Pork rind, also known as chicharrones, is the culinary term for the skin of a pig, high in fat and has no carbohydrates (carbs). It is an ideal ketogenic or keto food, which is high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbs.
The pork rind is the food that we know we shouldn’t be eating. This is the food that people, who love us and care for us, say we should not touch.
The reason is that pork rind is very fatty. This is kind of food that we are not supposed to eat because for several decades now, we have been told over and over again that fat is a dietary bogeyman.
It really is. It’s supposed to cause all sorts of nasty health problems, from the familiar high blood pressure to certain heart conditions, or even certain types of cancer. Fat was supposedly the bad guy.
Fat Is Not The Culprit
According to research within the past decade, it turns out that we’ve had it completely wrong. Fat is actually necessary. The most important organs in the human body, such as brain, nerve, and skin, contain fat, which help the function of our organs.
Fat is actually crucial for overall health. For so long time, we believe that if we ate carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables, then we will be healthier. That did not turn out to be true.
Because as people loaded up on carbs, they ended up inflaming their system and they got fatter and sicker over time.
Pork Rind Is An Ideal Keto Diet
Pork rind is supposed to be our dietary kryptonite. It is supposed to be the food items that we should turn our backs on and run to the hills from.
Well, as tasty as these morsels may be, they are also good for you because they load you up with fat. When you eat fat instead of sugar, what happens? Your insulin levels decrease. Your insulin will stop blocking your fat cells from releasing their contents, and your body’s cells from turning fat-based energy compounds into the energy your body needs.
In other words, without insulin, you can burn your belly fat. You can burn those cheek jowls that make you look like a bulldog. By eating more fat, you can burn that thick layer of fat in the back of your head. Isn’t that awesome? Isn’t this great news? And the best part to all of this, is that you do so by eating pork rind.
Pork rind, can you imagine that? Can you imagine the taste of dipping some tasty, salty pork rind into some vinegar, and just letting that taste explosion spread in your mouth, all over your tongue? With each swallow, it’s a celebration of all that fatty flavor and goodness.
Pork Rind Nutrition Fact
Well, now it’s possible to consume pork rind thanks to the keto diet. In fact, the keto diet enables you to revisit all your other guilty food pleasures and enjoy them. It’s a celebration of taste, and the best part? It’s actually healthy, because for the long time, fat has been demonized in America and elsewhere.
Here is pork rind nutrition fact:
- Serving size: 1 oz
- Calories: 160
- Fat: 10 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Carbs: 0 g
It is a typical keto food, high in fat and zero carbs. Pork rind can help you lose weight and keep it off.
Home-Made Pork Rind
It is easy to prepare pork rind at home. Here is the basic procedure:
- Purchase pork skin. Use the skin as early as possible, since it is easy to make while it is fresh.
- Cut pork skin into pork squares. Make the size you like and each pork square will become a singular rind.
- Boil skins. Boil water, add skins once water is boiling. Let the skins boil for about one hour.
- Chill skins. After skins have been boiled, pour out water and allow them to cool down and place in refrigerator for 4 hours or longer.
- Place skins face down on drip tray.
- Render and dehydrate skins. Set your oven to 170˚-180˚F and leave the door cracked. This allows air to circulate and carry away the moisture in the skins. Total drying time should be approximately 8 hours or overnight with a convection oven – add 2 hours for ovens without convection. You can also use a dehydrator for this step – just dehydrate the skin as you would any other food. Pork skins puff when fried because they have been dehydrated to the point that there is only a small amount of water remaining in the skin. When skins hit the fryer, this water turns to steam and puffs the skins.
- Fry skins. Prepare oil and pot. When oil in the pot reaches about 400˚F, gently add pork skins into the pot.
- Cool and season skins. When skins are completely puffed, remove them from the oil and place on the dehydrating try. This allows excess oil to drip off and the skins to cool. Immediately use your shaker to season skins, seasonings only stick when they are hot.
- Pork rind is ready to enjoy.
Keto Snacks
Snacks are important part of Keto diets. Many popular snacks have too much carbs and are not easily fit into a keto diet plan. This is frustrating when you are trying to deal with the between-meal hunger.
Pork rind is an ideal keto snack, since it contains high fat and zero carbs. Most of the popular chips, such as potato chips, nacho cheese tortilla chips, and tortilla chips, are high in carbs and are not good choices for keto foods.
Commercial Pork Rind
Pork rind is popular snack, especially for people who has done a low-carb or keto diet plan. You can get out of a lot from simple pork rind. It is a simple and quick snack to satisfy a craving for chips.
I like the Utz brand for the freshness and the price. You can easily find it in Amazon and Wal-Mart.
I love that I can get on Amazon and order these and have them shipped directly to me in two days and with no shipping costs since I am a Prime member. I try not to run out, since I am on a keto diet plan and use them a lot.
Pork rind often come in 2 or 2.5 oz bags. Pay attention to serving sizes: eating 2.5 oz. of pork rind will provide almost 400 calories and 22 g of fat, more than a quick snack should contain. The high protein and fat content should help fill you up, and because pork rind contain no sugars or carbs, they won’t raise your blood sugar like candy, cookies or snack cakes. This is important, since I have diabetes. I have been using cannabidiol (CBD) and my blood glucose is in the normal range.
The problem with most diets is that they’re very easy to adopt, but they are hard to stick to. It doesn’t matter what kind of diet it is. It’s only a matter of time until you get back to where you started. This is bad news. This is a big letdown, because all that weight, that you initially lost at the beginning of the diet, starts to come back. It is important to select some simple foods like pork rind. It is easy to access, to enjoy, and to maintain your good food habits.
Have you tried pork rind? we would love to know your experience with it. If you have any commands, suggestions, or questions on pork rind, feel free to drop them below, we will come back to you in a timely fashion.
Hello, I must say that this article is very helpful and informative. Honestly, I never tried pork rind as I am not a big fan of pork but this looks delicious. I am even surprised it can be used. Thank you for sharing the link where I can get this product, it is not expensive at all, I could not prepare it at home.
I am happy that this information is helpful to you. Now you know that pork rind is a healthy product and feel free to enjoy it.
Dear Anthony,
Thanks a lot for the detailed and in-depth information on Pork Rind.
To be honest, I was also thinking Pork Rind is very bad for our health and your article is an eye-opener to me. I got great insights from your article.
The nutrition fact you shared is very helpful and the information you shared on preparing the Home-Made Pork Rind is just like icing on the cake.
You have given me plenty to think. Your post is so thorough it opened my eyes to all sorts of information I wasn’t aware of!
Much Success!
Paul
Hi Paul, Thanks for stopping by. Nice to hear that the information on pork rind is useful to you. Pork rind is nutritious to your body, esp if you practice keto diets.
This article is very interesting and an eye-opener for me. Now I know that fat is not really the culprit and it’s the carbs that we intake that is destroying our body. Will look into the keto diet and check if that diet is really for me. I haven’t really tried the pork rind snack. Will definitely try and order some thru your link. Thank you for this very informative article. Cheers!
I highly recommend keto diet for you. I have been practicing keto diet for more than one year now. I feel good now and my belly fat was totally gone.
Pork rind is my only snack. It is cheap and taste good.
It was interesting reading your article on pork rind. You just don’t think that something like pork rind is going to be healthy to eat, but I can see where you are coming from. It certainly would satisfy hunger as a snack as part of a healthy diet, sugary snacks are not good because of getting addicted to them, so this is a better alternative. I have not really had pork rind, but it sounds like it would be tasty. But I imagine with any food, it’s everything in moderation, so it probably isn’t a good idea to eat loads of pork rind in a day. Otherwise it could be bad for you.
Thank you very much for your commands and suggestions. I always think that pork rink is bad for our health until last year. Pork rind is now my only snack. You are not going to eat a lot of pork rink, since it is slightly oily and easy to feel full. You are right that I don’t have addiction to pork rind.
I have been thinking of trying the Keto diet and the most difficult area from my reading on the subject has been what to snack on. Your article on Pork Rind may have answered my question for me. this plus the fact that I can get this off Amazon makes it easy to implement.
I lived in Australia and we would go pig shooting in the area I lived in. A local authority would actually pay shooters $5.00 per pair of pigs ears as they were a pest because of the way that they destroyed the sugar cane. As long as you knew how to check for diseases the rest of the pig was good eating especially the rind as long it was cooked well, but not to charcoal.
I must try your way of making my own. BTW what is your favorite seasoning mix?
I am practicing keto diet right now and the only snack I have is pork rind. I have no addiction to it. Whenever I feel hungry, I just take few pieces of pork rind. It is easy to feel full.
You are so luck to live in such an area, which could be the best place to make your own pork rind besides other delicious pig food. You make money by doing this. Pork rind should be safety since there are so many steps with very high temperature to kill germs.
You can take whatever the seasoning you like for pork rind. I like the chile lime salt.
Hello,
This is such a great article because it went over so many facts about fat in the body and the effect fat has. Most people would definitely stay away from pork rinds if they were trying to lose weight and burn fat. I am very surprised to learn that it actual helps the body and provides health benefits people didn’t know it could. I think the topic is very important to everyone because it directly effect your life and the amount of time you are here. Keep on sharing more articles like this, thanks for the information.
Best regards,
Jefrey M.
Thanks for your command on this article. You are right that the recent scientific advance indicates fat is not culprit for many illness. In fact, good fat teaches our body system to use fat as the source of energy, instead of glucose, which help us reduce weight and prevent a slew number of diseases.
You are right that we need to promote knowledge to help lead healthy and happy life.
Really? It’s OK for me to eat Pork Rinds? I’d love to get rid of the belly fat, that’s for sure but to do it by eating fat? It sounds suspicious to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for tasty food but somehow I can’t get over this “That is bad for you” mentality that has been drilled into my head for years.
I’m really trying to eat healthier and yet I keep getting different opinions and programs I should follow. I’ve made the skillet keto rolls and they were awesome.
OK, I’m going to have to look deeper into Keto and see if it’s right for me.
Thanks again. Now I have a craving for pork rinds, LOL.
Scott
I grew up and was told that pork rind was not consumable. We usually threw away the pig skin, since no one would like to use it.
I am practicing keto diet right now. Pork rind is the only snack I have. It tastes good and easily feel full.
Skillet keto rolls sounds delicious. I never try it and will try to make it some day. Thanks for the suggestions.