There's no better way to fire up the morning than with smoke rolling off the pit and a stack of tacos waiting to be built. These Smoked Pork Belly Breakfast Tacos take the richest cut on the hog, bathe it in chiles, and kiss it with pellet smoke until it's tender enough to crisp up in a hot pan. Layer in green chile scrambled eggs, smoky black beans, and roasted potatoes, and you've got a breakfast that eats like a celebration.
What You'll Love
- The brine does the flavor work before the smoke starts. An hour and a half in Sweetwater Spice Tres Chiles Brisket Bath means the pork belly is already carrying chile flavor all the way through when it hits the grill — the smoke phase builds on top of that, not from scratch.
- Smoke then fry is the only sequence that gives you both. Smoking to 140°F renders the fat and builds the wood-fired base; frying the sliced slabs afterward crisps the exterior in a way that 4 hours on a grill alone never would. You get deep smoke character and a hard, crackling edge in the same piece of pork.
- Four components cook simultaneously on one pit. Pork belly smokes at 275°F, potatoes roast in a foil pan at 400°F, beans simmer in a skillet on a burner, and eggs go in last while the tortillas grill. Everything is timed to land at once — it reads complex but the sequencing is tight.
- The avocado crema is the element that makes this a breakfast taco and not just a taco. Avocado, 505 flame-roasted green chiles, lime, and sour cream blended smooth — it's rich and cool against the hot, crispy pork belly, and the green chile thread connects it directly back to the eggs and the brine marinade.
Grilled Breakfast Tacos with Smoked Pork Belly
Tom Jackson
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Entree
Cuisine
American
Servings
10
Prep Time
1 hour
Cook Time
2 hours 3 minutes
Calories
1023
If you've ever wondered whether your smoker earns its keep before noon, this recipe settles the debate. We're slow-smoking marinated pork belly, then frying the slabs crisp and tucking them into grilled tortillas alongside avocado crema spiked with flame-roasted green chiles. It's smoky, spicy, creamy, and crunchy all at once — the kind of plate that turns a backyard cook into the neighborhood legend.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb pork belly
-
Sweetwater Spice Tres Chiles Brisket Bath
-
2 Tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee Steak Rub
- 1 tsp cumin, toasted and ground
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 10 tortillas
- 1 lb pepper jack cheese, grated
- 1 lb russet potatoes, skin on, small dice
- 1 red bell pepper, small dice
- 1/3 cup melted clarified butter or oil
-
Cattleman’s Grill 8 Second Ride Carne Asada Seasoning
-
salt, to taste
- 3 tbsp bacon fat, clarified butter or oil
- 1/2 large yellow onion, sliced thin
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans
-
2 tsp Cattleman’s Grill 8 Second Ride Carne Asada Seasoning
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
-
2 tbsp olive oil
- 10 eggs
-
1/2 cup 505 Southwestern Flame Roasted Green Chiles
- 1/2 cup cilantro, minced
- 1/4 cup pepper jack cheese, grated
-
salt, to taste
- 1 large avocado
-
1/4 cup 505 Southwestern Flame Roasted Green Chiles
- juice of 1/2 a lime
- 1/4 cup sour cream
Red Pepper Roasted Potatoes
8 Second Ride Black Beans
Green Chile Scrambled Eggs
Green Chile Avocado Crema
Directions
Prep and cook pork belly
Place the pork belly in a zip-top bag with the Sweetwater Spice Tres Chiles Brisket Bath and refrigerate for an hour and a half so the chiles work their way in.
Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640 Pellet Smoker to 275°F and light an A-MAZE-N Tube Smoker for extra smoke. Pat the pork dry, then season with Cattleman's Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee Steak Rub, cumin, and smoked paprika.
Smoke until the internal temperature hits 140°F, about an hour, checking with an instant-read thermometer. Pull it off and rest for 10 minutes.
Slice the belly into 1/2" slabs and fry in a pan until crispy. Build the tacos in a taco rack and grill them indirectly on a 350°F cooker until the tortillas are slightly crisp.
Red Pepper Roasted Potatoes
Bump the smoker to 400°F. Toss the diced russet potatoes, red bell pepper, clarified butter, and Cattleman's Grill 8 Second Ride Carne Asada Seasoning in a half-sized foil pan. Cook about 20 minutes until tender, then salt to taste.
8 Second Ride Black Beans
Melt the fat in a 12" Lodge Logic Cast Iron Skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt, stirring to coat, and let it cook down until soft and lightly browned, 10–15 minutes.
Stir in the garlic, 8 Second Ride seasoning, cumin, and smoked paprika and cook one minute. Add the can of black beans and simmer 10 minutes.
Green Chile Scrambled Eggs
Heat a 12" Lodge Logic Cast Iron Skillet over medium heat. Whisk the eggs with the 505 Southwestern Flame Roasted Green Chiles, add the olive oil to the pan, then the egg mixture, and cook to your desired doneness.
Fold in the pepper jack cheese and minced cilantro, then taste and season with salt as needed.
Green Chile Avocado Cream
Combine the avocado, 505 Green Chiles, lime juice, and sour cream in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Serve
Load the grilled tortillas with crispy pork belly, scrambled eggs, black beans, and roasted potatoes, then finish each taco with a drizzle of green chile avocado crema and a shower of grated pepper jack.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
Why marinate the pork belly before smoking?
Sweetwater Spice Tres Chiles Brisket Bath is a concentrated brine with chile flavor built in — an hour and a half in the bag lets it penetrate the belly's thick fat cap and season the meat from the inside out. Without the brine, you're relying entirely on the surface rub for flavor, and pork belly's fat layer means that seasoning sits mostly on the exterior. The brine guarantees chile and salt character throughout the entire slice, not just the crust.
Can I make any components ahead of time?
Yes — and for a build like this, advance prep is the move. The black beans, roasted potatoes, and green chile avocado crema all hold well refrigerated for up to two days. Reheat the beans and potatoes before serving; keep the crema cold and give it a stir before drizzling. The pork belly can also be smoked a day ahead and refrigerated as a slab — slice and fry to order when you're ready to build. The green chile eggs are the only component that should be made fresh.
Why fry the pork belly after smoking it?
The smoke phase renders the fat and builds deep wood-fired flavor, but it leaves the belly soft and tender — not crispy. Frying the 1/2-inch slabs in a hot pan after they come off the smoker crisps the exterior and gives you textural contrast against the soft eggs and beans. Without the fry, the belly is good but texturally one-note. The two-step is what makes it work in a taco.
What's the right way to build the taco on the grill?
Load the tortilla with the pork belly, eggs, beans, and potatoes, then set it in a taco rack and grill it indirectly at 350°F just until the tortilla tightens and develops a few light char spots — about 5 minutes. The indirect heat warms everything through and crisps the tortilla without burning the fillings. Don't skip the grill finish; a warmed flour tortilla out of a pan is a different result than one that's had five minutes of dry convection heat on it.
Can I make these indoors?
Indoor cooking rating: 3 out of 5 — Works indoors with adjustments, grill recommended. Every component can be made on the stovetop and in the oven — the beans, potatoes, and eggs are already stovetop methods. The pork belly can be smoked with a stovetop smoker for 15–20 minutes then finished in a 275°F oven to 140°F internal, then pan-fried. What you lose is the sustained pellet smoke that runs through the belly during a full outdoor cook, which is the backbone of the dish's flavor. The Cattleman's Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee rub helps compensate indoors but doesn't fully replace it.
Recipe Highlights
The A-MAZE-N Tube Smoker Adds Meaningful Extra Smoke: Pellet grills at 275°F produce moderate smoke. Lighting an A-MAZE-N Tube Smoker and placing it alongside the pork belly significantly increases the smoke density during the first hour of the cook — which is when the cold belly surface is most receptive to smoke absorption. This step is optional but produces a noticeably smokier result, especially on a cut as fat-forward as pork belly where smoke can easily get muted.
Toasted Ground Cumin Over Pre-Ground: The recipe calls for toasted and ground cumin, not pre-ground from a jar. Toasting whole cumin seeds in a dry pan for 60–90 seconds until fragrant, then grinding them fresh, produces a warmer, more complex flavor than pre-ground cumin that's been sitting in a container. It takes three minutes and makes a real difference in the rub and the black beans.
Clarified Butter Over Whole Butter for the Potatoes and Beans: Clarified butter handles the higher temperatures needed to brown and roast without burning, and it adds richness without the milk solids that can scorch. For the potatoes at 400°F and the caramelized onions in the beans, clarified butter is the right call — whole butter at those temperatures would brown too fast and turn bitter before the food is cooked through.
Build Order for the Taco: Pork belly goes in first as the base, then eggs, then beans and potatoes, then crema drizzled over the top, then a shower of grated pepper jack. The belly at the bottom keeps it structurally sound; the crema on top means it coats everything as it runs down rather than pooling at the bottom of the tortilla. Serve immediately — this is not a taco that holds.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 12.82 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 1023
- Carbs
- 50 grams
- Protein
- 63 grams
- Fat
- 62 grams
- Sodium
- 2435 milligrams
