Homemade Pork Rinds (Chicharrones)

Homemade pork rinds are about 10 million times better than the store-bought variety. Don't let the cooking time dissuade you - after minimal prep, you set it and forget it, and frying them is quick and entertaining. Add a simple zingy dipping sauce made from pantry staples, and level it up even more!

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Course: Snack

Keyword: chicharrones, keto, low-carb, pork rinds, snack

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 15

Inactive Cooking Time: 3

Total Time: 3 25

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 623kcal

Equipment

1 baking sheet
1 baking rack
1 heavy-bottom 3qt sauce pan
1 cooking spider or metal slotted spoon

Ingredients

1-3 pound pork skin you can purchase pork skin from a specialty meat store on its own, or trim it from a large cut of pork such as a bone-in skin-on pork shoulder
2 cups high-heat cooking oil high-heat cooking oil like avocado oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil will work well for this recipe, you can also render lard from pork fat
1 pinch salt

Dipping Sauce

.25 cup vinegar distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or rice wine vinegar all work well
1 tablespoon sabal oelek (chili paste) or substitute red pepper flakes to taste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 cloves crushed and minced garlic

Instructions

Pork Rinds

Preheat oven to 250°F. Set an oven-safe baking rack on top of a cookie sheet.
Trim/scrape excess fat from back of skin with a sharp knife. Once trimmed, cut skin into rectangles roughly 1"x2".
Place rectangles on baking rack, place in preheated oven. Bake for 2-3 hours or until dehydrated.
Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and set near stovetop. Add approximately 2c of high-heat cooking oil to 3qt sauce pan, heat on medium until oil reaches 375-400°F.
Carefully add the skin rectangles to the hot oil in batches, 2-5 at a time. Cook for approximately 1 minute, or until puffy and it reaches your desired brownness/crispiness. Remove to paper-towel-lined plate with spider or slotted spoon. Immediately sprinkle with salt to taste. Serve as-is or with dipping sauce.

Dipping sauce

Add all ingredients to small bowl and whisk to combine.

Notes

Nutrition fact note: there was no match for "pork skin", only for already-fried pork rinds, so that is the value used in this calculation- for one serving of pork rinds made from 1-3lbs of pork skin (so, this whole recipe divided by 4). Bear in mind, the weight of the skin /pork rinds will decrease substantially throughout the cooking process.

Nutrition