Crispy Pork Cracklings Recipe

This popular Scandinavian street food takes the best part of a pork roast and makes it the star.

Strips of Danish crispy pork cracklings wrapped in paper.

Serious Eats / Mads Damgaard

Why This Recipe Works

  • You just need some pork rind cut into 1/5-inch slices, some salt, and a hot oven.
  • Blanch the slices in salted water first before roasting until crispy.

The look has a vague resemblance to pig tails. Not the ones attached to heads of little girls, but the ones attached to actual pigs. And the flavor is all oink. But it's the texture that's the star of the show when it comes to Danish crispy pork cracklings: partly firm, cracking under the pressure of your teeth, and partly buttery with a more gentle crunch. If you're the type of person who, like me, occasionally enjoys munching on pigs, welcome to heaven and say hello to the flæskesvær, as pork cracklings are called in Danish.

In Denmark, pork cracklings are not merely a snack, but an integral part of one of the most quintessentially Danish foods around: the pork roast. Here, pork roasts are eaten throughout the year and in innumerable varieties. Making smørrebrød? Pork roast. A sandwich? Pork roast. Tuesday night dinner with the family? You guessed it! Hell, the Danes even star the pork roast as one of the main attractions in the sumptuous Danish Christmas dinner.

But even if the pork roast is ridiculously popular in Denmark, the most popular part of the roast is the crackling. And the street food version, which has been clever enough to do away with the actual roast, is popular too. In butchers across the nation, they're made daily and served in paper bags, a bagful providing comfort and fat that'll last you most of the day and into the night. There are, of course, horrible (horrible, I tell you!) industrially processed versions in the supermarkets, but die-hard fans wouldn't dream of getting them from anyone else than their local butcher.

Growing up in Sweden, this fantastic snack was almost completely unknown to me until I met my Danish wife some 14 years ago. But I've more than made up for that since, grabbing every chance I get to sink my teeth into one of these crispy bombs of artery blocking pork skins.

Recipe Details

Crispy Pork Cracklings Recipe

Active 10 mins
Total 60 mins
Serves 8 to 10 servings

This popular Scandinavian street food takes the best part of a pork roast and makes it the star.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole rind from a pork shoulder or belly (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut in to 1/5 inch slices

  • 1/3 cup kosher salt

Directions

  1. Toss the pork rind slices in some salted boiling water and boil for one minute. Remove, strain, rinse in cold water, and let drip off.

  2. Mix slices with generous amount of salt and spread out evenly on sheet pan. Roast in a 400°F oven until crispy, 25 to 35 minutes (turn cracklings occasionally to cook evenly). Drain and cool on paper towels and serve.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
231 Calories
13g Fat
2g Carbs
24g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8 to 10
Amount per serving
Calories 231
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13g 17%
Saturated Fat 5g 23%
Cholesterol 39mg 13%
Sodium 684mg 30%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 24g
Vitamin C 0mg 1%
Calcium 15mg 1%
Iron 1mg 3%
Potassium 88mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)