Smoking Your First Pork Butt: Easy Pulled Pork
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Pulled pork is one of those barbecue staples everyone should master.
We always say pork butt should be one of the first things you cook with a new smoker.
The amount of fat makes it a very forgiving piece of meat. So even if you get the odd temperature flare-up you can’t do too much damage.
There are so many different ways to do pulled pork. I’ll show you an easy bbq pork rub you can make ahead, plus a delicious homemade bbq sauce to perfectly complement the smoky pulled pork.
I guarantee by following my method, you’ll not only end up with some mouth-watering juicy pulled pork, but you will also win over some new friends as words spread that you know how to make the best pulled pork on the street.
What cut to use for pulled pork?
There are a few cuts of pork that are suited to making pulled pork and they all come from the neck and shoulder area of the pig.
Pork shoulder (also called Boston butt or pork butt), the collar butt (also known as the pork butt or pork scotch) all tend to be heavily layered with fat and work well with low and style cooking.
Choosing a pork butt:
- You want to look for a cut with a good amount of fat marbling to keep everything moist and flavorful.
- If you can afford a little extra, it’s worth going for certified free-range (look for Animal Welfare Approved” or “Certified Humane” labels on the packaging).
If you can’t find good pork butt locally we recommend the meat from Porter Road.
For this recipe, I used Pork Collar but the technique doesn’t change. I like to smoke two at once with the intention of freezing some for later bbq recipes and meals.
Now, although a few of these cuts have the name butt associated with them, they actually do not come from the rear end of the animal. The word butt is derived from Old English language, “butt” meaning the widest part and the shoulders on a pig are the widest. So you can rest easy, you are not eating, well umm, you know what.
Items that will help you cook these are:
- A smoker (I’m using a 22” Weber Smokey Mountain)
- Lump charcoal
- Various spices
- Wire rack and tray
- An instant-read thermometer (I’m using a Thermapen ONE)
- An internal temp and ambient temp probe thermometer (I’m using the Thermoworks Smoke X4)
- Boning or trimming knife
- A cooler or food cambro
If you prefer to watch the video version of this recipe check out our video below.
We also have a competition style pork butt recipe you might want to check out.
Prepping the pork for the smoker
Pork collars don’t need a lot of trimming to get ready. Like most cuts you will want to remove any silver skin and hard solid pieces of fat, these just will not render down, and best to remove them now.
Next, trim off any excess soft fat. You’ll know which is the soft compared to hard solid fat as the soft has a very creamy texture to it.
When I say trim off any excess, it is okay to leave a thin layer of this fat on, as it will render down.
Next, you will want to remove any loose bits of meat hanging off. These will only dry out during the smoking process, so get rid of them now.
I also like to trim my meat to be smoked to have nice round edges, so no pointy pieces. I prefer to remove them mainly because these pointy pieces will dry up and overcook.
Next, we want to give the pork a good covering of our seasoning or pork rub. We’ve included a recipe for pork rub at the bottom of the post. You also can’t go wrong with our Smoke Kitchen house rub.
You can slather the pork in yellow mustard first to help the rub stick but I find it doesn’t really add any flavor.
I tend to use a spice shaker to apply the rub as it comes out more evenly. Hold the shaker around 12” above the meat as this tends to give the most even surface coverage and limits clumping.
Once the pork butt is fully covered, do not rub the rub, as this will just make the even coverage of seasoning, you just applied, start to clump up.
If anything, give it a nice firm pat all over with an open hand and leave it to sweat away.
The salt in the rub will act naturally to the pork that sweats, this, in turn, will see the dry rub you applied turn to what looks like a wet glaze within an hour of applying it.
What temperature is best for smoking pulled pork?
I love nothing better than sitting in my backyard with family and friends for 10 to 12 hours while our dinner smokes away…
I couldn’t even type that with a straight face.
While most pulled pork recipes will tell you to cook at 225 – 250°F, I have been pushing the heat on a lot of my cooks lately and getting great results.
For this cook I’m aiming to smoke at 300°F but being perfectly dialed in isn’t super important.
For a full list of the temperatures, we recommend downloading a copy of our smoking times and temps chart.
I’ll start by setting up my
I’ll lit up a chimney starter of lump charcoal and place it in the well created once all hot and ashed over.
I’ll put the bullet smoker together, making sure I have hot water in the water tray, as cold water will absorb a lot of heat. I’ll add a few chunks of smoking wood now.
Put the lid on and make sure all vents are wide open. Once the temp gets around 75°F near our target temp of 300°F, I’ll start closing down the vents.
Smoking your pork butt
Once the temps have been stable for around 30 minutes with no vent adjustments needed, it is time to get your meat on. The smoke should have settled from a thick white to a thin barely visible blue smoke by now as well.
So insert an internal temp probe into the pork and set and track the temp until it reaches 160°F.
Tips for smoking your pork butt
- You can use grill racks to make it easier to move the butt around. Just make sure you spray it with cooking oil to prevent sticking. You can use this for any kind of smoking to make it easier to pick things up and move them inside. (You really don’t want to be fighting to un-stick meat with one hand while holding up the lid with the other, all while trying to keep your cool…)
- Use gloves to keep your hands clean and prevent cross-contamination
- You can use any good smoking wood, in this case, we’re apple wood.
I won’t even look at the pork for at least 2 hours. At this point our bark should be forming on the outside, so we are just checking to make sure we don’t have any dry areas.
If anywhere looks dry, just give it a spritz or two with a spray bottle filled with apple juice. You can use any liquid you want but I feel apple juice helps the outer caramelise a little better.
Once we hit the internal temp of 160°F, it’s time to take the butt off the smoker and wrap it in two layers of heavy-duty foil. The reason for the two layers is purely as a backup if the first layer has a hole or gets a tear in it.
Put the butt back on the smoker and track its temp until it reaches 195°F.
How do you know when pork butt is ready?
Pork butt is usually ready for resting anywhere in the range of 195°F to 210°F, so I tend to aim for the lower number and then start cooking to feel.
That means using a metal skewer and probing the pork all over until you feel no resistance anywhere on it. Being super careful not to pierce the foil at the bottom that is holding in all of those magical juices we have spent hours creating.
Once the pork collar is probing tender all over, it’s time to come off and rest. This will probably be around the 3 and ½ hour to 4 hour mark.
Resting and keeping pork butt warm
It’s important always to leave time to rest your pork butt.
If you do not own a commercial food warmer like a Cambro, a cooler with a locking lid is perfectly fine.
Line your cooler with an old towel, then wrap the foil wrapped collars in another old towel and place on top, then line them with another old towel and put the lid back on.
Allow this to rest for at least an hour when cooking at lower temps between 225°F to 275°F but since we lifted the cooking heat, I find an extra hour of resting works best. So give it a two-hour rest.
Pulling pork and adding sauce
After the rest, transfer the collars to a tray, be careful not to spill the liquid gold. Pour all of the liquid in as well.
Now start pulling the pork apart. I strongly suggest finding some cotton gloves, these fit under nitrile food safe gloves and protect your hands from feeling heat or cold. Start removing any hard gristle of fat that isn’t rendered down.
Once the pork is all pulled apart, sprinkle some more of the rub over it and give it a squirt of BBQ sauce. Mix this all in thoroughly.
The perfect rub for your pork
We’ll be making a rub that compliments pork today. Most pork rubs on the market lean towards the sweeter side. Mainly because the sugars work well with pork. To this, we can add hits of heat with chili or give it some punch with a pepper kick.
So into a bowl we’ll add paprika, brown sugar, salt, pepper, cumin, mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder and a little kick of cayenne powder at the end.
Mix it well and transfer it to a rub shaker and give the pork collar a good coating. I tend to apply my rub from about 12” above the meat, this just ensures a nice even coating and no clumps.
I do like to give pork a slightly heavier than normal coating, as it can handle it.
Do not rub the “rub” in, just pat it down and leave it to sweat away. You’ll see within the hour the dry rub will draw out moisture and will look more like a wet glaze than a dry rub.
If you’d like a full list of ingredients, you can check out this rub I made for turkey and see how I developed it for pork.
BBQ sauce with zing
What’s great BBQ without some knockout sauce to go with it? Some would say half of what it could be.
This is a great bbq sauce recipe of mine that is sweet to taste but has a nice peppery after kick in it, just perfect for pork.
Into a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of ketchup, 1 and a ½ cups of apple juice, ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar, ½ cup of brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, 3 teaspoons of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of black ground pepper and a ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Stir all of these ingredients over a low to medium heat for around 15 minutes until they reduce a little and thicken up a little.
Once cooled, transfer them to a sauce bottle.
Serving suggestions
Pulled pork is one of the most versatile meats you can smoke.
It goes well in burgers, tacos, pies, and even rolls. Burrito, nachos, etc, etc.
Smoked Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 6 lbs Boston Butt or Pork Collar
Pork Rub:
- 8 tbsp smoked paprika
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp salt flakes
- 2 tbsp black pepper finely ground
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp mustard powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- ½ tsp cayenne powder
BBQ Sauce:
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 ½ cup apple juice
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black ground pepper
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
Pulled pork:
- Remove any silver skin and hard solid pieces of fat, these will not render down during the cooking process.
- Trim off most of the soft fat, you can leave some as this will render down.
- Trim off any loose bits of meat as these will just dry up during the long cook.
- Using a rub shaker, give the pork a generous coating of dry rub from approximately 12” above the meat. This just allows the rub to fall and coat evenly, as opposed to clumping and giving an uneven coverage.
- Leave this to sit for around an hour while get the smoker ready, the dry rub will turn to what looks like a wet glaze this time.
- Set up your smoker for high indirect heat using lump charcoal and some apple wood chunks for smoking.
- Once the temps have stabilized at 300°F, put the meat in the smoker and insert an internal meat thermometer to track the temps.
- After 2 hours into the smoke check the meat for any dry patches. If there are any, give the dry parts a spritz with apple juice. Keep checking every half hour after this and spritz if needed.
- Once the internal temp reaches 160°F, wrap in foil and put back on the heat.
- When the internal temp reaches 195°F, start probing the pork for tenderness. When you feel no resistance from sticking a metal skewer in, you know it will be time to rest.
- Put this into a cooler wrapped in towels to keep hot for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours has gone by, remove from the cooler and transfer to a tray, including all of the juices.
- Pull the meat apart, removing and gristle of hard fat. Once all pulled apart, add a sprinkle of the dry rub and squirt of the BBQ sauce.
- Serve.
To Serve:
- In burgers with a fresh crunchy slaw to help cut through the smoky-sweet pork.
- In tacos with some finely sliced lettuce, a drizzle of the BBQ sauce and some spicy mayonnaise.
- On some loaded nachos, crunchy and filling but just the perfect comfort food.
Video
Nutrition
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This all sounds wonderful but over complicated. All i need for great Bar B Que is plenty of hickory, some good whisky, and some great country music. Never fails.
U DA MAN!
Hell Yeah!
Oh so right on. Are you from KY or TN?
I agree!
I agree…you have it right, for sure.
We tried this yesterday on a charcoal offset smoker with applewood. It was our first successful pork shoulder roast after several attempts. Followed recipe exactly, paid close attention to internal temps…it was wonderful! Thank you for your easy to follow instructions for beginners!
Just what I was looking for good simply method for beginners, will be trying on my new smokey mountain Webber.
Loved this Smoked Pork Butt Recipe!
How long does pork last if unrefridgerated?
https://www.geoffreyscafebar.com
hey Jeff – Benton…. where in the world can one find great country music?
You can find good country music on sirius xm, they have different genres for everyone, outlaw country, willie’s roadhouse, no shoes radio, the highway, garth brooks radio, prime country. Just some of the stations they have.
Hickory is overrated… not my choice of wood on a butt. Apple is good of course, but I prefer Beechwood Oak it gives pork and fish an amazing flavor and a lot more subtle than hickory. Try it for yourself
So my wife found pork butts on sale. BOGO. So we had two pork butts in the fridge. I only have a gas grill. My neighbor has a Weber kettle. I borrowed it. I’ve never done this before so I used the snake charcoal method with some Bourbon Barrel wood chips and these instructions. It was just over 7lbs so I thought it would end at 14 hours but I reached an internal temp of 196 degrees at 12 hours. I wasn’t sure what to do so I left it on for another hour and a half. Final temp, 201 degrees. Pulled it off, rested for 30 min and panicked while I pulled the bone. Slid right out. Gave it a little taste. *Chef kiss on the fingertips in the air*
Thanks for the guidance!!
Jeff Benton is Absolutely right!
I prefer Buffalo Trace or Col Taylor Single Barrel KY Bourbon.
is it ok to cooked the foil time/final 5 hours in a oven? also, there was so much juice after the final cooking… next time should i remove the juice???
…Why would you want to smoke it and then cook it in the oven? Seems like you should just not bother at that point at all. The juice is the whole point and should be where you tear your meat down to absorb and prevent from drying out.
The internet is a vast amount of knowledge, use it.
lol settle down.
It is perfectly fine to end a cook in the oven.
The foil or butcher paper wrap is going to do more to help retain moisture than any silly moisture pan.
Furthermore what makes meat moist is rendering fat.
Clear instructions worked great. Right down to our 3 dogs following me from the smoker and parking themselves in the Kitchen. Can’t tell you how good it smelled and tasted. Thanks.
yo Shuey, you missed one step. I like to tenderize my cut by throwing it in the back of my CJ6 and then driving 20 miles or so along a dirt cobble road. You’d be amazed at how much it helps!
HaHa I did leave out that step Paul. I can add now if someone feels the need to tenderize their meat, they should use the Paul Method” and take their pork for a drive down a bumpy road before smoking it. Cheers mate.
That method only works if ya got real good country music on (as suggested above, thank you, thank you so very much for these hidden music gems, big kudos to pork butt lover who had the balls? for asking for what I needed. I’ve worn out my old Willy my friend, Cash, and have way overstayed my welcome at the Cox family’s table, oh my, I felt at home..
ok, im a farm girl raised in the forks of Ia, Minn, and ,SD, sby Hudson SD. its the smallest of them all, anyone who smokes a good pig, knows where its at. finally i thank God i Farrowed hogs and went to the sale barn and knew…
sorry. neeeded the people i dont know to either kick me out or give me a side pork…
Cheri
So easy and soooooo damn good, the meat falls apart on its own! The bump in temp kept the smoke times reasonable, and I placed the foil wrapped butt in a dry crock pot set on warm for the resting. Now to hit the sauce!
Hi Michael S, I’m so glad you found this recipe easy to follow. You are correct, the bump in heat temp makes it a lot easier to turn out great BBQ in a shorter time frame, enjoy that BBQ sauce. Cheers.
Though I am not a beginner I am enjoying learning from an expert. The temp bump is interesting and I will try it this weekend. Butts on sale by me for .89c. I have 3 weber smokers, a new pellet smoker and a giant one that I built out of a old fuel oil tank mounted on a trailer so I can tow it. One thing I do with my butts is inject them with strained Italian dressing. I put the solids into the BBQ sauce.Doesn’t leave any flavor but helps cook the pork from the inside thoroughly
I cooked 3 about 8 lbs each. I injected mine with 2 cups Apple Juice 1 1/2 cups water, 1 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup of salt. This dry rub recipe is fantastic. I used regular Paprika instead of smoked just because that is what i had. I smoked at 275 degrees and let it cook till the meat was at 205 degree. It was perfect.
Best pulled pork I’ve ever had… and the BBQ sauce is simple, but amazing. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so substituted cranberry juice for apple and used a dried Sorrento pepper rather than cayenne. Won’t be buying store bought BBQ sauce in the future; this was just too good.
Hi Mike, cheers mate. I really appreciate you letting us know how much you loved it. I’m glad you also improvised and tweaked the sauce to make it your own. The flavor you can create by making your own rubs and sauces is endless. Thanks again for taking the time to let us know.
Yes, once it’s wrapped it doesn’t matter where the heat comes from. The smoke is absorbed before the internal time hits 140. After that use whatever is convenient, especially if you were using something that isn’t designed for longterm cooking. I don’t think I’ve ever had too much juice but you can always reserve some if you’re not comfortable adding it all at once just to see how much gets absorbed.
I’m usually on team low and slow but I’m cooking a 13 lb butt and want to decrease the cook time. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Agreed on the finishing heat source, an oven is fine to us at the stall, especially when I need the grill space for other things.
Huh? It’s definitely ok to it it in the oven. It’s already taken on the smoke and once you wrap it makes no difference. It will speed up the time too. It’s not necessary to draw it out for grilling nostalgia sake unless you want to.
My first pork shoulder and it turned out great. Cooked it at a bout 275 so took a little longer but still much less than 200-225. A great recipe especially for my first time!!
Trying it now. I have great music and cold Busch Light while it smokes.
Once the meat is wrapped, it doesn’t matter where you cook it. It’s not going to get any more smoke flavor, so there’s nothing wrong with saving fuel and finishing it in the oven.
This is my go-to pulled pork recipe. I use the green egg and bumped the temp up to 300 for a 10# pork butt.
It’s in the cooler now!
Thanks for a super easy to follow recipe that I can always go back and reference!
Perfect everytime !!!
I have a Weber grill with a smoke box. I marinated a pork picnic butt for 3 days in a dry rub of Stubbs, 10 cloves of garlic inserted into the butt. Got my grill up to 350 with my smoke box then placed my Pork butt ( indirect heating) in with a apple cider vinegar/water side pan for moisture.then regulated my temp back to 280 . Left it cook for 3 hrs till the inner temp got to 170. Wrapped it in foil and placed it back on the grill ( indirect) for another 2 hrs. Removed the foiled pork and wrapped it in a towel and placed it in a Colman cooler for 1 1/2 hrs. This is the best ever!!!
Hi,I tried this the other day and while the meat came out delicious with a good bark and a nice smoke ring it wasn’t fall apart tender. I used a 1.8kg pork picnic,which was cut from the upper part of the humerus. Smoked it at 140 – 150C for 3h45 until it reached 96C internally and then rested wrapped in foil and a towel inside a cool box for 2 hours.
Some of the meat was a bit dried out and I had to slice it like a traditional roast rather than it pulling apart.
I would appreciate any tips on where I may have gone wrong.
Thank you.
Great recipe, really detailed. I have changed my method over the years, being married to a food scientist helps, I sous vide the butt overnight usually 15-18 hours, capturing all those juices in the bag. I then carefully take out the butt (near falling apart) and add a rub, then smoke for a couple of hours or so @ 250F to get a nice bark. I then reduce the pork stock (you get a lot of liquid from a butt), pull the butt and pour over the juice, just sensational. I also found for the rub some Indian spices which basically have little to no flavour (annatto seed for example) which adds a deep red colouring, which I add for looks.
I do this for a few reasons, the meat won’t take up any extra smoke from a really long smoke, I have sensational juices to pour over and in Australia pellets are all imported and relative expensive $50 ($35US).