Peach Habanero Pig Shots Recipe
As featured in our July/August "Sticky Situation" Box
Some bites are dangerous, and these are the good kind of dangerous. Peach Habanero Pig Shots take crispy cups of thick-cut bacon, pack them with a creamy sausage-and-cheddar filling, and finish them under a glossy glaze of Kosmos Q Peach Habanero BBQ Sauce. The result is smoky, rich, and sweet up front with a slow-building habanero heat on the back end. They come together in about 25 minutes of prep and reward you with two hours of patience at the smoker.
The flavor foundation here is a generous pinch of Bless Yer Heart BBQ Rub by The Spice Guy worked right into the cream cheese filling. Its honey, hickory, and ancho notes give the sausage a sweet Southern backbone that plays perfectly against the peach-and-pepper glaze. Run your smoker at 275°F and lean on fruit woods like apple or cherry, which echo the peach in the sauce and keep the whole bite tasting bright rather than heavy.
The one trick that makes or breaks a pig shot is keeping the bacon cup intact through a 90-minute cook, and this is where a set of GrillPinz earns its keep. Unlike toothpicks, they won't burn out or loosen as the bacon renders, so your cups hold their shape from the smoker all the way to the plate. Wrap each sausage round, pin it, fill it just above the rim, and let the smoke do its work for 60 to 75 minutes before you brush on the sauce and let it caramelize for a final 15 to 20.
A couple of pro tips before you fire up: set your filled cups on a wire rack or mesh grilling mat (available in the Pitmaster Shop) for even bacon rendering and painless cleanup, and top each shot with a fresh jalapeño round before the final cook if you want a little extra heat and a sharp-looking finish. Just remember to pull the GrillPinz before serving.
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