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Smoked bologna burnt ends made with a homemade Carolina Gold mustard BBQ sauce – an easy, budget-friendly pellet grill appetizer perfect for tailgating and game day.
Tailgate season is here, and if you’re looking for a smoked appetizer that costs next to nothing but disappears in about five minutes flat, let me introduce you to bologna burnt ends.
Yep, bologna. The same lunch meat you packed in your kid’s lunchbox, transformed into sticky, saucy, smoky bites that taste like something way fancier than a $12.99 chub of bologna has any business tasting like.
I coated cubed bologna in yellow mustard and BBQ seasoning, smoked it low and slow, then tossed it in a homemade Carolina Gold mustard BBQ sauce and butter before letting it go back on the smoker to tack up and caramelize. The result is sweet, tangy, smoky, and just a little spicy – and they were so good that my wife, who would never in a million years choose to eat a bologna sandwich, could not stop eating them.
*Have more time or want to try the classic burnt ends recipe? Try our smoked brisket burnt ends!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s ridiculously budget-friendly. One chub of bologna runs about $13-$15 and feeds a crowd – perfect for tailgating when you don’t want to sink a lot of money (or a full brisket’s worth of time) into game day snacks.
- No fancy equipment needed. No trimming, no wrapping, no temping a giant cut of meat. Cube it, season it, smoke it.
- Cooler-friendly for tailgates. Since there’s no raw meat safety window to worry about, these travel and hold well in a cooler until you’re ready to serve.
- That mustard BBQ sauce is the star. I’m a yellow mustard on my bologna sandwich kind of guy, so building a Carolina Gold BBQ sauce around that same flavor just made sense – and it makes these taste like my favorite smoked sausage and sweet ‘n spicy mustard snack – you know, the ones you get from the Hickory Farms stand at the mall during the holidays.
- It converts bologna skeptics. If someone in your house turns their nose up at a bologna sandwich, put a plate of these in front of them and watch what happens.
Ingredient Notes
- 3 lb chub of bologna – Look for a chub (not sliced deli bologna) at your grocery store. Peel back the paper casing before cutting.
- Yellow mustard – Used as a binder before the first smoke, both for flavor and to help the seasoning stick.
- Your favorite BBQ seasoning – A savory, all-purpose rub is all you need here. The bologna is mild, so it takes on flavor well. We used our own ‘Que That Rub and Seasoning.
- Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce – This is a mustard-based sauce built from vinegar, Worcestershire, brown sugar, cayenne, ketchup, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and honey. Make the full batch – you’ll use every bit of it here.
- butter – Classic burnt ends get a butter treatment, so bologna burnt ends get one too. It helps the sauce reduce into a glossy, sticky glaze.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Prep the bologna. Peel the plastic casing off the bologna chub. Cut it into bite-sized cubes – don’t stress about making them perfectly even. It’s all bologna, it’s all going to taste the same, and slightly odd-sized pieces just mean some bites are a little bigger than others.
2. Season it. Toss the cubed bologna in a bowl with a bit of yellow mustard and a good coating of your BBQ seasoning. Mix well so the mustard and seasoning break up the pieces and coat everything evenly.
3. First smoke. Flip a wire cooling rack upside down (so that it slides easily on your grill grates) and lay the bologna pieces in an even layer on the rack with a little air gap between each piece. Give them one more light coat of seasoning on top. Smoke at 250°F for about an hour.
4. Make the sauce. While the bologna smokes, make a batch of Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce. Combine the ingredients, bring to a simmer, and let it cook for 5–10 minutes until it thickens slightly.
5. Sauce and butter bath. Melt about 4 tablespoons of butter in a foil pan. Add the smoked bologna pieces, then pour the entire batch of Carolina Gold BBQ sauce over the top. Toss everything together. You want the mixture to look soupy – it will reduce down on the smoker.
6. Second smoke. Place the pan back on the smoker at 250–275°F and let the sauce reduce, tossing and repositioning occasionally. If your smoker has a hot spot (usually the bottom rack), you can move the pan down there for a few minutes to help things along, then back up to keep the sauce from drying out too much. Toward the end, bump the temperature up to around 300–325°F to help the sauce really tack up and cling to the bologna.
*TIP – If you want the sauce to reduce even more, you can transfer the sauced bologna cubes to a foil-lined sheet pan, and leave the gold barbecue sauce in the foil pan. Place both the sheet tray and the foil pan back on the smoker at about 325°F. Cook until the sauce has thickened to your liking – for us, this took about another 45 minutes.
7. Rest, glaze, and serve. Once the sauce has reduced and thickened to a sticky glaze, pull off the smoker and allow to cool about 10 minutes – the sauce on the burnt ends will continue to thicken as it cools as well. Give it one final toss in the sauce before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditionally, burnt ends come from the point of a smoked brisket – the fattier end cubed up, sauced, and smoked a second time until sticky and caramelized. This recipe borrows that same double-smoke, sauce-and-caramelize technique and applies it to bologna for a fraction of the cost and time.
Any smoker works here – pellet grill, offset, or even a charcoal grill with wood chunks for smoke. You can even cook these in an oven set to a low temperature of about 275°F, but you’ll miss the smoke flavor.
Yes – the mustard BBQ sauce works great on hot dogs and smoked sausage too if you want to switch things up. Or check out our recipe for hot dog burnt ends!
Yes! These hold up well when made a day or two before and then put in the refrigerator. Just wrap in foil and reheat on the grill or in an oven set to a low temp before serving.
More Burnt Ends Recipes to Try
Loved these? Check out some of our other smoked burnt ends recipes:
Bologna Burnt Ends
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chub of bologna
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 3 tablespoons BBQ seasoning of choice, like 'Que That Rub and Seasoning
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce, full batch, *see notes
Instructions
- Cube the bologna: Peel the casing off the chub of bologna, and cut into cubes about 1" in size. Don't worry about making them perfectly even, since the bologna is already cooked.
- Season the bologna: In a large bowl, toss the cubed bologna with 2 tablespoons yellow mustard to coat evenly. Then sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons BBQ seasoning of choice. Mix well so the mustard and seasoning coat every piece.
- Heat the grill: Preheat a pellet grill or smoker to 250℉.
- First smoke: Flip a wire cooling rack upside down (so it slides easily on your grill grates), and arrange the bologna pieces in an even layer with a little space between each one. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon BBQ seasoning over the top. Smoke at 250°F for about 1 hour.
- Make the Carolina Gold BBQ sauce: While the bologna smokes, prepare a full batch of the Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce recipe. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook, stirring occasionally so it doesn't scorch, until slightly thickened.
- Butter and sauce the bologna: Add 4 tablespoons unsalted butter to the bottom of a foil pan. Add the smoked bologna, then pour the batch of Carolina Gold BBQ sauce over the top. Toss to coat – the mixture should look soupy, since it will reduce on the smoker.
- Second smoke to glaze: Return the pan to the smoker at 250–275°F. Toss occasionally, repositioning the pan to a hotter spot if needed to help the sauce reduce. In the last few minutes, raise the smoker temperature to 300–325°F to help the glaze tack up and cling to the bologna. *See notes.
- Rest and serve: Let the bologna burnt ends cool about 10 minutes, then give them one final toss in the sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes
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- For the Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce – We used our homemade sauce for this recipe, and the yellow mustard based sauce goes perfect with the bologna. However, you can substitute your favorite store-bought barbecue sauce to make this recipe even easier. Full recipe for the Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce is on the blog here – https://pelletsandpits.com/carolina-gold-bbq-sauce/
- Foil pan use – Use a sheet tray under your foil pan for support – thin foil pans can be flimsy on a grill grate and may stick or give out.
- Reducing the sauce – If you want the sauce to reduce even more, you can transfer the sauced and smoked bologna cubes to a foil-lined sheet pan, and leave the gold barbecue sauce in the foil pan. Place both the sheet tray and the foil pan back on the smoker at about 325°F. Cook until the sauce has thickened to your liking – for us, this took about another 45 minutes.
