Pork Belly Cornbread Muffins
Mini cornbread muffins filled with a tender piece of slow cooked bbq pork belly. Topped with a pickle and some hot sauce! This cornbread is super soft and perfect for hiding treats inside. I would never make cornbread like this if I was just doing cornbread on it’s own, but I always use this recipe when I am making twists on cornbread or using it as a container for other foods.
The inspiration for this recipe
This is actually a direct recipe from my first cookbook Stuffed! I wrote this book like 15 years ago and have been looking through it for inspiration on what I can update and bring to the blog. This is one of the recipes that was very popular when the book came out, but I have never actually posted it online. I made a few slight improvements based on the knowledge I have learned in the past 15 years.
Prepare the muffin pan
This is one of the most important steps in this recipe! I do not like to use muffin cups for this recipe because I want the cornbread to get brown on the sides. I just put a little parchment round on the bottom, and make sure to aggressively grease the pan. It would be nice to use butter, but I cook the muffins at 425 so the butter would burn too much for my liking.
Make the cornbread muffin batter
Dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet in another. This recipe uses a lot of sour cream which gives the muffins a lot of fat and a great sour / buttermilk flavor. The original version I was inspired by so many years ago isnt online anymore but was from Martha Stewart. It had 3 cups of sour cream!!! I adapted it to use one 16oz container, then fill the rest with milk until you hit the 3 cup mark.
I also use a mix of masa harina and cornmeal. The original version used corn flour but I tend to have masa harina on hand more often, and it swaps out perfectly.
Fill the cornbread muffins with pork belly
I cook the pork belly the day before, but you could do it same day. Just know it takes 3 hours, plus some cooldown time! Cut the pork into exactly 1 inch pieces and add all the sauces and spices. Slow cook until tender and they will be the perfect size for inside the muffins. Doing this with actual smoked pork belly would also be incredible. Let me know if you try it!
Fill the muffin tin half way with the cornbread batter, then add the pork belly, and top with more batter. You want it to be just below the edge of the muffin cavity area.
Bake the pork belly cornbread muffins
I baked these for 25 minutes at 425. They puff up perfectly and you can barely tell there is a surprise inside! Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then use a knife to help gently pop them out.
Garnish and serve the pork belly cornbread muffins
Top with a pickle slice and some hot sauce and serve!
These pork belly cornbread muffins were even better than I remembered, and I remembered them being very good! The subtle BBQ sauce flavor inside the muffins was really nice, and the texture of the pork was a great contrast with the creamy muffins. The pickle and hot sauce were a nice addition that was not in the original recipe.
People might be a little confused about temperature, but I thought slightly warm / room temp is great for these. You can store them in the fridge and bake them quick before serving if needed.
Twists on Pork Belly Cornbread Muffins
I mentioned that smoked pork belly would be incredible in these cornbread muffins. These burnt ends would actually be perfect. Just make sure they are small enough to fit in the muffins! You could do bigger muffins I suppose as well.
You could also use cornbread mix for this as a shortcut.
I love using this cornbread recipe when I stuff things inside cornbread. I have also done it with chili!
Pork Belly Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
Pork
- 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless pork belly cut into 1 inch squares
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1 tablespoon gochujang
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon Mexican chili powder
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Muffins
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup medium grain cornmeal
- 1/2 cup masa harina or corn flour (these are not the same, but either could be used)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 16 ounces sour cream (1 container)
- 1.5 cups milk (approx)
other
- lots of high heat spray oil
- pickles
- hot sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300. Add the pork and all the pork ingredients to a wide baking dish. Mix well. Place in the oven and cook about 3 hours, stirring every hour, until super tender. Allow to cool for a half hour before using, or store in the fridge until ready to use.
- Prep the muffin tin – cut parchment rounds that are slightly larger than the bottom circumference of the muffin areas. Spray the pan, then press the rounds in so they cover the bottom and go slightly up the side – less than half way up is ideal. Make sure to really press them in so they are stuck and touching the bottom. Spray the pan again.
- Preheat oven to 425
- Mix the dry cornbread ingredients in a bowl. Add the sour cream to a 4c liquid measuring cup. Pour in the milk until you have 3 total cups. Crack in the eggs and whisk this mixture until fully smooth and combined.
- Pour the sour cream mix into the dry ingredient bowl and whisk until fully combined.
- Add a good spoonful of the muffin mix into each muffin spot, so it goes up a little less than half way. Add a chunk of pork belly to each, pressing it down a little, and cutting any pieces of pork that feel too big. You will have a little extra pork.
- Add another spoonful of the cornbread mixture on top of the pork to cover, making sure the top of the cornbread mix is slightly below the edge of each muffin spot
- Cook for 25 minutes until the muffins are puffed up and you can see some browning around the edges.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then use a knife to pop the muffins out. Serve with pickles and hot sauce.