There is perhaps no other food that represents Thai street food culture better than these. These flavourful marinated pork skewers, served alongside sticky rice, can be seen all over the country, any time of day. They're very easy to make, so you can bring the streets of Thailand into your backyard with this recipe
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What is Moo Ping หมูปิ้ง?
Moo means pork, and ping means to grill, so the name simple means "grilled pork." But there is much more to it than that. The pork is marinated in a slightly sweet mixture of umami sauces, herbs, and coconut milk. They're then skewered and grilled, and always served with sticky rice.
In Thailand, you can find these sold by street carts outdoors, or inside malls where there are also plenty of food stalls. Nowadays, many of these vendors do not make their own moo ping, and instead buy them from a large supplier. In my opinion, the quality of the average moo ping in Thailand has gotten worse since this started happening. Mass produced moo ping are made from finely chopped pork, they use evaporated milk instead of coconut milk, and they always taste too sweet. So this is definitely one recipe I now prefer to make myself, so I can make them like the good old days!
Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.
- Bamboo skewers, soak these for at least an hour before grilling, and up to overnight, to prevent them from burning on the grill. Though if you forget, you can use my other trick of placing a strip of foil down on the grill and making sure the exposed skewers rest on the foil to insulate them.
- Pork collar butt roast, or pork shoulder. You want to use a fatty cut for this for maximum juiciness.
- Garlic
- Cilantro roots or chopped cilantro stems
- Oyster sauce
- Soy sauce
- Black soy sauce to add a dark colour. You can sub Chinese dark soy, but you have to reduce the amount of regular soy sauce as Chinese dark soy is much saltier than Thai soy sauce.
- Palm sugar, or light brown sugar.
- Neutral flavoured oil
- Coconut milk
- Water, this is added to create a brine to make the pork juicier.
- White and black peppercorns, though you can use one or the other if you only have one.
- Corn starch
- Sticky rice for serving
Watch The Full Video Tutorial!
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How to Make Thai BBQ Pork Skewers
Here are all the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.
- For the marinade: Pound garlic, cilantro roots, peppercorns in a mortar until fine. Add palm sugar and pound until dissolved.
- Add all remaining marinade ingredients, except cornstarch, and stir to mix.
- If you see any silver skin on the pork, remove it, then cut pork into thin, bit-sized pieces. If you start with a roast, first cut the roast into long "cylinders" along the grain, about 1.5" wide by 1" tall.
- Then slice each cylinder into 5 mm (¼ inch) thick pieces against the grain. See the video tutorial for a demo. Slicing thinly against the grain ensure that the muscle fibers are shortest, producing the most tender pork.
- Pour the marinade over the pork and mix well. Let marinate overnight (8 hours) or at least 3 hours if you're in a rush.
- After marinating, sprinkle cornstarch over the marinated pork and mix well.
- Skewer the pork by simply poking through the middle of the piece, then lay them flat on a tray so that the pork pieces are laying flat, shingled on top of each other. Pack them tightly and neatly on top of each other and it'll help shape the skewers. If you have time, let the pork sit in the fridge on the skewers for another hour or longer to set the shape of the skewers, and the pork will not flop around as much when you grill.
- Grill over medium to medium high heat, 1.5 - 2 minutes per side. I like to place a folded strip of foil on the grill under the exposed skewers; this prevents the skewers from burning, especially important if you did not soak the skewers. Serve with sticky rice!
Recipe Card
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BBQ Pork Skewers หมูปิ้ง (moo ping)
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Marinating time: 3 hours minimum
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: Makes about 24 skewers
Description
Moo ping are grilled pork skewers that are the ultimate poster child of Thai street food. You can find these anywhere served along with sticky rice. They're quite easy to make at home, and it's even better than on the street!
Ingredients
- About 24 bamboo skewers, soaked for at least an hour
- 1 ½ lb pork collar butt roast
- 5 cloves garlic
- 3 cilantro roots or 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro stems
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp black soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp (35 g) palm sugar
- 1 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- 3 Tbsp water
- ¼ tsp white peppercorns
- ¼ tsp black peppercorns
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
For serving: Sticky Rice
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Instructions
- For the marinade: Pound garlic, cilantro roots, peppercorns in a mortar until fine. Add palm sugar and pound until dissolved. Add all remaining marinade ingredients, except cornstarch, and stir to mix.
- Cut pork into thin, bit-sized pieces against the grain, about 5 mm thick (a little less than ¼ inch). If you see any silver skin on the pork, remove it. If needed, see blog post above for a visual for how to cut the pork.
- Pour the marinade over the pork and mix well. Let marinate overnight (8 hours) or at least 3 hours if you're in a rush.
- After marinating, sprinkle cornstarch over the marinated pork and mix well.
- Skewer the pork, about 4-5 pieces per skewer, by poking the skewer right through the middle of the piece. Then lay the skewers down on a tray so the pork pieces are laying flat, shingled on top of each other. Pack them neatly and tightly on top of each other and it'll help shape the skewers. If you have time, let the pork sit in the fridge on the skewers for at least an hour before grilling to set the shape of the skewers and the pork pieces won't flop around as much.
- Grill over medium to medium high heat, 1.5 - 2 minutes per side. Place a folded piece of foil under the exposed skewers to prevent them from burning.
- Serve with sticky rice.
TJ says
Really flavoursome, have made it twice now by doubling up the recipe for large bbq hosting. Guests love it. It is on the saltier side, just consider what you'll serve it with. Hardest part is slicing the pork and skewering.
Meow says
My go to recipe for bbq
Scott Carr says
Wondering what other cut of pork can be used for this recipe. Don't know if I've ever seen anything called pork collar but. Pork butt or pork shoulder yes... but it is the collar part that throws me off. How about loin, or is that too lean?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Collar butt is a part of the butt. So you can just use regular pork butt/shoulder and it'll still be fine 🙂
Maria says
Soo good! I love this recipe so much! Grilling over charcoal gives a really beautiful BBQ flavour. Seriously delicious and worth the effort. This will always be my go-to recipe. I add a small 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to ensure the pork is tender. Chefs kiss!
Darunee says
Best moo ping recipe.
I find that you have the best balance of flavours in all your recipes
M Snow says
Such a great recipe for grilled pork. Instead of skewers, I cut my pork into strips. It’s like a boneless skewer!
I will definitely be making this again. The dipping sauce really brings out the flavor.
Fred says
Which dipping sauce?
Xinlei says
Looks delicious! Can you give instructions for cooking in oven too? Thank you!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
I would try putting them under the broiler on high, and flipping them after they are browned. They would take about the same time as the grill.
Xinlei says
Thanks Pailin!
Pat says
Amazing recipe!!
Michael says
What brand of dark soy sauce did you use?
Thank you
Adam The HTK Intern says
Hi Michael! Dragonfly is the one we use mostly, but other substitutes are shown here https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/soy-sauce-101/ ... dark soy at 3:27 🙂 Cheers!
Joey says
I don't have a grill. Can we do it in the air fryer? 5 mins?
I love all your recipes. Especially the pork stew ❤️❤️
Susan T says
My kids loooooved moo ping in Thailand. We were so excited to re-create this street food at home! I used regular pork butt and let it marinade overnight. Put them on the skewers in the morning and my husband grilled them for dinner. We ate with sticky rice, pad woon sen, and some veggies. Yum!
Michael says
The best moo ping recipe that I got!
Very yummy - you can't stop to eat it.
This will bring you a piece of Thailand home.
Pai's moo ping taste like they do on the street markets in Thailand.