Pork Belly
Pork in the Midwest · up 7% this week
Per a typical 85g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Pork, fresh, belly, raw).
- 1 NorthwestCheapest $3.99/lb
- 2 Midwest $4.08/lb
- 3 Southwest $4.35/lb
- 4 Northeast $4.68/lb
- 5 Southcentral $4.85/lb
- 6 Southeast $5.99/lb
Buying pork belly in the Northwest saves about 33% versus the Southeast this week.
- How to pick a good one
- Look for even, distinct layers of fat and meat rather than one thick band of fat. Skin-on or skinless changes the cooking entirely, so check which you are buying. A thick, uniform slab cooks far more evenly than a tapered one.
- What a good price looks like
- Usually $5 to $9 a pound, having gone from an offcut to a restaurant cut over the past two decades. Under $5.50 is a good price. It is the same primal that bacon is made from, so when belly is dear and bacon is on ad, bacon is sometimes literally the cheaper way to buy it.
- What you actually get
- A pound loses 35 to 40% in rendering, giving roughly 10 oz cooked, and it is rich enough that 4 oz cooked is a full serving. So a pound serves three to four despite looking like it should serve two. The rendered fat is worth saving.
- How to store it
- Three to five days refrigerated. It freezes well and is easier to slice thinly when partly frozen.
- In the kitchen
- The two-stage approach is the reliable one: cook it slowly first — two to three hours at 150°C, or braised — to render the fat and soften the meat, then finish it hot to crisp the skin or the cut faces. Going straight to high heat burns the outside long before the interior fat has rendered. Score the skin, dry it thoroughly, and salt it heavily for crackling.
- Getting the most out of it
- This is uncured bacon, and it is far cheaper per pound. Slow-roast or braise it first to render the fat and tenderise the meat, then crisp it hard at the end. Trying to do both in one fast step gives you a burnt outside and a chewy middle.
- Country Terrine - pork and pistachioRecipe by RecipeTin Eats~$0.78 / serving 0 in-season
- Filipino HumbaRecipe by Pinch of Yum~$1.44 / serving 3 in-season
- Porchetta - Dozer's last recipeRecipe by RecipeTin Eats~$6.10 / serving 1 in-season
- Pork Belly SlidersRecipe by Foodie Crush~$6.18 / serving 4 in-season
Price from the USDA weekly retail meat report (conventional, per lb). Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.
Pork Belly — FAQ
What's the price of pork belly this week?
As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of pork belly in the Midwest is $4.08/lb, up 7% from last week. Prices come from the USDA's weekly retail meat report.
Which region has the cheapest pork belly right now?
The Northwest has the cheapest pork belly this week at $3.99/lb — about 33% less than the Southeast, where it runs $5.99/lb.
How much protein is in pork belly?
A typical 85g serving of pork belly has about 7.9g protein and 440 calories (45.1g fat), per USDA FoodData Central.
What can I cook with pork belly?
SeasonSort indexes 4 recipes using pork belly, each priced per serving from this week's data — starting from about $0.78 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.