Pork Kabobs with Spicy Peach BBQ Sauce

These lip-smacking grilled pork kabobs with a sweet and spicy peach BBQ sauce will be the hit at your next summer party! Plus, no one will guess these Peachy Pork-A-Bobs are gluten-free, paleo, and Whole30-compatible!

My hometown inspiration for this dish

I grew up in suburban Menlo Park, California. You wouldn’t know if from the tree-lined residential streets and quaint downtown, but my hometown’s the birthplace of Google, Round Table Pizza, and the psychedelic 60s. I lived a block away from what is now the first-ever Tesla Motors dealership; as a high schooler, I worked there as a file clerk when it was a Chevy showroom. (I got hit by a truck while sprinting across the street after work to watch Donahue. If only I’d owned a DVR in 1989, I would’ve skipped the ambulance ride to the hospital.)

Menlo Park used to be home to the Connoisseur’s Marketplace, a difficult-to-spell mid-summer festival highlighting food, wine, music, and art. As kids, my sister and I would peer into each of the stalls, tug on our parents’ arms and beg to buy trinkets and snacks. “Too expensive,” they’d say.

“Can we at least buy a lemonade? It’s hot out!”

“No. We have lemons at home, and we live two blocks away.”

Argh.

The one thing—the only thing—for which my mom and dad would gladly shell out their hard-earned bucks? Pork-a-bobs! We always made a beeline for the Filipino stand offering grilled swine slathered with a sticky-sweet barbecue glaze. I haven’t been back to the Connoisseur’s Marketplace in over twenty years, but I still think about those pork kabobs.

It’s all about the Whole30 Barbecue Sauce!

My Whole30 version incorporates sweet summer peaches in the smoky, fruity sauce, because I really don’t know of a better flavor combination than grilled pork and peaches. The pork is marinated in a simple, flavorful marinade, which means the sauce isn’t absolutely necessary. But I brush on the BBQ sauce after the pork’s off the grill (so it doesn’t burn) to give the meat an extra boost of flavor and to make it a fun, messy, lick-your-fingers treat.

The best cut of pork to use

Although I normally reserve pork shoulder for low and slow cooking preparations, it’s also fantastic cubed and grilled. This recipe keeps on giving because the pork reheats beautifully and the leftover sauce (which can be smeared on your favorite meats) will keep for up to a week in the fridge. I know you’re tempted to use cubed pork tenderloin or pork loin, but don’t do it! The resulting pork kabobs will be too dry!

How to make pork kabobs

Make the marinade!

First, make the marinade for the kabobs by blitzing together the marinade ingredients: onions, oil, coconut aminos, fish sauce, apple juice, tomato paste, garlic, and freshly ground black pepper in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth.

Cut the pork into cubes!

Grab your pork shoulder and cut it into uniform 1½-inch cubes.

Place the cubes in a large bowl or storage container and pour the marinade over the pork.

Make sure the pork is well-coated before covering the container and storing it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to a day.

Next up: the barbecue sauce!

Heat your grill or grill pan to medium high. Cut your peaches in half and pry out the pits.

Brush the oil on the cut surface of the peaches and onion. Place the peaches, onion, and pepper on the hot grill and leave ‘em there for a couple minutes per side…

…until you get nice grill marks all over.

Roughly chop the peaches and onion, and discard the stem end of the onion. Trim off the stem of the jalapeño and remove the seeds and ribs. (If you want a less-spicy sauce, just use part of the jalapeño instead of the whole thing.)

Toss the peaches, onion, jalapeño, coconut aminos, tomato paste, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper into a high speed blender or food processor.

Blitz until smooth.

Pour the sauce into a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.

Lower the temperature to medium low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Grill the skewers

Heat the grill to medium high.

Thread pork, about five to six pieces, on each skewer. If you make lots of kabobs, you should invest in some flat metal skewers. Wooden skewers always burn no matter how long you soak them in water.

Grill the pork shish kabobs for about 10 minutes…

…turning every couple of minutes…

…until cooked through.

Remove the kabobs from the grill and brush on the barbecue sauce.

Rest the pork for 5 to 10 minutes before digging in.

I added some diced peach to make ’em pretty.

Grab some napkins!

What can you serve with it?

• Japanese Potato Salad
• Pineapple Coleslaw
• Chopped Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
• Smashed Cucumber and Carrot Salad
• Red Cabbage Slaw with Tangy Carrot Ginger Dressing
• Spicy Mango Cabbage Slaw
• Mexican Watermelon Salad

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