10 Common Pork Cuts and the Best Way to Cook With Each of Them (2024)

Pork Chops

The richest and meatiest pork chops are cut from the center of the loin, and you'll generally find these common bone-in types:

• Loin chops—also called center-cut chops—look like miniature T-bone steaks. They have a lot of lighter loin meat on one side of the bone and a bit of the darker tenderloin on the other.
• Rib chops are all loin and no tenderloin.

Boneless pork chops are simply rib chops cut away from the bone. They tend to dry out quickly during cooking, so it's important to avoid overcooking lean boneless chops. Choose cuts that are at least 1-inch thick so they stay juicy.

Best for: Grilling, broiling, and pan-frying

Pork Loin

Buy this large pork cut—which comes from the back of the pig—without bones, which makes it easier to slice. Pork loin has a dense texture and a robust flavor, with a large cap of fat from the back. Stuff it and cook it as a roast, or slice it into 1-inch chops for pan-frying and grilling.

Best for: Roasting

Pork Tenderloin

This lean, very tender cut from the end of the loin is pale pink with a fine grain. Long, narrow, and tapering at one end, it's smaller than a pork loin roast and cooks quickly, making it a good choice for weeknight dinners.

Best for: Pan-frying, roasting, and grilling

Pork Sausage

Sausages, which are made from ground pork, come in a variety of sizes and are already seasoned with flavors ranging from sweet to savory and spicy. Sausage without a casing works great as an alternative to ground beef in pork burgers, sauces, and stews. It's also a popular pizza topping and filling in tasty pork dumplings.

Best for: Pan-frying and grilling

Baby-Back Ribs

Small and meaty, these curved slabs come from the pig's rib cage near the backbone. Prized for their sweet juicy meat, these baby-back ribs—as they're often called—cook quickly.

A full rack has at least eight ribs. For the tenderest meat, select a rack that weighs 2 pounds or less, which yields two servings.

Best for: Roasting and grilling

Spare Ribs

Not as meaty as baby-back ribs, spare ribs are very tasty thanks to a generous amount of fat. Large and irregularly shaped, they come from a pig's underbelly or lower rib cage (also the source of bacon). A full rack has at least 11 ribs and weighs 3 to 4 pounds, which yields two to three servings.

Best for: Roasting, grilling, and braising

Ham

Ham comes from a pig's leg. While some are sold fresh for baking, most are cured with brine, salt, and spices—making them juicier—and fully cooked. Some are smoked, which imparts a meatier, more intense flavor.

Hams are sold as bone-in, semiboneless, or boneless. Bone-in hams usually yield the best flavor, while boneless hams are easier to slice.

Prosciutto is ham that's been cured and air-dried for long periods, making it more tender and giving it a more complex flavor. It's typically sliced paper-thin and consumed uncooked.

Best for: Baking

Bacon

There are many types of bacon, but here are the most popular cuts:

• Conventional bacon is made from fatty slabs taken from a pig's underbelly and then smoked and cured with salt, which concentrates its flavor.
• Canadian bacon, which is leaner, is cut from the loin and comes in cylindrical slices.
• Pancetta, also cut from the belly, is cured (salted or brined) but not smoked.

Bacon has a longer shelf life than uncured pork. It can be refrigerated for up to 7 days and frozen for 3 months.

Best for: Pan-frying

Pork Butt

Despite its name, a pork butt is the prime part of the shoulder between a pig's neck and its loin. It can be purchased bone-in, which carries the blade bone, or boneless. A favorite for making pulled pork, it easily pulls apart into strands after low, slow cooking.

A typical pork butt carries about 30% fat, which makes it perfect for grinding into sausages, burgers, or ground pork. Its intense fat marbling and high concentration of connective tissue allow it to endure hours of cooking, making pork butt an ideal choice for barbecue pulled pork as well as braising and stewing.

Best for: Smoking, stewing, braising, and slow-cooking

Pork Shoulder

If pork butt comes from a pig's shoulder, was is pork shoulder? Also labeled "picnic shoulder," pork shoulder comes from the thinner, triangle-shaped end of the pig’s shoulder, just above the front leg. This cut has less marbling and less fat than pork butt.

Since pork shoulder is often sold with the skin on, it's your best bet if you’re looking to cook up a crispy skin. Often used to make ground pork, you can roast pork shoulder whole and then slice it (like ham) or braise it to serve sliced or chopped. It's also perfect for cutting into chunks for stew or chili.

Best for: Roasting, braising, and slow-cooking