Pork jowl or hog jowl is a Black Folks soul food staple served on New Year's Day with black-eyed peas, cornbread & collard greens. This recipe is a contemporary soul food recipe for pork jowl. A new twist on an old classic, cooked quicker, easier, and still to perfection in the air fryer!
½teaspoonred pepper flakes(1 teaspoon if you like it hot!)
Instructions
Mix together the brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes in a medium-sized bowl.
Cut the bacon strips in half for a proper pork jowl size to better fit in the air fryer.
Then lay the bacon out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Generously drizzle the maple syrup over the bacon strips.
Next, spread a generous amount of the brown sugar seasoning on the bacon.
Transfer the bacon to your air fryer basket or air fryer tray.
Air fry at 350 degrees F for 8-9 minutes (8 minutes for soft bacon and 9 minutes for crunchy bacon).
Remove the jowl strips from the air fryer and place the cooked bacon on a paper towel-lined or parchment paper-lined baking sheet or cooling rack to cool for about 5 minutes. The bacon will continue to get crispy as it cools.
Repeat the above steps until all the bacon is air-fried, as it’s not likely that it will all fit in the air fryer in one batch.
Serve Black folks pork jowls with cornbread, collard greens, and black-eyed peas or Hopin John, and enjoy!
How to bake hog jowl: Cook the bacon for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F, flipping halfway through. Watch the bacon closer near the end to ensure that the sugar doesn't burn.
How to fry hog jowl: Cook the jowl bacon at medium heat for 10-15 minutes, flipping them as they cook.
Video
Notes
Depending on the size of your air fryer basket or tray, you may need more than one round of air frying to cook all the bacon.
After the cooking time has finished, you can air fry in 1-minute increments until you’re satisfied with the crunchiness.
You can crumble jowl bacon with crispy skin to make bacon bits!
Be sure to let the slices fully cool. This will allow the caramelized sugar to harden.