Mexican Pork Belly Rice Bowl

Last Updated on June 28, 2023 by What’s Smoking

A Mexican pork belly rice bowl is a great and different way to use pork belly burnt ends or if by chance you have some leftovers from a party of BBQ, from the night before. This is a great international flare to a very American styled appetizer that everyone will enjoy.

How To Make Smoked Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Mexican pork belly burnt ends are the center piece of this recipe. I will walk you through this recipe in a brief manner but if you feel like you want a little more detail, head over to the full recipe here. The recipe card below will have all the details as well.

• Set smoker for 250°, using cherry wood
• Cut the pork belly strips into 1″ cubes
• Blend your spices together and then coat cubes
• Place on a cooling rack, if that does not work, right on the grates is fine
• Smoke for 2.5 hours
• After 2.5 hours, transfer to an aluminum pan, add sliced butter and brown sugar, then cover with foil
• Cook for one more hour on the smoker
• While smoking for that last hour, make the glaze
• Boil the guajillo peppers and a bay leaf for 15 minutes, or until they soften up (be sure to remove stems but keep the seeds in the peppers)
• Add those and the other glaze ingredients for to a blend and blend until well mixed
• After an hour of smoking, drain as much liquid as possible from the pan and then gently coat the with the glaze (if not careful the pork cubes will be very tender by now and could fall apart on you. Its not the end of the world if they do for this recipe)
• Place back on the smoker cooking for another 15-20 minutes, when done remove and prepare rice bowls

How To Prepare Mexican Pork Belly Rice Bowl

This next part of a making pork belly rice bowl is pretty straight forward. We are going to make some rice, the more authentic rice for this recipe would be parboiled rice but feel free to use whatever you may have in the house. Whatever rice you are using follow the instructions but I would suggest that if going with parboiled rice, be sure to add a chicken bullion cube or cook it with some chicken broth, mixed with the water. Parboiled rice can be very bland if not cooked with some additional flavor.

While your rice is cooking, you can chop some cilantro, which we will use as a garnish. You can also look to garnish this with some salsa, we love Herdez Guacamole salsa in our house, hot sauce and/or some sliced and pickled jalapenos. Any or all of these will add to this dish while keeping it in the vein of an authentic flavored Mexican dish.

After the rice is done, you can take the pork belly, add them on top of the rice and garnish with the cilantro. And just like that you have an amazing meal for the family!

Wrapping Up

This recipe is super easy, a great way to use leftovers burnt ends, but let’s be honest are there ever leftover burnt ends. But if you are looking for a great combination of pork belly and rice, this is it. I specifically made this for a weeknight meal and will definitely do it again. The kids loved it and so did my wife and I.

Thanks for being here and checking out this Mexican Pork Belly Rice Bowl recipe. I hope you enjoy it! We always appreciate comments, 5 star recipe rating and social media shares. As always, keep that smoke rolling!

If you are looking for some other international inspired meals, here are some suggestions:

• Persian Kabobs
• Smoked Indian Leg of Lamb
• Tandoori Chicken on a Charcoal Grill
• Smoked Barbacoa Tacos

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