This porchetta recipe is as good as it gets. It's all-belly porchetta with rich and tender meat flavored with fennel and traditional Italian seasonings and has the crispiest, chicharron-like crackling. And won't worry, making this famous Italian dish is surprisingly simple.
Ingredients
1wholeskin-on pork belly, 12-15 lb
2tablespoonsfennel seeds
1tablespoonchii flakes
Zest from 2 oranges
¼ cuporange juice, squeezed from ½ an orange
¼ cupolive oil, divided
¼ cupchopped parsley
2tablespoons sea salt, divided
1tablespoon EACH: minced rosemary, thyme, sage, and black pepper
Instructions
Prep the porchetta
Roll the pork belly into a long log and then mark where the skin overlaps. Unroll and remove the skin from the overlapping part.
1 whole skin-on pork belly
Unroll and remove the skin from the overlapping part.
Use a paring knife to poke shallow holes all over the surface of the skin. Try not to go too deep and make lots of holes.
Turn the pork belly over and cut diagonal lines into the meat to form a cross-hatch pattern.
Grind the fennel seeds and chili flakes until coarsely ground. Transfer them to a bowl and add the orange zest, orange juice, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, parsley, 1 tablespoon of sea salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and sage and mix to form a paste.
2 tablespoons fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon chii flakes, Zest from 2 oranges, ¼ cup orange juice, ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup chopped parsley, 2 tablespoons sea salt, 1 tablespoon EACH: minced rosemary, thyme, sage, and black pepper
Run this paste all over the meat, using your fingers to work the rub into the meat.
Roll the pork belly into a tight log and tie it with butcher twine at 1" intervals.
Optional: if there is a lot of meat sticking out from the ends of the porchetta roll you can cut it off for a neater presentation. (see notes)
At this point, the porchetta will be VERY long. Cut it in half to make it easier to cook.
Rub the pork belly log with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sea salt over the skin. Put the porchetta on the rack set over the baking dish and put it into your fridge for 24-72 hours.
Cook the porchetta
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the porchetta from your fridge and rub more olive oil over the skin. Put it into your oven on a middle rack and let it roast for 3-4 hours. It will be done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the porchetta from the oven and turn the temperature to broil. Lift the porchetta and the cooling rack off of the baking dish and carefully drain all the fat from the bottom of the baking dish into a heatproof bowl. Put the porchetta (and cooling rack) back onto the baking dish and baste the skin with the fat in the bowl.
Once the oven comes up to temperature put the porchetta back into the oven. The skin will turn dark brown and bubbly under the high heat, but watch it very carefully so that it doesn't burn. Every 5-7 minutes, use 2 pairs of tongs to carefully rotate the porchetta so that the skin crisps all around. You'll know it's ready when it's dark mahoggany brown and the skin has lots of little bubbles in it.
Remove the baking dish from the oven being very careful not to spill any of the hot fat that's in the baking dish. Let the porchetta rest for 15-20 minutes before carving it with a serrated knife.
Notes
If you trim the meat from the ends of your porchetta, slice it thin, mix it with olive oil and Italian seasoning, and bake at 350 for about 2 hours. It's delicious!Porchetta recipes often call for the meat to be cooked over a rimmed baking sheet, but we find that a baking dish works better. The porchetta will release so much fat as it cooks and a baking dish does a better job of safely holding all that hot oil.
Serving: 1We've omitted the nutritional info here as this is one recipe that should be enjoyed guilt free!, Calories: 1kcal