BBQ Pork Belly
Spice-rubbed ribs baked low then glazed in barbecue sauce.
Ingredients
- 1500 g Pork belly
- 2 tbsp Smoked paprika
- 60 g Brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Garlic powder
- 200 ml BBQ sauce
- 1 tbsp Salt
Method
- Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F); score the pork belly skin and rub it all over with the paprika, sugar, garlic powder, and salt.
- Wrap the pork belly and bake low until the meat is very tender, about 2.5 hours.
- Turn the oven up to 220°C (425°F), brush the pork belly with BBQ sauce, and roast until sticky and caramelised.
- Rest, then slice the pork belly into strips and serve.
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About BBQ Pork Belly
This is oven barbecue done with pork belly rather than the ribs the technique is usually associated with, giving you the same spice-rubbed, low-and-slow, sticky-glazed result from a fattier, more forgiving cut. A dry rub of smoked paprika, brown sugar, and garlic powder goes on first, seasoning the meat and setting up a crust, before the belly bakes wrapped and gentle for a couple of hours until it's meltingly tender. It's a hands-off approach that trades the smoker for a home oven without losing the essential barbecue arc: slow to tender, then hot to caramelize.
The payoff comes at the end, when the oven cranks up, the pork gets brushed with barbecue sauce, and it roasts until the glaze goes lacquered and sticky. Smoked paprika stands in for actual smoke, and the brown sugar in both the rub and the sauce caramelizes into that dark, tacky exterior. The long cook renders the belly's fat so the meat pulls apart easily. Rest it before slicing into strips, and serve with the usual barbecue company — slaw, pickles, cornbread, or soft rolls — for a weekend main that mostly cooks itself.
BBQ Pork Belly: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in BBQ Pork Belly?
A serving has about 2148 calories — 37.3g protein, 49.2g carbs, 200g fat, 3.7g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 37.3g of protein, roughly 7% of its calories.
Is BBQ Pork Belly gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains BBQ sauce. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
How long does BBQ Pork Belly take to make?
About 180 minutes start to finish, but only around 24 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does BBQ Pork Belly make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.