Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Skewers

Packed with smokey sweet flavor and caramelized over charcoal, these Brown Sugar Bourbon pork skewers grill up in under 10 minutes.

Ever heard of a triple threat recipe? You have now. These grilled brown sugar bourbon pork skewers are heavy hitters in three main areas.

It’s an easy recipe.

Never underestimate how attractive simple recipes can be. Sure, it’s no problem for us hardcore carnivores to spend hours cooking a brisket. But sometimes it’s really nice to be able to just kick back, with a minimal amount of prep work, and that you’re going to be able to make a ton of people (yourself included) very happy for very little effort. Oh, and it’s grills up super quickly. See? Easy. One caveat- the only thing you’ll need to be prepared for is planning ahead to let the meat marinade.

It’s a cheap recipe.

Pork is a wonderfully economical meat, and this recipe only calls for $10-12 worth of meat. And that much can feed 6-8 people. I think that’s a pretty great deal. This recipe calls for the pork butt, or neck/collar, which is SUPER flavorful, but rippled with creamy white pork fat. Fat, ladies and gentleman, is flavor. The presence of fat also means that it well help the meat have a moist finish, but also render into deliciously golden crispy bits.

It’s a delicious recipe.

C’mon, do I really have to explain why a brown sugar bourbon marinade is so dang delicious?! Well, it has a lot do with the flavors themselves, but also how they caramelize beautifully when grilled.

Charcoal is key.

Sure, if you’re cooking over propane, this recipe will still work, but it’s not gonna be as delicious. There’s an extra element of flavor that is developed when cooking over charcoal that just can’t be replicated. I used Kingsford’s Cherrywood briquettes for this recipe, to pair with the pork flavors.

THIS RECIPE WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED FOR KINGSFORD CHARCOAL.

Print Recipe

Grilled Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Skewers

Ingredients

• 4-5 lb whole boneless pork butt, shoulder or neck
• 1 cup BBQ sauce
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 T cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup bourbon
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt

Instructions

1. Slice the pork into long thin strips, no thicker than ¼ inch.
2. In a bowl, combine BBQ sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic powder, Worcestershire, bourbon and 2 teaspoons of salt. Stir well to combine.
3. Place the pork into a zip top bag, pour the brown sugar marinade on top, and place in fridge. Refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours, but preferably overnight.
4. Light a chimney full of Kingsford Cherrywood hardwood briquettes. Once ashed over, dump the chimney contents on one side of your grill, creating a hot and cool zone.
5. While the grill is warming, thread the pork onto the skewers. You may use 2-3 pieces per skewer.
6. Once your grill grate has heated, lay the skewers directly over the coals. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side.
7. The pork should start to brown and caramelize, but be sure to turn it over before it burns. Cook a further 2-3 minutes on the other side. If necessary, repeat until a deep caramel color has formed.
8. Once the skewers are at the desired color, move them to the indirect side of the grill to finish cooking a further 5 minutes.
9. If you prefer to use a thermometer to test for doneness, the skewers are ready when they read 145f internal temperature.