Pork belly is pure indulgence: fatty, rich, and endlessly versatile. Smoke it as a slab, or cube it for the crowd-favorite burnt ends. Set your time below and let the calculator schedule it.
How long to smoke pork belly
At 250°F, a slab runs about 45 minutes per pound to a 200°F pull, where the fat has rendered and it is spoonably tender. Burnt ends take roughly three hours to render, then a sauce-and-caramelize pass in the pit.
Pork belly burnt ends
Cube the belly, season, and smoke until tender and rendered, then toss with a sweet sauce and return to the pit to lacquer. They are the pork answer to brisket burnt ends: candy with a savory center.
Pork belly on a pellet grill
Indirect at 250°F renders the fat cleanly. Fruit woods and hickory suit pork; a little sweetness in the rub caramelizes beautifully on the bark.
FAQ
What temp is pork belly done? Around 200°F, where the fat has fully rendered and it probes tender. Below that it can be chewy and greasy.
How long do pork belly burnt ends take? Roughly three to four hours at 250°F plus the sauce pass. The calculator plans it to your weight.
Best wood for pork belly? Apple, cherry, and hickory. Pork belly is rich, so the wood can lean sweet.
How Much Pork Belly Do I Need to Buy and Cook?
Belly loses more than most cuts between trim and rendered fat, so plan on about 0.57 lb of raw belly per person to land roughly a third of a pound cooked on each plate.
Fine-tune trim & cook loss
Lost to trim: - · lost to the cook: -
How Much Pork Belly Per Person (Serving Size Chart)
| Guests | Raw Pork belly to buy | Trimmed (on the smoker) | Cooked (served) | Good pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | 2.8 lb | 2.5 lb | 1.7 lb | ~2.8 lb (sizes vary) |
| 6-10 | 5.6 lb | 5.1 lb | 3.3 lb | ~5.6 lb (sizes vary) |
| 11-15 | 8.5 lb | 7.6 lb | 5.0 lb | ~8.5 lb (sizes vary) |
| 16-20 | 11 lb | 10 lb | 6.6 lb | ~11 lb (sizes vary) |
| 21-30 | 17 lb | 15 lb | 9.9 lb | ~17 lb (sizes vary) |
| 31-40 | 23 lb | 20 lb | 13 lb | ~23 lb (sizes vary) |
| 41-50 | 28 lb | 25 lb | 17 lb | ~28 lb (sizes vary) |
Raw weight to comfortably feed the top of each range at an average appetite (~0.33 lb cooked per person), no leftovers. Bump up a size for hearty eaters, light sides, or leftovers.
Pork belly prices: retail vs wholesale
Pork Belly costs about $6.65 a pound at the grocery store this week and $1.10 a pound wholesale. The lowest advertised price is in the Northeast at $2.99 (542 stores). USDA data: grocery ads running Oct 3-9, wholesale trades through Oct 9.
$6.65/lb national grocery ad average for Pork Belly (ads running Oct 3-9, 65 stores)
$1.10/lb wholesale, Pork belly, derind 13-17 lb – USDA boxed-cut trades, Oct 5-Oct 9, 1,284,629 lb traded. The shelf price also covers cutting, packaging, labor, shrink and the store’s margin, and a supplier quotes above this for their margin, spec and delivery.
Dashed line: national average $6.65
See prices for every cut → · How much should you buy? · Cooking for money? Price the whole job
Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (Market News + LMPRS mandatory reporting), tracked daily by MeatSmokingCalculator. Retail = advertised grocery feature prices; wholesale = national boxed primal values. Not a quote – your store and supplier will vary.
Where pork belly finishes. Pull temperature on one thermometer, against the safety floors; the faint ticks are every other cut on the chart.
Times & temperatures
| Style | Method | Pit temp | Approx time | Pull / done temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole Slab | Slow and Low | 250°F / 121°C | ~45 min/lb | 200°F / 93°C |
| Pork Belly Burnt Ends | Slow and Low | 250°F / 121°C | ~3 hr + ~75 min finish | 200°F / 93°C |
📊 See the full smoking times & temps chart for every cut →
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Written by John Kirker, who built the first meat smoking calculator in 2011. Times come from cooks we have actually run and logged; temperature and feel decide the finish, never the clock alone.
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