Pork Belly Burrito Bowl

It wasn’t that long ago that I first tried pork belly. Which is odd considering that I’m a pretty adventurous eater. I guess I kind of thought it was like bacon, and why would I get pork belly when I could get really amazing bacon from a great farmer at my farmers market?

And then I saw that they had pork belly. So I decided to try it.

My first reaction was literally “Holy shit.”

While it is sort of like bacon, it’s also not. It has the fattiness of bacon that I love but it’s not smoky and it has a texture similar to a pork chop in there as well. Plus it has a crispy skin. It’s just so, so good.

People have all these fancy ways of cooking pork belly, but most people cook it at a high temperature and then turn it down to a low temperature. I often forget to do this and honestly think it’s unnecessary. My method is to just throw about a pound of it in the oven on 400 for about 40 minutes. The only thing I do differently is position the rack high in the oven so that the top gets nice and crispy.

For this pork belly, I scored the top and added equal amount of salt, garlic, chipotle powder and cumin. I made sure to rub it in well.

Find out why I eat white rice HERE and why it’s considered a paleo safe starch.

Pork Belly Burrito Bowl

This Pork Belly Burrito Bowl is so easy to make and makes for the BEST paleo dinner! Heat up leftovers for lunch the next day! 

• 1 lb pork belly (cooking prep described in notes)
• 1 cup rice (dry (I only use THIS brand rice) or 2.5 cups cooked cauliflower rice)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp cilantro (diced)
• juice of 1 lime
• salsa (I used the salsa from my book, found HERE)
• iceberg lettuce (oddly, my favorite lettuce – I'm obsessed)

1. While the pork belly is cooking, cook the rice. Add 1 cup of dry rice, 1 tbsp of butter and two cups of water to a pot and turn on high. Once it starts to bubble, turn it to the lowest setting and cover.
2. Chop the lettuce.
3. Once the rice is done cooking, let it cool a bit and toss in the cilantro and lime juice.
4. Assemble the rice, then the lettuce, then the pork belly, then the salsa.
5. MUCH DELICIOUS.

People have all these fancy ways of cooking pork belly, but most people cook it at a high temperature and then turn it down to a low temperature. I often forget to do this and honestly think it’s unnecessary. My method is to just throw about a pound of it in the oven on 400 for about 40 minutes. The only thing I do differently is position the rack high in the oven so that the top gets nice and crispy.