Mini-Mini Porchetta Recipe

If you like pork you are going to LOVE this Mini-Mini Porchetta.  It’s both gluten and dairy free and so full of flavor that your tongue is going to dance all night.

So now you’re asking yourself, what is a porchetta.  Well a porchetta is a wonderful old Italian dish that is pork wrapped in pork.  What could be better than this!  Traditionally it was a whole pig, boned, seasoned, stuffed with pork and cooked over an open fire.  It’s not practical for most of us to cook a whole pig either in our house or our back yard.  Most people will then use pork butts, pork loins with the belly and skin still attached for the mini version or pork loin or a pork tenderloin for the mini-mini version, wrapped in a pork belly.  I like to use the pork tenderloin as it gives you a chance to save a little money and space in the oven.

Mini-Mini Porchetta Recipe

I saw this wonderful dish in the holiday catalog from Dean & DeLuca.  It comes every year and is filled with wonderful treats.  I saw this and I immediately wanted one.  Theirs cost $75 and I would have no control over what the ingredients were.  So of course I decided to make it.  It cost me less than $20.  I then came across the blog In Danny’s Kitchen.  He had made the mini version of this dish so I had more information to go on.  I used a spice combination similar to his.  He has some great Italian recipes on that blog you should check out.  Keep in mind it’s not a gluten or dairy free blog but by now you’re really good at making those substitutions.  If not, feel free to connect with me and I’ll see if I can help.

There is also a restaurant in NYC called Porchetta.  On their website they share a recipe to make it at home.   That recipe uses just the shoulder with the skin on and does not wrap the pork belly around it.   So you see you have lots of options here.

Mini-Mini Porchetta Recipe

Ingredients:

These measurements are with fresh herbs, use a little less if using dried.

1 TB  course Celtic Sea Salt

1-2 cloves of garlic

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp thyme

2 tsp rosemary

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

2 bay leaves

1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

1 tsp red chili flakes

1/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil

1 pork belly 2-2.5 pounds whole

1 pork tenderloin 1/2 to 3/4 pound

1/2 cup wine

Directions:

Add all of the seasonings into a food processor and grind.  Once ground add in the olive oil so it is more like a paste.

Cut up the pork tenderloin and mix in the seasoning with that meat.

Lay the pork belly open with the most fat on the bottom or touching the pan.  On the inside layer place the pork tenderloin mixture.

Now you must roll this to one long pork belly.  Mine was only big enough for both sides to touch.  You must tie the meat together so it will stay in a roll.  I have these really cool silicon bands that do just that.  They make it really easy to put on and take off.  Of course cutting the string is also an easy way to take it off.  Use what  you have.  Keep in mind I did not say rubber band.  These bands are designed for cooking.

You can stop right now if you want and hold this in the refrigerator for a day to allow the flavor to blossom and flavor the meat even more.  This is not necessary but if you do it will give you a deeper richer flavor.

Place this roast into a pan with seem side down.  Add in either white or red wine that you will use to baste the meat as it cooks.  Cover the pork with olive oil and sprinkle the top with course sea salt.  Every 20 minutes baste with wine.

Place into a 400 degree pre-heated oven and cook until the skin is crispy and the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.  The size of your roast will determine the cooking time.  I believe it took around an hour to cook my mini-mini version.

Make sure you let the roast sit for 20-30 minutes to set before you slice into it.

This is great served as a meal with quinoa and broiled asparagus with course sea salt and garlic.  It’s also great sliced for sandwiches as it is sold by street vendors in Italy.

Mini-Mini Porchetta Recipe

NUTRITION FACTS are based on my meal and are only estimates.  These numbers are only for the pork.

Servings: 12

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 239

  • Total Fat: 21.07g
  • Cholesterol: 42mg
  • Sodium: 23mg
  • Total Carbs:
  • Dietary Fiber:
  • Protein: 8.50g
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