Whether you know them as pork rinds or chicharrones, crispy pig skin is a savory treat you’ll love on the go. Find them anywhere from tiendas to gas stations as a must-have road trip snack. Popular in the hotter half of the U.S., pork rinds fit right in with Southwest and Southeast cuisines, which have a love of seasoned, fried, and roasted meat and starch. By using flavors inspired by these food cultures, you can level up your pork rinds by shifting from savory to sweet.
To make dessert pork rinds, you’ll want to mix a liquid binding agent with a sweet ingredient and spice. For example, you can dip them in warm chocolate and dust with a pinch of nutmeg before cooling. Toss the rinds in some melted, unsalted butter with cinnamon and sugar for a Taco Bell cinnamon twist dupe. Coconut and brown sugar have a toasty quality that pairs well with the taste of pork skin — not so different from brown sugar bacon with maple syrup. With this liquid-sugar-spice formula, you can infuse any dessert flavor into some crunchy pork rinds.
Sweet and savory is the way to go
Chamoy and Tajín are two ingredients you need for some incredible Mexican food, and they only make sense with pork rinds. Chamoy is a viscous sauce made of pickled fruit with spicy and sour elements, and you’ll often see it with fruit or candy. Tajín is a hot and zesty spice blend. Either of these ingredients can add depth to pork rinds, especially with a squeeze of citrus or pineapple juice. Even a sugary barbecue sauce can give pork rinds a burst of flavor.
Crushed pork rinds might also be the salty topping your dessert is missing. Toss together the crisps using the liquid-sugar-spice method and freeze. When they’re no longer sticky, you can add the extra step of crushing the sweet and savory pork rinds to sprinkle on top of frosted treats and ice cream. If we can flake potato chips over cookies, why not another crispy snack? It gives you something to do with the inevitable pork rind dust at the bottom of the bag so that no part goes unused.
