NonnarioRicettario d'Italia

Ariccia, Lazio

Porchetta di Ariccia

Ariccia's boned, rolled roast pork

Pork from female pigs, boned by hand, salted, seasoned only with black pepper, rosemary and garlic, rolled, sewn and roasted until the crust is crisp: Ariccia's porchetta, a PGI since 2011.

EU-codifiedSources checked in October 2026
Course
SecondiMain Courses
Serves
10
Hands-on
1 h 2 min
Cooking
3 h
Resting
1 h+
Image coming soon

In breve

In short

Also called Porchetta di Ariccia IGP, Porchetta di Ariccia PGI, Ariccia porchetta and tronchetto di porchetta.

  • Seasoned only with fine sea salt and a mix of black pepper, rosemary and garlic.
  • Salt at 15 g–30 g per 1 kg of meat, rested, then the excess massaged off; the spice mix at 150 g–250 g per 100 kg of meat.
  • Boned by hand, rolled and sewn with natural-fibre string, then tied 6–8 times around so it stays compact.
  • Into an oven already at 200 °C or more, roasted at 160 °C–280 °C for hours, until the crust on top is crisp and brown.
  • Only porchetta made in Ariccia from female pigs, under the PGI specification, may carry the name.

La provenienza

Where this recipe comes from

Ariccia, a short distance from Rome, holds that its porchetta goes back to the Latins, before Rome. By tradition the town gave the priests who prepared the pork offered in sacrifice at the temple of Jupiter Latiaris on nearby Monte Cavo, and the Roman nobility, who came there for the summer and to hunt, let its craft grow; the skill still passes from father to son in the families of porchettari. The name is explained by the rule that only female pigs are used, for leaner, tastier meat. In 1950 the porchettari, led by the mayor, held the first Sagra della Porchetta, and it has been held every year since. In his novel ‘Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana’ (1957), Carlo Emilio Gadda has a porchetta seller in Rome crying the fine sow of Ariccia with ‘a forest of rosemary’ in her belly.

It has been a PGI since 2011, under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 567/2011, and only porchetta made in Ariccia under its specification may carry the name. The specification recognises two types: the whole porchetta, from the carcass of a female pig of 60–90 kg, and the tronchetto, the middle of a half carcass, 14–25 kg. Both are salted with fine sea salt, seasoned only with black pepper, rosemary and garlic, tied by hand, put into an oven already at 200 °C or more and roasted at 160–280 °C for 3 to 5 hours (the tronchetto up to 6), then cooled for 5 to 15 hours. This page makes a home tronchetto with the specification's own proportions, tying, oven temperatures and times. It is porchetta in the Ariccia manner, not the protected product, which only Ariccia's producers make, from female pigs of named breeds. Two steps also change: the piece is about 4 kg, a fraction of the official size, and it goes into the fridge within 2 hours of leaving the oven, as US food-safety guidance asks, instead of cooling for hours. The page also adds a probe check, 71 °C at the centre, because rolling puts the cut faces of the meat in the middle.

Provenance
The dish itself is protected by an EU specification (TSG, PDO or PGI) that fixes how it is made.
Defined by
European Union
Reference
PGI ‘Porchetta di Ariccia’, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 567/2011
Ariccia, Lazio

Ingredienti

Ingredients

10 servings

For one roll (doesn't change with servings)

Equipment

  • Kitchen scale, and a small one that reads to 1 g for the spice mix
  • Sharp boning knife, if you bone the piece yourself
  • Trussing needle and natural-fibre (cotton) butcher's string
  • Roasting tin with a rack that holds the roll above the fat
  • Oven thermometer and probe thermometer
  • A tray, a large board and a long, sharp carving knife

Preparazione

Method

About 5 to 6 hours on the day: about an hour and a half to trim, salt, rest, season, roll and tie the meat (turn the oven on as you start rolling), then 3–4 hours in the oven, 30 minutes' rest and the slicing. For porchetta served cold, as is traditional, make it the day before and chill it overnight.

  • 1 h 2 minhands-on
  • 3 hcooking
  • 1 hresting, at least

The meat

The specification is written for producers working whole carcasses and tronchetti of 14 kg–25 kg. This page makes a home tronchetto from a shorter piece of the same cut, the loin and belly in one. Steps marked official carry the specification's words; the sizes, times and temperatures for a home roll are ours, marked ‘Our guide’.

  1. Temp 0 °C–4 °COfficial text

    Keep the pork at 0 °C–4 °C until you start work.

    Tip Our guide: in the coldest part of the fridge; take it out only when you are ready to salt it.

  2. Hands-on 10 minOfficial text

    Bone it by hand, removing all the bones, and trim away the excess meat, so that it cooks properly.

    Check A slab of even thickness with the skin whole, about 30 cm–35 cm along the loin.

    Tip Our guide: ask the butcher to bone it for you, keeping the skin whole. Lay it skin side down and trim any thick lumps of meat, so the slab rolls tight and cooks evenly.

    Tip The specification names where the excess meat comes off: at the hams, the shoulder, the neck and the fillet. Only the fillet (the tenderloin) lies in this cut. Our guide: trim any thick excess there, so the slab is even.

Salt and spice

  1. Hands-on 5 minOfficial text

    Spread fine sea salt over the piece: 15 g–30 g for every 1 kg of meat.

    Check The salt weighed and spread in an even film over the meat and the skin.

    Tip Our guide: 90 g for a 4 kg piece, the middle of the range, spread evenly over the meat side and the skin. Work on a tray.

  2. Rest 30 minOfficial text

    Leave it to rest so that the salt is absorbed: from 5 minutes to 1 hour, counted from when you began salting.

    Tip Our guide: 30 minutes, on its tray in the fridge.

  3. Hands-on 3 minOfficial text

    Massage by hand every part you salted, for 30 seconds to 5 minutes, to remove the excess salt.

    Check No loose grains of salt left on the meat or the skin.

    Tip Our guide: about 3 minutes, over the tray; throw away the salt that comes off.

  4. Hands-on 5 minOfficial text

    Mix black pepper, finely or coarsely ground, with rosemary and garlic: 150 g–250 g of mix for every 100 kg of meat, with no ingredient less than a fifth of the mix by weight.

    Check The mix weighs 9 g, its three parts evenly mixed.

    Tip Our guide: for a 4 kg piece, 9 g in all: 3 g each of pepper, finely chopped rosemary needles and finely chopped garlic, weighed on a scale that reads to 1 g.

    Tip It is a small amount for so much meat: it is the specification's proportion.

  5. Hands-on 3 minOfficial text

    Spread the mix over the meat by hand.

    Check The meat side is evenly flecked with the mix; the skin is bare.

    Tip Our guide: all over the meat side, which ends up inside the roll; none on the skin.

Rolling and tying

  1. Temp 220 °C

    Turn the oven on to 220 °C, conventional (top and bottom) heat, so that it is hot by the time the roll is tied. Put the rack in the roasting tin.

    Check The oven thermometer reads at least 200 °C before the porchetta goes in.

  2. Hands-on 15 minOfficial text

    Roll the seasoned piece up and sew it closed along its length with a needle and natural-fibre string.

    Check The seam is closed along its whole length, with all the skin outside.

    Tip Our guide: lay it skin side down with the loin along one long side, and roll from that side, so the belly wraps around the loin and the skin is outside. Sew the long seam with a trussing needle and cotton string, with stitches about 3 cm apart.

  3. Hands-on 5 minOfficial text

    Run the string along the whole length of the roll, crossing it, to shorten and compact the roll.

    Check The ends of the roll have drawn in a little.

    Tip Our guide: pull it tight enough that the ends of the roll draw in a little.

  4. Hands-on 5 minOfficial text

    Tie it 6 to 8 times around, to hold the crossed string and keep the meat compact while it cooks.

    Check A firm, even roll about 30 cm–35 cm long and 12 cm–14 cm across, with no gaps along the seam.

    Tip Our guide: space the ties evenly, about 4 cm–5 cm apart.

Roasting

  1. Hands-on 1 minOfficial text

    Put the porchetta in only once the inside of the oven has reached at least 200 °C.

    Check The oven thermometer reads 200 °C or more.

    Tip Our guide: on the rack over the roasting tin, seam side down, in the middle of the oven.

  2. Cooking 3–4 hTemp 170 °C–220 °COfficial text

    Roast it at 160 °C–280 °C for 3 to 6 hours from when it went in, until a crisp crust forms.

    Check The crust on top is brown and crisp (underneath it may stay soft), and a probe pushed into the very centre of the roll reads at least 71 °C.

    Tip Our guide: 30 minutes at 220 °C, then lower the oven to 170 °C. A 4 kg roll takes 3–4 hours in all: start checking at 3 hours.

    Tip If the centre is not yet at 71 °C, keep roasting at 170 °C and check every 20 minutes; the specification allows up to 6 hours. If the top darkens too much before then, lay a loose sheet of foil over it.

    Tip If the centre is done but the top is not yet crisp, raise the oven to 240 °C for 10–15 minutes, watching it.

Resting and serving

  1. Rest 30 min

    Take it out of the oven and leave it on the rack for 30 minutes, so that the fat and juices drain and settle.

    Tip Producers cool it for 5 to 15 hours at 10 °C–30 °C in a cooling room, which drains it and dries the crust further. At home it must be in the fridge within 2 hours of leaving the oven: one of the reasons a home roll is not the protected product.

  2. Hands-on 10 min

    Cut and pull out the strings, and slice the porchetta across with a long, sharp knife, crust and all. Serve it warm, in slices with bread and roast or boiled potatoes, or in a bread roll.

    Check The meat is white to pale pink, flecked with the spices; the crust on top is brown and crisp.

    Tip Porchetta di Ariccia is traditionally served cold. For that, cut the rested roll into 3 or 4 pieces and halve each lengthways so they chill quickly, wrap them, and put them in the fridge within 2 hours of leaving the oven. Chill overnight and slice cold.

    Tip Whatever is not eaten is sliced or cut into small pieces, covered or wrapped, and goes into the fridge within 2 hours of leaving the oven.

    Tip Our guide: to serve chilled porchetta warm, reheat the slices covered, in the oven, until their centre reaches 75 °C; or eat them cold.

Press “I’m here” on the step you are on, and again when it is done.Tap the pin on the step you are on, and the tick when it is done. Timers keep running while you scroll.

Da sapere

Good to know

KeepingConservazione
Best eaten fresh, within a day. If some is left, it keeps for two days in the fridge, wrapped in paper. Source
VariantsVarianti
  • The whole porchetta (porchetta intera): The specification's other type, far too big for a home oven: the eviscerated carcass of a female pig of 60 kg–90 kg, with its legs and/or head, boned by hand except for the lower hind-leg bones and the bones of the head, sewn around a food-grade aluminium or stainless-steel tube (4–8 more tubes or rods may be added at the neck, shoulders and thighs) and roasted at 160 °C–280 °C for 3–5 hours. It weighs 27 kg–45 kg when sold. Source
  • Panino con la porchetta: In a bread roll: warm porchetta in warm bread, with salsa verde or lettuce and little else. Source

Errori comuni

Common mistakes

  • Reaching for wild fennel, as other porchettas use: the specification's mix is black pepper, rosemary and garlic.
  • Leaving all the salt on: after the rest, the excess is massaged off.
  • Putting it into an oven that is still heating: it goes in only once the oven has reached 200 °C.
  • Tying it loosely: the ties must keep the roll compact while it cooks and after.
  • Leaving it out for hours to cool: at home it goes into the fridge within 2 hours of leaving the oven.

Fuori dall'Italia

Cooking it outside Italy

  • Ask for the middle of the pig, the loin and the belly in one piece, boned, with the skin on: in Britain a ‘pork middle’; in the US often sold as a ‘porchetta roast’, or as skin-on pork belly with the loin attached.

Il menù continua

What to cook next

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