Muddy Buddy Pork Rinds
Muddy buddy flavors on pork rinds, aka fried pork skin, might seem like a wacky combination but it works so well! The crispy pork skin is a great vessel for peanut butter and chocolate and stays super crispy! Some people might miss the chex cereal but I for sure don’t!
The inspiration for this recipe
Townsman was my favorite restaurant in 2015. I went there several times and had some amazing meals. (The restaurant closed a few years later) These muddy buddy pork rinds were one my favorite things I ate there! It was during an impromptu pop-in where I sat at the bar for a few drinks and ate some of the bar snacks. The pork rinds caught my eye and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Turns out fried pork skin goes really well with chocolate and peanut butter! ย Just the kind of mash-up I love! I had some extra pork skin lying around my apartment, cause that’s how I roll, so I decided to make them at home last week.
Make the pork rinds
The reason I had the pork skin is because I am making homemade bacon! You can find that recipe here. I started with this whole slab of pork belly I got from Restaurant Depot that had the skin and bones attached.
All the trimmings from that big pork slab went into a stock pot to make broth. I pulled the skin after a few hours though to make these pork rinds.
Prepare the boiled skin
The skin still has some fat clinging to it, so scrape it off with a knife. This step is very important because if you don’t do it right the muddy buddy pork rinds will have a weird texture and stick in your teeth.
Next you need to dry them out. If you have a dehydrator you can use it, but I just put them into the oven at the lowest temp.
Fry the muddy buddy pork rinds
The pork skin puffs up really nice in the fryer. Stir them around to make sure they are fully fried on all sides.
Make the muddy buddy sauce
Get the sauce ready. Peanut butter, chocolate, and butter. Melt this in the microwave.
Dress the muddy buddy pork rinds
Pour on that sauce!
Then the powdered sugar. ย You guys have made muddy buddies before right? You know the drill.
Serve the muddy buddy pork rinds
Put them on a plate, pass around some beers, and dig in! Oh man. ย These are good! You sort of expect them to get soggy but they stay crazy crispy.
Sweet and salty is just what you want in a bar snack! ย It might take a long time to make these pork rinds but it is a really fun cooking project that wasn’t hard at all. ย It ends up being basically free too because you would be throwing away the pork skin otherwise.
For a more detailed recipe to make pork rinds, check out this one.
Muddy Buddy Pork Rinds
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork skin
- oil for frying
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- salt
Instructions
- Boil the skin in salted water for about 3 hours until it is much more tender but not falling apart. I actually did this with additional pork and bones and saved the stock for soup.
- Use a knife to scrape any extra fat that is clinging to the pork skin. Rinse the skins and cut them into roughly two inch pieces.
- Put the pork skin on to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet and lightly salt. Bake at the lowest temp your oven will go (mine is 170) for 8 hours or so. Flip them occasionally while they cook. Let them fully dry in the oven for however long it takes.
- Once dried they can last on the shelf indefinitely if you don’t want to cook them right away.
- Mix the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until fully melted and combined. Stir in a pinch of salt, along with the vanilla.
- Bring some oil to 400. Break the brittle pork skin into roughly half inch pieces. Add the pork skin to the hot oil about 6 pieces at a time. It will only take about 20 seconds to cook and fully expand into that crispy airy pork rind you know and love. Put on a wire rack and lightly salt as they comes out of the fryer and continue until you fry them all.
- Put the pork rinds into a bowl and pour in the peanut butter mixture. Only add enough to lightly coat. Toss to evenly coat the pork rinds. Add in the powdered sugar and toss some more. Serve with a delicious beer.
Those look fabulously slutty. I’m wondering if a little spice would tie all the flavors together? Maybe harissa? Just a thought, I’d eat these as-is!
Oh sweet baby jesus! These sound amazing.
I love when you do restaurant recreations! Though I don’t eat pork, I am positive these would be delicious.