Traeger Smoked Asian Burnt Ends with Bacon Fried Rice

In partnership with Meater

Burnt ends are a BBQ delicacy that are flavorful and tender and come in short supply. When made traditionally, the point of a brisket is cubed to become these tasty bites. In this shortcut recipe, we use a chuck roast to become burnt ends and we gave these an Asian twist while served alongside bacon fried rice. 

BURNT ENDS ARE AMAZING

At BBQ joints across the country, finding burnt ends on the menu can be like the ultimate game of hide and seek. They’re time intensive– requiring additional cooking after a whole packer brisket is cooked up– and can often be prohibitively expensive. 

In this shortcut recipe, we use a whole chuck roast which results in delicious copy-cat burnt ends. Often, this kind of burnt ends is called “poor man’s burnt ends” but given the economy of today, even chuck roast isnt’ a cheap cut anymore. Regardless, these are delicious BBQ bites and when given an Asian twist, they result in a fantastic easy dinner for your family.

CHUCK ROAST VS BRISKET POINT

Buying the brisket point is often a difficult task. You’ll find much more often that you can find brisket flats readily available in the grocery store. Often, these are at exorbitant prices and cooking a brisket flat, without the point, can be a tricky endeavor. If the flat has been trimmed by the butcher, there won’t be much fat left to render, and it’s easy to dry it out. 

When you cook a whole-packer brisket, you will have an easier time getting tender and moist meat throughout. But unless you have lots of friends coming for dinner– it’ll be hard to eat through a 15-pound brisket without waste! And if you’re cooking a whole packer brisket to get burnt ends, then you have a bunch of cooked brisket flat to use later, too.

A great solution is to pick up a chuck roast from the grocery store for this burnt-end recipe. Chuck roasts are often sold in fairly flat pieces– about 2 inches thick– and about the size of a dinner plate. Look for one that is pretty even in thickness and has good marbling. You want to start with a fairly uniform piece, which will help make uniform cubes later on. 

Chuck roasts are naturally more lean than some other cuts (like brisket or ribeye), but the application in this cook– low and slow and then in a bath of flavor and moisture– will result in delicious burnt ends at the conclusion. 

ASIAN TWIST ON BURNT ENDS

For this recipe, we decided to mix it up and forgo the traditional BBQ sauce bath for the burnt ends. Rather, we used Bachan’s, a Japanese-style BBQ sauce that is heavy on the umami flavors of soy and garlic.  It’s not tomato-based like many traditional BBQ sauces and provides a really great different punch of flavor. When added to the cubes of chuck roast after they’ve smoked, along with a little butter, it makes for the ideal flavor bath for the burnt ends to continue cooking until fork tender. 

USING THE MEATER FOR PERFECT TEMPS

In this recipe, we used a Meater wireless thermometer to monitor the cooking temperature of the chuck roast as the cook progressed. By putting the thermometer probe in the roast from the beginning, we were able to 

SERVED WITH BACON FRIED RICE

A local restaurant here in Denver specializes in Hawaiian-style BBQ and one of their signature side dishes is bacon fried rice. We took that inspiration and amped it up a few notches by adding some more traditional fried rice ingredients (peas and carrots and egg) to make a delicious and quick fried rice side to go with the Asian Burnt Ends.

QUICK COOKING RICE

For this recipe, we used Asian sticky rice as the base for our fried rice. Cooked in the Instant pot in 12 minutes, the rice came out perfect and was ready for stir-fry! We cooked chopped up Snake River Farms bacon in a wok, and then used some of the bacon grease to quickly cook the onions and carrots before adding the frozen peas until just warmed through. 

Three eggs were lightly beaten and scrambled in the same wok (using a little more bacon grease, if needed) until just cooked. We tossed the veggies and eggs together, then added the rice and some seasoning and cooked until it was all mixed well and hot. Took less than 10 minutes and was so delicious when served alongside the Asian burnt ends. 

PRIMARY INGREDIENTS

• Chuck roast
• Traeger jalapeno & lime hot sauce
• My Smoke Junkie seasoning
• Bachan’s Japanese-style BBQ sauce
• Butter 
• Bacon
• Cooked white rice
• Onion
• Carrot
• Frozen green peas
• Eggs
• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Chopped scallions

WHY COOKING BURNT ENDS AND FRIED RICE ON THE TRAEGER WORKS 

Cooking up this dish on the Traeger is ideal because the low and slow nature of the Traeger’s smoke settings make the chuck roast turn out tender and delicious. By smoking the whole roast in the grill for a number of hours first, your meat gets a bath of wood fired Traeger flavor and begins to really tenderize.

Then, once cubed and tossed in sauce, it goes back on the Traeger for the second phase of cooking which locks in flavor and makes them extra tender. 

As an added bonus, cooking the bacon fried rice on the induction burner attached to the Traeger means that the entire meal– Asian burnt ends and bacon fried rice– is all cooked on the Traeger in your backyard. It can’t be beaten! 

STEP-BY-STEP

• Preheat your Traeger grill to 225* with the super-smoke feature. 
• Unwrap the chuck roast and pat it dry with a paper towel.
• Coat all sides of the meat with the Traeger hot sauce.
• Then season the chuck roast generously with Smoke Junkie seasoning. 
• Allow it to sit for 5 minutes. 
• Insert the Meater thermometer probe and pair the app to the probe.
• Set the app to the desired temperature of 160*.
• Place the seasoned chuck roast on the center of the grill grates and close the lid. 
• Smoke the meat on the Traeger for about 3 hours, or until the set temperature is reached.
• Then wrap the chuck roast in butcher paper and set the desired temperature on the Meater to 190*.
• Place the wrapped chuck roast back on the Traeger at 275*.
• Once the chuck roast reaches 190*, you are ready to make it into burnt ends cubes.
• Remove the smoked meat from the Traeger and slice the meat into even sized bites.
• Place the cubes in an aluminum pan and toss with a generous amount of Bachan’s sauce.
• Add several tabs of butter all over the meat and turn to coat. 
• Return the pan to the grill and continue cooking until the meat cubes for about an hour until tender and the sauce reduces.
• Pull the meat from the grill and cover the pan with foil. Make the bacon fried rice while the meat rests.

• In a wok, cook the chopped bacon until just crispy. 
• Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and pour off all but 2 tbsp of bacon grease (reserve for later).
• To the same pan, add the onion and carrots and cook until beginning to get tender.
• Add the frozen peas and garlic and stir until the peas are defrosted. 
• Move the veggies to one side of the pan and add another tablespoon of the reserved bacon fat to the clear side. 
• Pour in the gently beaten eggs and scramble. 
• Combine the veggies and the eggs in the pan, spreading evenly in the pan. 
• Add the cooked rice and using two spoons, stir fry the rice and veggie/egg mixture until well combined and hot throughout. 
• Season the fried rice to taste with sesame oil and soy sauce. 
• Stir in the reserved cooked bacon and chopped scallions. 
• Serve alongside the Asian burnt ends. 

ALTERNATE RECIPES/PRODUCT LINKS

• Pork belly burnt ends
• There’s a great recipe for traditional poor man’s burnt ends in my cookbook

Products used in this cook:

• Meater Thermometer– For this recipe for Asian burnt ends on the Traeger, we used the Meater thermometer system to ensure that we had perfectly cooked beef for this dish.
  • Some of the features I love about the Meater include- Longer Range: Bluetooth to WiFi range extension built-in up to 165ft. Stand-Alone Mode: Cook without the use of your smartphone.
  • Multiple Probes: Dual temperature sensors in each probe can monitor internal meat temperature up to 212°F and ambient / external temperature up to 527°F simultaneously.
  • Guided Cook System: Walks you through every step of the cooking process to guarantee perfect and consistent results. You can also set up custom alerts/notifications based on temperature and/or time.
  • Advanced Estimator Algorithm: Estimates how long to cook and rest your food to help plan your meal and manage your time.

• Traeger Grill
• Steel wok
• Pink butcher paper

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Asian Burnt Ends with Bacon Fried Rice

thisjewcanque

Tender cubes of chuck roast are transformed into poor man’s burnt ends after slow smoking on the Traeger. Served with bacon fried rice, this is the ultimate family dinner with an Asian twist.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course beef, main, Main Course

Cuisine American, Asian, fusion

Servings 4

Equipment

• Meater thermometer
• Traeger grill
• Steel wok
• Pink butcher paper
• Aluminum pan
• Cutting board and knife

Ingredients

  

• 2 pound chuck roast
• 4 tbsp Traeger jalapeno & lime hot sauce
• 4 tbsp Smoke Junkie seasoning
• 1 cup Bachan’s Japanese-style BBQ sauce
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/4 pound bacon chopped
• 3 cups cooked white rice
• 1/2 onion finely diced
• 1 cup carrots finely diced
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp chopped scallions

Instructions

 

• Preheat your Traeger grill to 225* with the super-smoke feature.
• Unwrap the chuck roast and pat it dry with a paper towel.
• Coat all sides of the meat with the Traeger hot sauce.
• Then season the chuck roast generously with Smoke Junkie seasoning.
• Allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
• Insert the Meater thermometer probe and pair the app to the probe.
• Set the app to a desired temperature of XXX*.
• Place the seasoned chuck roast on the center of the grill grates and close the lid.
• Smoke the meat on the Traeger for about 3 hours, or until the set temperature is reached.
• Remove the smoked meat from the Traeger and slice the meat into even sized cubes.
• Place the cubes in an aluminum pan and toss with a generous amount of Bachan’s sauce.
• Add several tabs of butter all over the meat and turn to coat.
• Return the pan to the grill and continue cooking until the meat cubes reach a termpeatrue of XXX* internally.
• Pull the meat from the grill and cover the pan with foil. Make the bacon fried rice while the meat rests.
• In a wok, cook the chopped bacon until just crispy.
• Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and pour off all but 2 tbsp of bacon grease (reserve for later).
• To the same pan, add the onion and carrots and cook until beginning to get tender.
• Add the frozen peas and garlic and stir until the peas are defrosted.
• Move the veggies to one side of the pan and add another tablespoon of the reserved bacon fat to the clear side.
• Pour in the gently beaten eggs and scramble.
• Combine the veggies and the eggs in the pan, spreading evenly in the pan.
• Add the cooked rice and using two spoons, stir fry the rice and veggie/egg mixture until well combined and hot throughout.
• Season the fried rice to taste with sesame oil and soy sauce.
• Stir in the reserved cooked bacon and chopped scallions.
• Serve alongside the Asian burnt ends.

Keyword Asian burnt ends with bacon fried rice

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