A few weeks ago you were introduced to my Tomato Red Chile Jam, a sweet, spicy, and savory jam. There are several ways to use this jam, but one of our favorites is as the marinade for pork kabobs. If you already have made the jam, the marinade and the pork kabobs are so easy to prepare and grill. As kabobs, the pork grills relatively quick and can be ready for the table within 45 minutes from applying the marinade.
After assembling the pork kabobs, use the marinade left in the bowl to make a little sauce. Serve these with a vegetable side or salad. You could also add a simple rice or polenta. A great little quick & easy meal.
Pork Kabobs with Tomato Red Chile Jam
“*” See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- ½ cup Tomato Red Chile Jam*
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 pounds pork loin*, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 ½ – 2” cubes*
- In a large bowl whisk together the jam, salt, and cornstarch.
- Add the pork cubes and stir with a spatula until the pieces are well coated with the jam mixture. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- When ready to cook, prepare the grill for a medium heat.
- Skewer the pork onto four skewers. Leave a little space between the pieces in order to allow for even cooking. Save any marinade left in the bowl for a sauce.
- Grill the kabobs for about 6 – 7 minutes per side*. The larger the pieces, the longer the time. Look for an internal temperature of 140 – 145º F.
- While the pork is grilling, heat the saved marinade with ¼ cup water and a little more jam if needed. You’ll only need a little more than ¼ cup of sauce. Bring to a boil stirring constantly, then reduce heat and continue stirring until the sauce starts to thicken. Place a little of the heated marinade on each plate and top with pieces of grilled pork.
The Pork – This recipe works best with a lean pork such as a pork loin or pork tenderloin. It may be hard to cut all of the meat into cubes as you can see in the pictures. In some cases, you may end up with a long narrow piece. Pieces such as that can be folded when skewered.
Skewering technique – One 2 pound pork loin yields enough for two meals for Bobby and me; therefore, when I assemble the kabobs, I skewer the pieces based on the size – largest pieces on the same skewers and smaller pieces on other skewers. We eat the smaller pieces first then save the larger pieces for another meal because they will be a little undercooked. (See Grill time)
Grill time – If you plan to make this two meals, then grill all four skewers for the same length of time, about 12 to 14 minutes (6 – 7 minutes per side). This will cook the smaller pieces perfectly. The larger pieces will be a bit undercooked which work as leftovers. When you heat them up on the stovetop or in the microwave for a second meal, they should be perfectly cooked as well. If serving 4 to 6 people, then remove the smaller pieces after 12 minutes and cover to keep warm. Cook the larger pieces another 2 to 3 minutes.
Parting Shots – Fort Davis to Mustang Island, Texas
Bobby and I spent a couple of weeks in September doing some traveling in south Texas. We started by driving through the Davis Mountains to the quaint little town of Fort Davis, Texas. While there, we took a side trip to Marfa, a popular artist town out in the middle of absolutely no where!
After a couple of days in Ft. Davis, we continued to drive southeast to Mustang Island, just east of Corpus Cristi, Texas. Here we rented a funky little beach house with a fabulous beach side deck, a breathtaking view of the Gulf of Mexico, and short and easy access to the beach via a boardwalk. Below is a panorama of the beach and Gulf, taken from the boardwalk.
Click to enlarge.
With an east facing beach house, it was hard not to be up early enough to watch the many beautiful sunrises.
Needless to say it was a very relaxing vacation during which I left the laptop off and other than my ereader, totally disconnected. 🙂
If you enjoy these Pork Kabobs with Tomato Red Chile Jam, you’ll also love these other pork recipes.
I love kebabs! These look fantastic! I’ll have to give them a try!
Thanks so much Sammie! Hope you do get a chance to try them.
This is seriously yum! I’ll have to make your tomato red chile jam and the new mexico red chile sauce. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much Yi!
I have always wanted to go to Marfa! Was it worth it? That beach certainly looks like it was! Love this recipe-so simple and delish!
Thanks Abbe! Hum, was Marfa worth it? If you are headed through to somewhere else like Big Bend or the coast, then yes. To just go to Marfa for a vacation, it would get old real fast. We were done after a few hours. But the area around Marfa is worth exploring.
Fun travel pics! We just did some travel ourselves. Fun times, but it’s great to be back reading blogs again! Particularly this wonderful kabob recipe. Love kabobs, but almost never do pork for some reason. This is excellent — thanks.
Thanks John! Hope you had a wonderful September and great travels. Where did you go?
Your tomato red chile jam is on my list to try, and now I’m even more inspired to do so. What a great meal, MJ! Your travel photos are amazing. I’m glad to hear you left your laptop and ereader off — it’s so nice getting away from technology.
Thanks so much Nancy! I know you’ll enjoy the jam with or without the pork. 🙂
Oh MJ! Another scrumptious recipe that’s easy to make. Just what I need with such a busy schedule! Vacations so divine, it’s difficult to return to the everyday!
Thanks for much Deb!
MJ, that is some perfect-looking meat! Absolutely gorgeous. I love the red chili marinade. I’m sure these were totally delicious 🙂
Thanks so much Viviane!
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This is one darn good reason to have some of your Tomato Red Chile Jam around! What gorgeous kabobs!
It truly is. 🙂 Thanks Liz!
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Your kabobs look delicious. One of the first things we did when we moved into our new home was to buy a grill. I can’t wait to give your recipe a try in the near future.
Every home needs a grill. 🙂 Hope you are doing well Karen and thanks for stopping by!
These kebabs look extremely juicy and I bet the sauce just takes them off!
It really does. 🙂 Thanks Katerina!
I am so envious of your couple travels MJ (beautiful shots) and while I live and love the parenting moments as they happen (on most days – lol), I’ll admit I’m also looking forward to having these great adventures. Yes, disconnecting…I feel the same way on holidays – love taking a full restorative break. I’m loving all the cozy jams I’m coming across as we move into the acceptance phase of fall 🙂 chile red is right up my alley! beautifully paired here too.
Thanks so much Kelly! Yes, couple travels are very nice but I’m sure if we had had kids, we would have enjoyed them as well. I think we all need to disconnect every once in a while. But I do have to admit that this time, I had a hard time reconnecting. 🙂
interesting about the reconnection… I feel that way too sometimes and wonder… have a great day MJ!
I don’t know if I’m more impressed with the pork kabobs or the vacation pictures. It’s tough to choose. I love your red chile jam and I can only imagine how good this will be. Not for long because I need to taste it all. 🙂
Thanks so much Maureen!
Oh those pork kebabs looks so good!
I love pork in all it’s delicious forms 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
xx
Glad to find another pork lover. 🙂 Thanks!
I am obsessed with the idea of Tomato Red Chile Jam. We have a bunch of tomatoes left in the garden so I have got to try this!
Pamela, please give the jam a try. It’s worth it! I’m making another jar or two this weekend to help get us through the winter. 🙂
Great kebabs Peach Lady and sounds like you had a great vacation. But I bet it felt great back in your own bed too. I am always so thankful to be home. So thankful in fact I hardly go anywhere anymore. 😀
Thanks Zsuzsa! Oh yeh…it’s always nice getting back to your own bed. 🙂 But to be honest, I could have stayed on the beach for another week.
Good for you for disconnecting and as usual amazing travel pics, so jealous. And glad to have a use for that jam. The hot days are numbered here (like tomorrow it will get cold for good) so a great last grill recipe to try.
Thanks Evelyne! I thought we were moving into spring this week, but it’s support to be 94F today! What’s with that? It’s Oct 1! Maybe by the weekend the temperatures will start to cool off.
Your pork kebabs look so tender and delicious, MJ.
Thanks so much Angie!
Flavorful pork marinated with that sweet-spicy jam is a definite succulence. Getting really hungry just looking at it. Oh that is a beautiful and serene place you and Bobby have been hiding away. That’s definitely the way to relax. Well, I hope you have a great week my friend. 🙂
Thanks to my fellow pork lover. 🙂 I think you would certainly enjoy this recipe. How can one not relax on the beach and I loved being at sea level for a while. 🙂
This pork sounds so flavorful and it looks really delicious and moist.
Thanks Amy!
That marinate looks perfect on that meat!
BTW that holiday sounds amazing!
Thanks Raymund! It was amazing!
Oh, I so want to visit Marfa! And, I really want to make that jam. Hey, heading to Taos later this month. Any recommendations?
Thanks Debra! Well, Marfa was an interesting place. Personally, we like Ft. Davis better. Marfa was a little too surreal for our tastes. Hope you get a chance to make the jam. It’s quite good.:) I sent you an email with some Taos recommendations. Did you get them?
Your holiday sounds amazing. What a relaxing escape and I do like the look of the sunrise. The marinated pork with the chilli jam looks like a wonderfully tasty meal and perfect for our Spring weather xx
Thanks Charlie! Our holiday was amazing and so peaceful. It was hard to come home. 🙂
It’s such an excellent idea to share with us first a recipe (the jam) and then the ways to use it which are at the same time delicious-lloking recipes! These kebabs look really fabulous and as a big pork fan who is also a fiery food addict, I’m sure I’d love them.
It seems you have had beautiful holidays! I’m sure you have brought us some culinary inspirations too!
Thanks Sissi! It’s so hard for me to take 2 pictures in one day, that I like to keep things separated. Plus I had to get a picture of the jam before we ate it all. 🙂 I love pork as well, but I’ve always felt that it needed either a long brine or a tasty marinade, otherwise, it could be somewhat bland, especially the leaner cuts. This particular recipe was a happy accident that has become a regular. 🙂 I did get a lot of inspiration from our vacation, but it was all with fresh seafood, something I just don’t get around here without paying an arm and a leg. There is a ceviche I’m going to try once I find some really fresh fish.
I understand you too well… most fantastic dishes or products I eat in Japan… there is no way I could get them or copy them (fresh fish, seafood, even some local vegetables) and I no longer have sushi here because raw fish is horrible here in comparison. We are already lucky to be able to taste such wonderful different food.
I love pork kebabs and your chile jam sounds like a great marinade. They certainly look mouthwatering.
Thanks so much A_B!
I don’t know what I want to drool over first, your kabobs or your beautiful vacation photos! How about if I just eat a kabob while admiring the photos.. that sound like a perfect plan. I adore that last photo.. so serene and peaceful. 🙂
Well, both are droolable. 🙂 That last photo does really illustrate the whole vacation. Thanks Ramona!