15 Grilled Pork Recipes That Belong at Your Memorial Day Cookout

Burgers, steaks, and hot dogs are often the star of grilling season, but there are plenty of delicious grilled pork recipes to consider making at your cookout, too. Here, we've gathered 15 of our favorite grilled pork recipes for Memorial Day, including juicy, smoky ribs, tender pork chops, and even an impressive rotisserie porchetta. As celebratory as some of these dishes may feel, many of the recipes below, such as the easy grilled pork tenderloin and juicy grilled pork chops—are also simple enough to whip up on a weeknight. So fire up that grill, because it's time to pig out.

May 2019

Charcoal-Grilled Al Pastor Skewers Recipe

Vicky Wasik

Here, we take Kenji's recipe for al pastor tacos and give it the skewer treatment. The pork is sliced thin to ensure it stays tender, then dressed in a bold marinade of chiles, garlic, vinegar, and other aromatics. Thread the meat onto a skewer with chunks of juicy pineapple grill it, then enjoy it as is or in a taco with your toppings of choice.

Charcoal-Grilled Al Pastor Skewers
Thit Heo Nuong Xa (Vietnamese Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chops)

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

These grilled pork chops are one of the easiest—not to mention one of the most delicious—Vietnamese dishes to replicate at home. Here, shallots, lemongrass, garlic, sugar, pepper, and hot sauce give the chops their sweet, savory flavor. Because the chops are so thin, they take just five to six minutes to grill. Serve them hot on top of a pile of rice, with a side of sliced cucumbers, or just enjoy them on their own.

Thit Heo Nuong Xa (Vietnamese Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chops)
Easy Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

The method for preparing the best grilled pork tenderloin is also the easiest. Salting the pork in advance draws out excess moisture and results in a juicier cut of meat, while grilling over high heat sets off the Maillard reaction—transforming proteins and sugars for a more complex-tasting and flavorful pork tenderloin.

Easy Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Adobo-Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Vicky Wasik

Traditional Filipino adobo features stewed chicken or pork in a tangy sauce of cane vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and fresh bay leaves. But the building blocks of that dish make an equally delicious marinade for grilled meats, like these thick and juicy pork chops. The trick to this dish is to use good Filipino cane vinegar, and to get a nice char on the meat.

Adobo-Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Continue to 5 of 15 below
Nem Lui Huế (Huế Lemongrass Pork Skewers)

Serious Eats / Vy Tran

Walk along the streets of Huế and you'll inevitably smell the tantalizing fragrance of nem lụi, or charcoal- grilled lemongrass pork skewers, which is a specialty of the former imperial city. Made with seasoned pork fat, ground pork, and Vietnamese pork paste wrapped around stalks of lemongrass, these skewers are succulent, fragrant, and a delight to eat.

Nem Lui Huế (Huế Lemongrass Pork Skewers)
Balinese Pork Satay (Sate Babi) With Sweet Soy Glaze and Peanut Sauce

J. Kenji López-Alt

Skewers are a great way to prepare grilled food for two reasons: they're easy to handle on the grill, and just as easy to get from plate to mouth. To make this Balinese dish, marinate your pork in a turmeric, lemongrass, and chile-infused spice paste for about 45 minutes, then toss 'em on the grill and finish them with a sweet soy sauce glaze.

Balinese Pork Satay (Sate Babi) With Sweet Soy Glaze and Peanut Sauce
Cochinita Pibil (Yucatán-Style Barbecued Pork)

J. Kenji López-Alt

A zippy marinade, banana leaves, and a grill help reproduce the sweet, earthy flavors traditionally gained by cooking in an underground oven. Blooming the spices produces a more flavorful marinade, and a combination of lime, orange, and grapefruit juice mimics the flavor of the Seville oranges commonly used in the Yucatán.

Cochinita Pibil (Yucatán-Style Barbecued Pork)
Memphis-Style Dry Ribs

Joshua Bousel

Cooked directly over charcoal, brushed with a vinegar mop, and then coated with a spicy rub before serving, these tangy and sweet ribs are anything but "dry."

Memphis-Style Dry Ribs

Continue to 9 of 15 below
The Best Juicy Grilled Pork Chops

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

The key to an irresistibly juicy grilled pork chop is starting off with a thick slab of meat, which will help prevent the pork from overcooking. To retain as much moisture as possible, we opt for a simple dry brine of salt and pepper. When grilling, we create a two-zone indirect fire that allows us to brown the meat over high heat, then move it to the cool side of the grill to finish cooking all the way through. The result is a moist pork chop with a crisp exterior that’ll make dry, lifeless pork chops a thing of the past.

The Best Juicy Grilled Pork Chops
Rotisserie Porchetta

Joshua Bousel

Who needs burgers and hot dogs when you can have this crispy, crackling rotisserie porchetta? We score pork belly, then rub it with an aromatic mixture of spices and herbs before wrapping it around a brined pork loin. After it's neatly tied shut, the impressive roll of pork is placed on a rotisserie over the grill, where it cooks until the meat is juicy and the skin is shatteringly crisp.

Rotisserie Porchetta
Moo Ping (Thai-Style Grilled Pork Skewers)

Vicky Wasik

Here, we toss thin slices of fatty pork butt in a salty-sweet marinade with fish sauce and palm sugar. After being tightly bunched onto skewers, the pork cooks over a charcoal grill and gets brushed with unsweetened coconut cream to keep them moist. Enjoy the skewers on their own, with a squeeze of lime, or even some dried chili-vinegar dipping sauce.

Moo Ping (Thai-Style Grilled Pork Skewers)
Dwaeji Bulgogi (Korean-Style Spicy Grilled Pork)

Vicky Wasik

Only the best Korean barbecue feasts include this spicy, char-grilled pork. The marinade gets its heat from the powers of gochujang and gochugaru, which both—thankfully!—have enough background sweetness to balance out the spice. After charring the pork on the grill, you’ll want to serve it with plenty of garnishes and banchan for a feast that’s both substantial and satisfying.

Dwaeji Bulgogi (Korean-Style Spicy Grilled Pork)

Continue to 13 of 15 below
The Ultimate Homemade McRib (Smoked-Rib Sandwich)

Serious Eats / Jen Causey

Though making this popular McDonald’s sandwich at home is no small feat, the results are worth every bit of effort. To take the sandwich to the next level, we make everything—the barbecue sauce, rub, pickles, and buns—from scratch, guaranteeing a much better flavor than store-bought options would offer. Grinding the rib meat with salted pork shoulder creates patties with smoke flavor that'll get even smokier after grilling. The finished sandwich— in all of its barbecue-sauced greatness—is the perfect way to celebrate summer.

The Ultimate Homemade McRib (Smoked Rib Sandwich)
Smoky and Spicy Apricot-Glazed Barbecue Ribs

Joshua Bousel

These tender ribs get their sweetness from apricot jam and honey, while jalapeño jam and an assortment of spices in the dry rub bring a smoky,

Get the recipe for Smoky and Spicy Apricot-Glazed Barbecue Ribs
Kansas City-Style Barbecue Ribs

J. Kenji López-Alt

Like Kansas City-style sauce, the rub—which contains both brown sugar and granulated sugar—tips the scale in the sweet direction, but gets enough chili powder and pepper to create a spice that balances it out.

Kansas City-Style Barbecue Ribs

Explore more:

15 Grilled Pork Recipes That Belong at Your Memorial Day Cookout

May 2019

More Serious Eats Recipes