Whether you are tailgating, watching the big game from your living room, or having a party, the pig shots will be everyone’s favorite appetizer! Pig shots are shot glass shaped apps made from a coin of kielbasa, wrapped in bacon. Fill it up with some cream cheese filling and it will make you squeal with delight!
These pig shots use simple ingredients that you grilling-aficionados probably already have in your refrigerator. Defrost that bacon, grab that kielbasa and let’s make some magic happen!
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Round Up Your Ingredients
Like I said, these pig shots don’t require any specialty ingredients and you can customize it however you’d like. You need some thick cut bacon, kielbasa (we used beef), cream cheese, jalapeno, cheddar cheese, and some BBQ rub. Finally, we topped ours with hot honey, but jam or BBQ sauce would be good too.
Shot Glass Construction
First up, you’re going to make the “shot glass”. Slice the kielbasa into approximately 1/2″ coins. The thickness itself isn’t critical, but you want to be able to put a toothpick through it and be consistent so they all cook evenly. Next, trim your bacon so it is wraps around your kielbasa with about a 1/2″ overlap. This is usually about half a strip of bacon. Wrap it around and secure it with a toothpick.
Next, prepare your cream cheese mixture. Soften 8oz of cream cheese and then add 1/4 cup shredded cheddar, 1 diced jalapeno, and about 2 tablespoons of BBQ rub. (More or less to taste.) If you want to kick it up a notch, you could smoke your cream cheese.
Place the cream cheese mixture in a plastic bag and gather it all to one bottom corner. Clip the corner of the bag so you have about a 1/2″ diameter hole and squeeze the mixture into the pig shots.
Now they’re ready for the grill. If you have a wire rack, place the pig shots on them for easy transport from the kitchen, to the grill, and back again. If not, you can place them individually on your grill grates, but the wire rack helps keep them stable and upright.
Smoke Those Hogs!
We are going to smoke these pig shots at 275°F for 45 minutes before we finish them off. Once your smoker is ready, place the pig shots on and sprinkle with a little more BBQ rub. We let the shots smoke for 45 minutes because we like our bacon pretty crispy. If you’re more into chewy bacon, you can go a few minutes less.
Once the bacon is cooked to your liking, drizzle some of your favorite BBQ sauce, jam, or honey on top as a glaze. Let them cook for another 5 minutes to set the glaze.
When the glaze has set, remove the pig shots from the grill and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. You’re going to want to start consuming these immediately, but if you value the roof of your mouth, you’ll want to wait. (Don’t ask us how we know.)
Finally, remove the toothpicks from the pig shots and serve! (Or keep them for yourself, we won’t tell anyone!)
Pig Shots
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs thick cut bacon
- 4 beef kielbasa or 1 u-shaped kielbasa
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese
- 1 jalapeno, diced
- 2 Tbsp BBQ Rub
- hot honey, or other glaze
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 275°F.
- Slice the kielbasa into 1/2" tall coins. Wrap the thick cut bacon around the kielbasa coins so there's a 1/2" overlap. Secure bacon with a toothpick.
- Soften the cream cheese and mix in the shredded cheddar, diced jalapeno, and BBQ rub.
- Place the cream cheese mixture in a plastic bag and trim the corner. Squeeze the mixture into the pig shots.
- Place the pig shots on a wire rack and place on the smoker. Sprinkle with more BBQ rub.
- Smoke the pig shots for 45 minutes.
- Add the hot honey or other glaze to each pig shots. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.
- Remove pig shots from the smoker and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- ENJOY!
