We take an entire chub of bologna, criss cross carve it along the surface, season it with al pastor seasoning and slap it on a Trompo King with some fresh pineapple. The bologna is smoked for a few hours, creating more surface area as fat renders and that cross cross pattern appears. We finish this smoked bologna al pastor recipe by carving the bologna off onto slider buns with some garlic aioli and a piece of grilled pineapple.

I know, I know. Some of you are wrinkling your noses at the notion of grilling bologna. All you really need for bologna is some white bread, a slice of American cheese and mustard, right?

Actually, bologna being a pressed meat, is quite porous and takes on smoke flavor really well.

Thus, we love grilling bologna. Whether Southern Grilled Bologna Sammiches, or Bologna Burnt Ends.

Smoked Bologna Al Pastor Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 chub of bologna
• Al pastor seasoning, divided
• 1 Pineapple
• Teriyaki marinade, divided
• Slider buns
• Garlic aioli
• Pineapple soda, optional

Other Needed Equipment:

• 1 Trompo King vertical spit

Optional Equipment

• Paper plate
• Scissors

Let’s talk about salt here. Bologna is really salty.

No more salt needed on the bologna. Try to find low sodium seasoning and a low sodium teriyaki.

That’s over.

Let’s get after it!

First up, assemble that Trompo King:

That little rack on the bottom will keep the bottom from burning. This is a well engineered device.

Be careful when buying one from third party retailers named after rivers. There are a ton of knockoffs on that site that are very poor quality.

Here’s the real deal:

Begin by carving the skin and stem off the pineapple.

Make sure to get all the skin as we will be adding pieces of the smoked pineapple to the sliders:

Then carve off about an inch thick piece from the bottom and slide that down the Trompo King spit:

Next, peel the wrapper off the chub of bologna:

Then grab a knife and cut a cross cross pattern around the chub.

Lay the bologna flat and run the knife about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep at a 45 degree angle and roll the chub as you make the cut go from the top to the bottom:

Then move the knife an inch over from where the first cut was made and run another slice parallel all the way down.

Repeat until you have a parallel slices every inch along the bologna

Now, spin the chub around and go at a 90 degree angle to the first series of cuts and do the same every inch to form that cross cross pattern:

Trust me here, the effect will be magical.

Next, slice the chub in half:

Then give the entire chub a coating of that Al Pastor seasoning:

Take one half of that chub of bologna and slide it onto the spit atop the first slice of pineapple and top with another slice of fruit:

Then add the other half of the bologna and another slice of pineapple:

I didn’t actually season the pineapple.

I just had some seasoning on my hands from handling the al pastor seasoned bologna.

Seasoning the pineapple is optional.

It will be amazing either way.

Prepare the Grill

We are doing two zone or indirect grilling here. That means, on a conventional grill, to put coals and smoke wood on one side and the bologna on the other side. In this case, I dropped the hot coals in my Hasty Bake grill down to the bottom and put the heat deflector over the fire.

Pecan wood was used for the smoke.

Smoke Wood

If you don’t have access to pecan, we can help. Here’s a list of almost all smoke woods and what they pair with. Find one you have access to that pairs well with pork.

Target temp inside the grill is 300F (+/- 25F)

How to Cook this Smoked Bologna Al Pastor Recipe

Set the Trompo King on the side of the grill with no direct heat and close the lid to let the heat and smoke work their magic:

In only about 20 minutes, the carving pattern we cut in the bologna is starting to show:

If you are wondering what that is next to the bologna, it’s another Trompo King recipe. This one is a boneless leg of lamb gyro recipe:

About 40 minutes in, our chub is coloring up nicely:

After an hour, it is looking really good, but needs to be rotated so I donned some heat resistant gloves and rotated it 180 degrees:

Now that we are getting some nice color, time to put a glaze on it.

We don’t want to put this on too early as the glaze has a lot of sugar and can blacken:

Yeah, it’s pretty:

SO PRETTY!!

OK, I can’t decide which of these pics should go here, so I’m going with both of them:

Next, it’s time to carve off some of that beautiful bologna.

But first, grab a paper plate and a pair of scissors and

Cut the side of the paper plate to parallel the circumference of the bologna chub:

Now grab a knife and carve off some of that gorgeous baloney:

Then, assemble some sliders.

Begin with the garlic aioli.

Just a dollop:

Pile up the smoked bologna and a chunk of that pineapple onto each slider:

Pair with some pineapple soda because it really is a perfect compliment for this smoked bologna al pastor recipe:

And the beauty of this type of cooking is we just need to hit the bologna with some more rub and/or teriyaki.

Roast some more and carve off more meat as needed:

But before we finish this one up with a recap, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a trip down memory lane

First, I need some baloney:

This is the kind of baloney sammich I remember:

I’m not the only one who grew up on the baloney sandwich.

Smoked Bologna Al Pastor Recipe Recap

First, this will be salty, but not in a bad way. I dig it, myself. Second, it’s got a great smoky flavor and the bark is fantastic. My kids loved these. Highly recommended.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

Also, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars that would be most appreciated!

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Smoked Bologna Al Pastor Recipe Recap:

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Smoked Bologna Al Pastor Recipe

A chub of bologna rubbed with al pastor seasoning and slow smoked on a trompo king to create this smoked bologna al pastor recipe

Course Appetiser, Appetizer, Finger Food, Sandwich, Sliders

Cuisine American, American Fare, Appetizer, Barbecue, BBQ, Sando, Sandwich

Keyword Aioli, Al Pastor, Al Pastor Recipe, American Cheese, Baloney, Baloney Sandwich, Bologna, Bologna Sandwich, Garlic Aioli, Grilled Baloney, Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham, Hasty Bake Grill, Hasty-Bake, Mustard, Smoked Bologna, Smoked Bologna Al Pastor, Smoked Bologna Al Pastor Recipe, Teriyaki, Teriyaki Sauce, Trompo, Trompo King

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Servings 10 People

Equipment

• 1 Trompo King
• 1 Paper plate Optional
• 1 Pair of scissors

Ingredients

• 1 chub Bologna Pork is way better than beef
• Al pastor seasoning
• 1 Pineapple
• Teriyaki marinade Divided
• Slider buns
• Garlic aioli
• Pineapple soda Optional

Instructions

• Assemble the Trompo King and carve the skin and stem off the pineapple and carve three, one inch thick slices of pineapple. Insert one of the pineapple disks onto the Trompo King spit
• Remove the bologna chub from the packaging. Carve between 1/2" and 3/4" at a 45 degree angle from the top around to the bottom and every inch all the way around. Then do the same thing at a 45 degree angle running across the first cuts for a criss cross pattern. Cut in half width wise and season with al pastor seasoning
• Place one half of the bologna on the spit above the slice of pineapple, then another slice of pineapple followed by the rest of the bologna and the third slice of pineapple.
• Set up the grill for two zone or indirect grilling with coals on one side and the meat on the other. We used pecan wood for the smoke and set the target temp in the grill at 300F (+/- 25F). Close the lid and let the baloney cook
• Every 30 minutes, with heat resistant gloves, rotate the Trompo King 180 degrees.
• Once we get some nice browning around the bologna, brush on the teriyaki marinade all the way around. Once the teriyaki thickens and caramelizes get ready to slice.
• Optional step: Cut the edge of a paper plate to be the same circumference as the chub of bologna and place the plate up to the edge of the chub and carve off some of that processed meat deliciousness
• Place a dollop of garlic aioli on each bottom slider bun, then stack with smoked bologna, a wedge of the grilled pineapple and cap with the top bun.
• Serve and enjoy.

Video

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Author information

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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