Hog Jowl substitute

Best substitute

Slab bacon or thick-cut bacon

Use the same amount by weight as the hog jowl you are replacing

Best for black-eyed peas and field peas

Different texture

The closest widely available match. Both are cured smoked pork with fat and meat in layers, so a pot of greens made with bacon tastes very nearly the same. Jowl carries more fat and more connective tissue than belly, so it renders a richer, silkier pot liquor and the meat itself stays chewier. Bacon is leaner, cleaner and falls apart sooner in a long simmer.

Other hog jowl substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Smoked ham hock
Different texture
Use 1 hock for every 4 to 6 oz of hog jowl
Arguably better than jowl for a pot of peas, and worse for a skillet.
What changes
A hock brings heavy smoke plus a bone full of collagen, so the cooking liquid ends up with real body and a glossy mouthfeel. What it does not bring is much rendered fat or many bites of tender meat, and it is slow: it takes 90 minutes to two hours to give up what jowl gives up in forty minutes.
Best for
black-eyed peas and Hoppin John, greens, bean and split pea soups, long-simmered pots
Start it in cold water with the beans and simmer, do not rush it. Pull the hock out at the end, strip the meat off the bone, and stir the meat back in. Add a tablespoon of oil if the pot needs more fat.
3Salt pork
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight, rinsed, plus 3 to 4 drops of liquid smoke or ½ tsp smoked paprika
Right texture, right fat, two things missing.
What changes
Salt pork is not smoked, so the pot tastes cleanly porky rather than smoky, and it is much saltier, enough to ruin a pot of beans if you do not rinse it. Handle those two gaps and it is a very good substitute, and it is stocked in supermarkets that have never heard of jowl.
Best for
greens and beans, chowders, cornbread, seasoning a pot of vegetables
Rinse it under cold water or soak it 20 to 30 minutes if it is heavily salted, then cut the recipe's salt by half. Add smoke sparingly, liquid smoke goes from convincing to acrid in one extra drop.
4Guanciale
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight, plus ½ tsp smoked paprika if you want the smoke
The same cut of the same animal, which makes it an exact structural match, and many cooks consider it the finest cured pork there is.
What changes
The cure is where it diverges: guanciale is salt-cured and rubbed with black pepper and often rosemary or fennel, and it is not smoked. So a pot of greens made with it is deeply porky, peppery and herbal but not smoky at all.
Best for
greens and beans when you have it, pasta and Roman dishes, any recipe where fat and pork depth matter more than smoke
It is expensive, so this makes sense if you already have it rather than as a shopping decision. Cut the recipe's salt, guanciale is heavily cured, and add smoked paprika or a small piece of a smoked hock if the dish needs smoke.
5Fatback plus liquid smoke
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, plus ¼ tsp liquid smoke and salt to taste
The pure fat option.
What changes
Fatback is unsmoked, unsalted back fat with no meat in it, so it gives you all of the richness and body and none of the meaty bites. The pot ends up glossy and full-bodied but you will not find any morsels of jowl to eat, and you must supply both the salt and the smoke yourself.
Best for
greens and beans, cornbread, when you want fat and body only, budget cooking
Score or cube it and render it slowly before adding liquid. Season the pot at the end, since unlike jowl this brings no salt of its own.
6Smoked turkey wing, neck or leg (pork-free)
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 wing or 2 necks for every 4 to 6 oz of hog jowl
The standard answer in Southern kitchens that do not cook pork, and a genuinely good pot of greens comes out of it.
What changes
You get real smoke, real salt and plenty of collagen, so the liquor still has body. What is entirely absent is fat, so the greens are leaner, less glossy and less mouth-coating, and the flavor is unmistakably poultry rather than pork.
Best for
collard and turnip greens, black-eyed peas, bean pots, pork-free and halal-adapted Southern cooking
Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or butter alongside to make up some of the missing fat. Turkey parts need a longer simmer than jowl, around 90 minutes, before they give up their flavor.

What is Hog Jowl?

Hog Jowl is Hog jowl, also sold as pork jowl, jowl bacon or smoked jowl, is the cheek of the pig, cured and usually smoked into a streaky slab of fat and meat that behaves like a fattier, chewier bacon.

Cooking tips

In a pot of black-eyed peas or greens, hog jowl is doing four jobs: it supplies smoke, salt, rendered fat and collagen that gives the cooking liquid body. It is a seasoning meat, not the protein of the dish, which is why a smoked turkey wing can stand in reasonably well even though it is a completely different animal. Any substitution should be checked against all four of those, and the one most often missed is fat.
Score the rind in a crosshatch and start it in a dry cold pan or pot over medium-low heat, letting it render for 10 to 15 minutes before you add any liquid. Jowl carries a lot of fat and a slow start gets it out where it can flavor everything. Thrown straight into water, the fat stays locked in the meat.
It is a cured product and it is salty. Salt the pot at the very end, after you have tasted the liquid, not at the beginning. This is the single most common mistake with any smoked seasoning meat.
For black-eyed peas, use about 4 to 6 ounces of jowl per pound of dried peas. Add it at the start with the soaking or cooking water so it has 45 minutes or more to work. A splash of vinegar and a shake of hot sauce at the table is the traditional finish and it balances the fat.
Sliced and fried as jowl bacon, it behaves differently from belly bacon. The slices are wider and rounder, they shrink less, and they stay chewier rather than going brittle, because there is more connective tissue running through the cheek. Cook it slower and lower than bacon and accept that it will be tender-chewy rather than snappy.
If you are curing or smoking jowl yourself rather than buying it cured, do not adjust the salt, the curing salt or the times in a tested recipe. Those amounts exist for safety, not seasoning. Follow the recipe exactly and consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation for current guidance.

Frequently asked questions

Is hog jowl the same as guanciale?

Same cut, different cure. Both are the pig's cheek. Hog jowl in the American South is cured and then smoked, so it tastes like a fattier, chewier bacon. Guanciale is the Italian version, salt-cured and rubbed with black pepper and sometimes rosemary or fennel, and it is not smoked at all. They swap for each other perfectly on texture and fat, and if you use guanciale in a Southern pot you will want to add smoked paprika or a smoked hock to cover the missing smoke.

Can I use bacon instead of hog jowl?

Yes, and it is the best everyday answer, at 1:1 by weight. Both are cured and smoked, so the flavor lands very close. Buy slab or thick-cut bacon and cube it rather than using thin strips, which fall apart over a long simmer. The pot will be very slightly leaner and less silky, since jowl carries more fat and connective tissue, but the difference is small.

Can I just leave it out?

Yes, with real losses. Hog jowl is a seasoning meat, so the beans or greens still cook and still taste like beans or greens, but they will be noticeably thinner and less savory. To compensate, start with 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or bacon fat, add half a teaspoon of smoked paprika for the smoke, a dash of soy sauce or a smashed anchovy for savory depth, and finish with vinegar and hot sauce. It will be good. It will not have the same body.

How long does hog jowl need to cook in a pot of peas?

Around 45 minutes to an hour of simmering is enough for it to render and flavor the pot, which lines up neatly with how long dried black-eyed peas take. If you use a ham hock instead, plan on 90 minutes to two hours, since a bone-in hock releases its flavor much more slowly. Rendering the jowl for 10 to 15 minutes in the dry pot before adding water shortens the whole process and improves the result.

Are you supposed to eat the hog jowl or just cook with it?

Both are traditional. Many cooks fish the piece out, chop it and stir the meat back into the peas or greens, discarding any tough rind. Others leave it in as a single piece and serve it as part of the dish. If it has simmered for an hour it will be tender and worth eating, unlike a hock's rind. Sliced thin and fried like bacon, jowl is eaten on its own as jowl bacon.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Hog Jowl substitute

Other hog jowl substitutes

2Smoked ham hock

3Salt pork

4Guanciale

5Fatback plus liquid smoke

6Smoked turkey wing, neck or leg (pork-free)