone to eat just one and be done. Everyone will be gobbling up multiples of these. 

Make sure to use two pans

Take a look at the bottoms of some of those pork belly pig shots in the pic above. This is why we need to use two pans when doing the second round of cooking. I only used one pan and the bottom blackened. If I had used two pans, it would’ve deflected the heat away from the bottoms where as one pan allowed the heat to transfer to the pig shot. It’s not bad. I ate every one of those (#ThisIsWhyImFat). Part of it is the sugar in the agave nectar dripping down the side and blackening from the heat. The blackness is more of a visual thing than a flavor issue. Use the second pan. 

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email. Here’s my email address.

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Pork Belly Pig Shots Recipe Card

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Pork Belly Pig Shots

Pork belly, smoked, wrapped in thick bacon and topped with a cheese and pepper jelly filling, before being smoked again and glazed to form pork belly pig shots.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time3 hours hrs

Course: Appetizer, Finger Food, Snack

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Grilling

Keyword: Agave, Agave Nectar, Bacon, Bacon Wrapped, Cheese Filling, Oak Smoked, Oak Wood, Pellet Grill, Pellet Grilling, Pig Shots, Pork Belly

Servings: 12 people

Equipment

• 3 disposable aluminum pans 1 to season the raw pork belly, and 2 for the final round of cooking
• toothpicks

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pork belly
• ½ cup your favorite barbecue rub
• 8 oz pepper jack cheese shredded
• 1 lb cream cheese
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 3 tbsp hot pepper jelly
• 2 tsp your favorite barbecue rub
• 2 lbs thick cut bacon sliced in half
• ¼ cup agave nectar

Instructions

• Slice the pork belly into 1-1.25 inch cubes
• Place pork belly cubes into an aluminum pan
• Season with the barbecue rub and work the seasoning through the pork belly
• Set cooker for 275F
• Place the seasoned pork belly onto the grill grate, leaving a little space between each one to make sure they aren't touching
• Let the heat and wood pellets work their magic
• Combine the grated pepper jack cheese, cream cheese, garlic, hot pepper jelly and the barbecue rub in a bowl and blend through with a spatula or wooden spoon
• Put the cheese filling into a resealable plastic bag and cut off the corner to turn the bag into a piping bag
• After 60-90 minutes on the smoker, pull the pork belly and allow to cool
• Cut the bacon in half and roll each chunk of pork belly up in a single half slice of bacon ensuring that half the pork belly is sticking out the bottom so the bacon forms a tiny shot glass at the top of this
• Secure the bacon with a toothpick and place each pig shot into a double layer of aluminum pans
• Once all the pork belly is wrapped in bacon and placed in the pan, pipe the cheese filling into the top of each pig shot
• Place the pork belly pig shots back on the smoker
• Brush on agave nectar onto the tops of each pig shot and repeat every 30-40 minutes until the bacon has browned
• Once the bacon has browned, remove the pig shots from the heat, allow to cool for a few minutes and serve

Video

More Pics of the Pork Belly Pig Shots:

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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This article was initially published on: September 1, 2022