How Long To Cook Pork Butt

My Uncomplicated Smoked Pulled Pork Barrel (AKA Smoked Pork Shoulder) is a go-to whatever time I am looking to feed a hungry crowd and don't want too much fuss. With only 3 ingredients, you're looking at some good, archetype BBQ with plenty of flavour.

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich on a wooden cutting board. Text overlay reads: Smoked Pulled Pork.

Smoked Pulled Pork

This process for smoked pulled pork is a delicious manner to melt pork butt. Information technology'due south a relatively easy procedure that requires a scrap of fourth dimension, some simple ingredients, and a trusty smoker.

This post is the perfect guide for your first pulled pork. Make sure to read it to the end (lots of good info here) as well every bit roll below to the printable recipe menu to accept in all the pork knowledge so you'll be fully set to take on this delicious beast.

The reason I call this smoked pulled pork butt "simple" is because of how piddling effort information technology takes. This recipe doesn't require any fancy injections, tools, spritzing concoctions, or wrapping to take it come out absolutely perfect every. single. time. All you need to brand this recipe a success is a proficient pork shoulder, my famous homemade sweet BBQ rub, proficient smoke, and plenty of time.

Gloved hands slathering yellow mustard on a pork butt.

Smoked Pork Butt vs. Smoked Pork Shoulder

Well-nigh smoked pork butt recipes telephone call for a bone-in pork shoulder, sometimes also labeled a Boston butt roast or a pork butt. All of these labels are for the exact same cut of pork.

None of them actually come from the butt end of the pig (which tin can definitely be confusing), but from the upper part of the shoulder. The pork butt, or pork shoulder, has many overlapping and hard working muscle groups that are spring together with tight connective tissue.

That tight tissue makes this cut peculiarly well suited for smoking. It would be very difficult to just piece and serve a pork shoulder roast that wasn't cooked depression and slow to intermission down those tight muscles and connective fibers. Yous'd end up chewing for a long time and not getting anywhere.

By using the low and dull procedure of cooking the meat over a forest fire for a long fourth dimension, those tissues begins to break down, tenderize, and create amazing strands of super succulent smoked pork shoulder.

Mustard-slathered pork but being seasoned with Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub.

Ingredients for Smoked Pulled Pork

Here'southward all you'll need to catch to make your unproblematic smoked pulled pork barrel:

8-x pound bone-in pork shoulder roast (or Boston butt)
2-3 Tablespoons yellow mustard
one/4 loving cup + one Tablespoon Signature Sugariness Rub, divided use (this rub can be fabricated using my recipe for the Best Sweetness Rub, or you can purchase it pre-fabricated from Patio Provisions)

Bam. That's it. Iii ingredients are all that stand between you and some sweet, sweet, smoked pulled pork.

How to Smoke a Pork Butt

This simple smoked pulled pork shoulder is made using old school BBQ techniques and flavors to give you super authentic and extra tasty pulled pork. Here's how to do it:

Preheat. Become your favorite smoker running steady at 225 degrees F. My favorite woods for making smoked pulled pork is either hickory or apple tree (or a combination of the two). Both are balmy plenty to complement the pork without overwhelming you with smoke.
Slather in mustard. Grab some nitrile gloves and liberally coat the pork shoulder with mustard.
Season. Season on all sides with my signature sweet BBQ rub. This rub is a cornerstone of Hey Grill Hey made from a brown sugar base of operations seasoned with smoked paprika, onion, garlic, and a little cayenne.
Smoke. Once the pork has been prepped, place it direct on the grill grates of the smoker (preferably fat side upwardly). Close the hat, and smoke for 15-20 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 195-201 degrees F.
Rest, shred and serve. Once your pork has reached temperature, remove it from the smoker, and wrap it tightly in aluminum foil. Allow the roast to rest for at to the lowest degree an hour.
Shred and serve. Once your pork has had fourth dimension to residuum, grab some forks or my awesome Hey Grill Hey shredder claws and go to town. Remove the bone and discard whatever fat or gristle. Serve as-is or on a bun with some Homemade Coleslaw for a delicious pulled pork sandwich.

Seasoned pork butt on the grill grates of a pellet smoker.

How Long to Smoke a Pork Barrel

With your smoker running steady at 225 degrees F, you tin can typically plan about 2 hours of cook time per pound of pork.

For example, an 8-pound pork shoulder will take about 16 hours from start to end. Quick note! Every cutting of meat is a niggling fleck different, so plan ahead for variations in cook time! I've had some 8-pound smoked pork butts finish in 12 hours and some x-pound smoked pork butts take xx hours to finish.

The Stall

I recommend a skillful instant read probe thermometer to keep rails of the internal temperature of the meat, and for this ane reason. Yous'll detect a blueprint sally as you start to smoke pork butts more than frequently. Your meat rises in temperature up to nigh 145 degrees F pretty quickly, and so the cooking process will slow dramatically and take hours to increase in temperature from 145 degrees F to 165 degrees F. This phase is called the "Stall" and is completely normal. Don't panic, only let everything keep cooking and somewhen the temperature will showtime to rise again.

A lot of pitmasters choose to wrap their smoked pork butt in foil or butcher newspaper at this point to help shorten the process and button their meat through this stall period (you can see how I apply this technique Hither). For this unproblematic smoked pork barrel recipe, I did not wrap at all.

Instead, I let the smoke go along to work on the pork shoulder and it helped to develop a actually amazing exterior crust on the outside of the meat chosen "bawl." For those not familiar with the world of BBQ, this outer blanket may announced burned, only to those in the know, that night caramelized bawl is absolutely coveted!

Meat shredder claws in shredded pulled pork on a wooden board.

How to Freeze Smoked Pulled Pork

If you're like me, you ofttimes accept a hankering for pulled pork when you only have your small family to feed. If you find yourself in this predicament, simply freeze the leftovers!

Get your pork cooled to room temperature or colder before putting in the freezer purse. Hot pulled pork volition steam and form moisture crystals in the handbag. It also seems to result in mushy pulled pork when reheating.
Shred the pork before freezing. This volition allow you to flatten your bags before adding them to the freezer, saving space and getting your pork frozen faster (which means better tasting meat when it is reheated).
Use freezer-safe numberless. Freeze the pork in either gallon sized cypher top bags or a vacuum sealed bag that is freezer rated. This helps preserve freshness and cut downwards on freezer burn. It is also crucial during the reheating process.
Remove excess air in the pocketbook. Whether you use a food saver or just a regular zip pinnacle freezer bag, remove as much air as possible. This volition assistance your meat terminal longer frozen.
Use it or lose it. Frozen pulled pork will last half dozen weeks in a fridge/freezer philharmonic, or up to 6 months in a deep freeze if the air has been sufficiently removed. Write the name and engagement on your freezer numberless and then y'all tin go on track.

How to Reheat Smoked Pulled Pork

Ready to reheat that pork you have ready in the freezer? Here are some ways to become your pork tasting merely as good every bit the day it came off the smoker.

Defrost first for crispy pork. Pop your frozen pork into the fridge to defrost for 24 hours earlier heating through. Next, add some cooking fatty, like avocado oil, to your cast iron skillet and add your shredded pork, flipping the pulled pork pieces every ii-3 minutes, until cooked through. I use this method most often for pulled pork tacos or burritos.
Simmer from frozen for freshest flavor. If you want your reheated pork to gustation every bit good every bit the day you lot made it, a slow simmer in water is the manner to go. Make sure your freezer bags are sealed tightly, so no water gets in the bag. Bring a large pot of water up to only barely a simmer (don't boil!) and slide your frozen bag of pulled pork into the pot. If your pulled pork bag is nearly one inch thick, you lot'll demand to let information technology simmer in the water for about 25-thirty minutes.
Fume information technology some more! I've as well used the smoker to reheat frozen pork. Defrost the package plenty to remove the meat. Place the pulled pork in a dispensable aluminum pan, pour virtually 1/4 cup of apple juice into the pan with the pork, and place it into a preheated 225 degree F smoker. Close the hat chapeau fume for about 2 hours, breaking apart and stirring the pork every 30 minutes or so, until information technology is fully reheated.

Three smoked pulled pork sandwich on a wooden cutting board.

More Smoked Pulled Pork Recipes

Hooray! You've mastered this simple pulled pork recipe! Gear up to get a piffling fancy and try some other flavors and techniques? Try my other tasty recipes below! Each 1 is unique and merely bursting with flavor.

Buffalo Smoked Pulled Pork
Cider Brined Pulled Pork
Carolina Pulled Pork

Smoked Pulled Pork Butt/Shoulder Recipe

Simple Smoked Pulled Pork Barrel/ Shoulder

This simple smoked pulled pork recipe only requires a few pantry ingredients and a smoker to achieve those cook-in-your-rima oris strands of tender pulled pork.

Prep Time : fifteen mins

Cook Time : eighteen hrs

Resting Fourth dimension : ane hr

Total Time : 19 hrs 15 mins

Servings : sixteen people

Calories : 257 kcal

▢ 1 eight-10 pound os-in pork shoulder roast (AKA Boston butt)
▢ ii-3 Tablespoons yellow mustard
▢ ¼ cup Signature Sugariness Rub (link in recipe notes)
▢ ane Tablespoon Signature Sweet Rub (for later apply)

Preheat the smoker. Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees F for indirect smoking. I recommend hickory or apple for this recipe.
Prep the meat. Remove your roast from the packaging and wipe it downwards on all sides with paper towels, cleaning off whatever minor bone fragments or extra liquid on the exterior.
Slather the pork butt in mustard. Slather the entire exterior of the pork shoulder with the yellowish mustard.
Season with Sweetness Rub. Season your pork roast on all sides, height and lesser, with the Bootleg BBQ Sweet Rub. Don't worry most rubbing the seasoning into the meat, just be certain it is liberally coated all over.
Smoke the pork barrel. Place your seasoned roast on the smoker fat side up, preferably in the middle of the grate avoiding any direct hot spots. Close the lid and smoke the pork until it reaches an internal temperature of at least 195 degrees F. Y'all can cook to 201 degrees F if you like softer pork. This procedure tin can take anywhere between 15-20 hours, depending on the consistency of heat in your smoker and the size of your pork shoulder.
Wrap and rest the meat. Remove the pork shoulder from the smoker and wrap tightly in foil. Permit the roast to rest for at to the lowest degree an hour before shredding.
Shred and serve. Pull autonomously the shoulder, discarding any chunks of fatty or gristle. Sprinkle the roast with an boosted tablespoon or so of the Homemade Sweet BBQ Rub. Serve and bask!

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**This post was originally published in September 2022. Nosotros recently updated it with more data and helpful tips. The recipe remains the aforementioned.