Oven Pulled Pork from pork butt cooked low and slow is tender, moist, and delicious. This is the easiest recipe to get great pulled pork at home.
Jump To:
- 🐖Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Cook Pulled Pork in the Oven with Pork Butt
- ⏰How long to cook pork butt in the oven
- 🌡️When is pork butt done?
- ✔️Tips and variation
- 🐖Why use pork butt for pulled pork?
- ❓FAQs
- 🍽️Serving Pulled Pork
- ♨️Storage and Reheating Pulled Pork
- Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- 📖 Recipe
- Oven Pulled Pork—Low and Slow Pork Butt
Everybody deserves great pulled pork, but most don't have smokers. Making perfectly moist and tender pulled pork is simple with this easy recipe to roast Boston butt in the oven.
Many recipes for pulled pork in the oven use braising fluid and don't cook to the correct endpoint. But to get the best, copy the best.
Let's simulate the cooking environment of the smoker and grillers as much as possible and copy techniques closely. So, a little liquid smoke, a pork rub, and bake low and slow in the oven until 200°+. No all-day supervising a smoker or grill, but with fantastic bark that you don't get in the crock pot
This is the pulled pork recipe we use most frequently because I'm lazy but also demand great pulled pork. Please enjoy one of our personal favorites.
For other pork butt recipes, see Pulled Pork on a Gas Grill and Crock Pot Pulled Pork. Or for carnitas see Oven Baked Carnitas and Crock Pot Pork Carnitas. This recipe is featured along with pulled pork from other pork in Pulled Pork Recipe Roundup.
🐖Ingredients
- Pork Butt—known as Boston butt. Sometimes called pork shoulder, which is incorrect (see discussion below).
- Dry rub—of your choice or suggested rub of brown sugar, kosher salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper
- Liquid smoke—optional but suggested
👨🍳How to Cook Pulled Pork in the Oven with Pork Butt
- Using a pork butt (boneless or bone-in), pat dry, coat with a light coat of liquid smoke, and apply a cup of a rub of your choice. Wrap and cook later if you want.
- Place on a rack on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Roast in a 250° oven until an internal temp of 200° to 205°—about 8-9 hours. This will vary with the meat's thickness, bone-in vs. boneless, and the oven.
- Remove from the oven and wrap with heavy-duty foil. Wrap tight with the foil, then wrap with several towels.
- You can shred in as little as 15 minutes, but better in 1-2 hours. With good wrapping, you can delay shredding for 3-4 hours so you can serve hot, freshly pulled pork.
⏰How long to cook pork butt in the oven
In a 250° oven, a 4-pound pork butt will take 8 to 9 hours. Bone-in will take a bit longer. Two hours per pound at 250° is a good starting point for timing. This time will vary by the weight and thickness of the meat.
The best oven temperature is 250°, but you can use oven temperatures of 225° to 275°. I do not suggest 300° or above since the outside will dry more before the collagen in the center is fully melted. The use of convection is also not suggested for the same reason.
Much bigger pork butts will take much longer into the 12+ hour range. I suggest cutting huge pork butts into smaller pieces to speed up cooking and help predict timing better.
A quick warning: Many ovens will shut off at 12 hours for safety if people leave the stove on accidentally. So watch for that problem.
🌡️When is pork butt done?
Pork butt is done at an internal temperature of 200° to 205° will produce the most tender results. The collagen connective tissue will start melting in the 175° range but is not complete until about 200°.
The only way to tell if your Boston butt is done is by checking the internal temperature of the thickest part with a meat thermometer. You can not cook by time or color of the meat.
✔️Tips and variation
- Use a dry rub: There are many dry rubs available, and if you have one you like, use it. I have provided the dry rub I use for pork butt recipes. It is simple and uses common pantry ingredients. It is a version of 8:3:1:1 BBQ Dry Rub or use Memphis Dry Rub. A touch of cayenne pepper can be added if you want a bit of heat.
- Elevate the Pork Butt: Use a rack or crumbled-up foil to elevate the pork out of the fatty drainage. You don't have to do this, but the results will be nicer.
- Liquid Smoke: A good quality liquid smoke will add a nice smokiness. But skip it if you want. You can rub the pork roast with a light coat of yellow mustard before adding the dry rub.
🐖Why use pork butt for pulled pork?
The best cut of meat to use is pork butt which has a large amount of connective tissue that, when melted, makes for the absolute best pull pork that is moist, tender, and flavorful.
Like many cuts of meat, there are several names for the same thing. Pork butt and Boston butt are the same cut. It is behind the neck and is part of a larger (primal) cut called the pork shoulder. The pork shoulder is divided into two smaller cuts, the pork butt (Boston butt) and the picnic shoulder.
The picnic shoulder is a thinner area below the pork butt. The picnic is frequently smoked to make the picnic ham. Pork shoulder has a bit less marbling and less fat. Large restaurants and BBQ experts will low and slow-cook the whole pork shoulder primal cut for masses of pulled pork.
Bone-in vs. Boneless Pork Butt
Bone-in pork butt will take a bit longer to cook, but not much. Some will argue a taste difference one way or the other. Nope, no difference to me (or most people) in the taste. So use what you have.
But it feels so good when you shred the pulled pork, and the bone lifts out without resistance—I always smile. It is "fall off the bone" tender and falls apart while you shred.
❓FAQs
No, but it will add some smoky taste.
There are many "bad" versions of liquid smoke on the market. And the chemical-filled versions will ruin your pork.
I stick to Wright's brand only. If not available to you, the ingredient list on the bottle should only have smoke and water—nothing else.
No. Please keep it open to the dry oven environment to develop the fantastic bark of pulled pork.
The moistness of pulled pork butt comes from the melting of connective tissue, and the bark firming up blocks most moisture loss. Smokers and grillers don't need foil, and we don't.
Absolutely. The rest before the shred could be as short as 15 minutes, but longer is better. Shred just before serving. It will stay warm with my method for about 4 hours, giving you an ample time window to hit to serve freshly shredded pork.
Special tools are made for shredding, but you don't need them—just a couple of good forks work well.
Any bone will pull out easily and then attack with the forks. There may be some non-eatable parts that should be discarded.
🍽️Serving Pulled Pork
I prefer a straight-up pulled pork sandwich on a great bun or bread and topped with Memphis BBQ Sauce. But others like to pile on coleslaw or other condiments on their pork sandwich.
You can never go wrong with a nice pile of pulled pork on your plate with sauce and sides. But you can use pulled pork to make great nachos, pork tacos, or quesadillas.
Suggested side dishes
The standards are cold side dishes like coleslaw, potato salad, Caprese Pasta Salad, or Macaroni Salad. Cornbread and cheesy potato casserole, French Fries, or Mac and Cheese are also a great side.
♨️Storage and Reheating Pulled Pork
Storage
Good refrigerated for 3-4 days, but I prefer two days since the texture suffers.
Pulled pork will freeze well for 3 to 4 months. Many will freeze pulled pork in reheatable sealed bags; then, they will reheat those in boiling water.
Reheating
Reheat on a sheet pan sprinkled with a bit of water with your hand (don't overdo it). Cover tightly with foil and into the oven at 250°-300° until hot.
The time varies by how you shredded it and the amount on the tray. Usually, I take about 45 minutes or so in the oven. I know that is not very exact, but you get the idea.
You can then turn the oven down (keep it covered) or transfer it to a crock pot on low to keep warm.
Never reheat or store with sauce applied -the acid will destroy the texture of pulled pork.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Use a rub of your choice. If using my rub, mix ½ cup dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
Place a 4-pound (give or take a little) bone-in (or boneless) pork butt on a large piece of plastic wrap if wrapping for later. Rub with about 2 tablespoons of liquid smoke (optional).
Use about one cup of rub and coat the meat on all sides of the pork butt with a heavy coat. If you have time, wrap the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours, but overnight is fine. If you don't have time, apply the rub and pop it in the oven—which I usually do.
When ready to cook, prepare a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and a rack. Give it a heavy spray of PAM.
Place meat on rack and place in a 250°oven (not convection). Don't bother to preheat. Fat cap up or down does not matter. You can shorten the time by increasing the oven's temperature to 275°, but I suggest 250°.
Bake until internal temp of 200°-205°—about 8-9 hours. This will vary with the meat's thickness, bone-in vs. boneless, and the oven. You have some flex time to get your timing right in the next step.
Remove from the oven directly onto a large sheet of heavy-duty foil. Wrap tight with the foil, then wrap with several towels. Place wrapped meat in a small cooler if available and rest for 1-2 hours until needed. It can stay warm for up to 4 hours if well-wrapped in a cooler. This can help you get your timing right for serving.
Shred with forks. It will fall apart.
📖 Recipe
Oven Pulled Pork—Low and Slow Pork Butt
Ingredients
- about 4 pounds Pork Butt - aka Boston Butt
- rub of your choice - good quality
- 2 tablespoons Wright's Liquid Smoke - optional but recommended
Suggested dry rub if you don't have one
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt - 2 tablespoons if using Morton
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Use a rub of your choice. If using my rub, mix ½ cup dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
- Place a 4-pound (give or take a little) bone-in (or boneless) pork butt on a large piece of plastic wrap if wrapping for later. Rub with about 2 tablespoons of liquid smoke (optional).
- Use about one cup of rub and coat the meat on all sides of the pork butt with a heavy coat. If you have time, wrap the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours, but overnight is fine. If you don't have time, apply the rub and pop it in the oven—which I usually do.
- When ready to cook, prepare a large-rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and a rack. Give it a heavy spray of PAM.
- Place meat on rack and place in a 250°oven (not convection). Don't bother to preheat. Fat cap up or down does not matter. You can shorten the time by increasing the oven's temperature to 275°, but I suggest 250°.
- Bake until internal temp of 200°-205°—about 8-9 hours. This will vary with the meat's thickness, bone-in vs. boneless, and the oven. You have some flex time to get your timing right in the next step.
- Remove from the oven directly onto a large sheet of heavy-duty foil. Wrap tight with the foil, then wrap with several towels. Place wrapped meat in a small cooler if available and rest for 1-2 hours until needed. It can stay warm for up to 4 hours if well-wrapped in a cooler. This can help you get your timing right for serving.
- Shred with forks. It will fall apart.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Cooking time can vary, but you can use the wrap time at the end to adjust the shredding time by a few hours.
- If you don't have a rack, you can elevate the meat on balls of rolled-up foil. Please do not leave it to cook in the muck.
- The liquid smoke is nice, but some will object, so skip it if you wish. If you use it, quality matters a lot. I use only Wright's™.
- My rub is provided for you, but use the rub of your choice.
- If you use my rub, the salt is calculated on Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. 1 teaspoon table salt = 1 ¼ teaspoon Morton kosher salt = 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- I find my rub still is good with half the salt if that is a concern for you.
- 195° is the absolute minimum internal temperature, but I much prefer 200° to 205° and 210° max.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days, but I prefer 2 days since the texture suffers. It will freeze well for 3-4 months.
- Bone-in or boneless does not matter. But bone-in may take a bit longer.
- Fat pad up or down does not matter.
- I frequently just wet it with the liquid smoke and apply the rub. And then directly into the oven. It is still great. Or use yellow mustard and then rub.
- DO NOT cover with anything like foil or a lid in the oven.
- Nutrition is hard to calculate. The fat drains, the rub forms bark, and also drains some. So many things are included in the nutrition numbers that may not be there.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.
Reheating
I like to reheat it on a sheet pan. I sprinkle with a bit of water on my hand (don't overdo it). Cover tightly with foil and into the oven at 250°-300° until hot. The time varies by how you shredded it and the amount on the tray. Usually, I take about 45 minutes or so in the oven. I know that is not very exact, but you get the idea. You can then turn the oven down (keep it covered) or transfer it to a crockpot on low to keep warm. Never reheat or store with sauce applied -the acid will destroy the texture.To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's note: Originally Published November 2, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
SE
The FAQs are not opening.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi and welcome to the blog.
I can not reproduce this in three browsers.
I had the auto close turned on until about a month ago but they are now open by default. The plugin that closed them was still installed but turned off. I just took it off the site and cleared all caches.
So, check it now and if it still does not work, you may have an old version "caught" in the browser cache, so you may need to clear that.
If it still does not work, let me know the OS and browser you are seeing this in.
Thanks for the heads up.
Dan
Patrick
Seems straight forward but there’s no mention of a stall. Wouldn’t that really affect the cook time?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Patrick,
Welcome to the blog.
You are right that I don't discuss the stall with the oven or crockpot based recipes. Most people using those techniques don't monitor the temperature curve as closely as grillers and smokers must. It would probably add some needless confusion for those users.
I do discuss the stall and the Texas crunch wrap in the grill-based brisket and pork butt recipes. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/pulled-pork-on-gas-grill-not-that-hard/ (discussed stall but not the Texas crunch due to the size of the butts won't usually need it.)
And https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/cook-brisket-gas-grill/ with a much longer discussion on cause and treatment.
As to affecting the oven cooking time of butt, it probably does a bit but if you are under 5-6 pounds, not much.
Dan
Nicole
Just wondering if it is totally necessary to let it rest for so long or is that optional? I only ask so I know how to get my timing right to accommodate for the cooking time. What would your recommended minimum resting time be if not the 1-2 hours? SO excited to try this out.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Nicole,o
Welcome to the blog. It is in the post under FAQs https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/oven-pulled-pork-from-pork-butt/#❓faqs . As little as 15 minutes will work fairly well. It gives time for the moisture to reabsorb back into the cells. I frequently only do 15 minutes because that is the limit of my wife's patience.
"The rest before the shred could be as short as 15 minutes, but longer is better. Shred just before serving. It will stay warm with my method for about 4 hours, giving you an ample time window to hit to serve freshly shredded pork."
Dan
Jennifer Matthews
Can I mix the rub with the liquid smoke and coat the pork with it or will the consistency not work with sticking to the pork?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jennifer,
he
Welcome to the blog.
Can you, possibly, but there is not that much liquid smoke, and you might make a clumpy mess. I would just lightly wet the surface with the liquid smoke and dry rub.
Dan
Meg
Absolutely delicious! Really does taste like it’s been in a smoker.
Grace Hawkins
This is in the over right now! Cannot wait - I had to make it a day ahead of time for our party tomorrow night. Would you wait to shred it? OR would you shred and then reheat?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Grace,
Welcome to the blog.
You shred it now and refrigerated it, or it will become very hard to shred. Reheating instructions are in both the post and recipe card.
Dan
Brandon
‘Simply’ amazing! Cooked exactly to recipe andEVERYONE raved about it… 5 lbs/ 9 hours …. Rest wrapped 3-4 hours and it was the perfect temp and consistency to then shred…. Liquid smoke awesome! Thanks so much …
Celesti
This was a delicious and easy recipe that received several compliments from the folks on my dart league. I used the Wright's Liquid Smoke in hickory and some of my friends (who own smoker grills) asked me if I smoked the meat ! Served the pulled pork with slider rolls and a side of cole slaw.
Thanks !!
Myra
Of the 3 Wright’s Liquid smoke flavors, which is your favorite? (Hickory,Mesquite, Applewood). I am looking forward to trying this recipe for Labor Day and would like your suggestions before I order from Amazon. Thanks.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Myra,
Welcome to the blog. I'm a traditional hickory guy and can always find it at most of my local stores. It will be around the sauces like tobacco. It is a small bottle that will only be one or two rows and is easy to miss.
Dan
Gary Atkinson
DrDan,
I've been eating pork barbeque for 60 years and have come to prefer the eastern North Carolina style. I've traveled out of my way to reach several of the vaunted barbeque restaurants in North and South Carolina, and there's no doubt in my mind that your recipe is the absolute best in terms of flavor and texture. I've found that the best way to reheat the meat is to steam it in a steamer basket. This method resuscitated even year-old frozen barbeque that I was going to throw away after originally drying it out when I tried to reheat a large batch in a slow cooker. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
Wendi Dys
I wanted to thank you for your recipe. I made it for my daughter's and her best friend graduation party in 2015. I made 2 butt roast we had nothing left. It was my first time making pulled pork. I'm going to use this recipe again tomorrow.
Thank you,
Wendi Dys
Lisa B.
In all my years of trying recipes from the internet, I have never commented on one...good, bad, or otherwise. I could not refrain from doing so here! I was beyond amazed at the end product of this recipe. The cooking method is foolproof. People thought the pork was cooked on a smoker or grill. It was perfectly moist but with the crunchy texture of the bark mixed in. So easy! OUtstanding results.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Lisa,
Welcome to the blog.
I generally only reply to comments with questions or problems but wanted to comment on yours. I totally agree. I have gotten lazy in the last few years and now only do this oven version. Just rub and bake.
Thanks for the comment and rating.
Dan
Jackie Brown
Haven’t tried this yet but definitely will! It sounds delicious! I will let you know of my results! I love your site! I only make your chili!
EKrc
I roasted an 8 lb pork shoulder roast fat side down for 12 hours and it only reached 181. It got “stuck” there for awhile so I took it out. Next time I will let it go longer l after it realized it would start rising again if I left it to cook longer.
But to reach 200-210 at a low cooking temp you need to cook it waaayyy longer than 9-10 hours. More like 20 hours for the size roast I had.
EB
At 180ish I usually pull out, wrap in foil, then put back in oven until 195-200z
Walter
Hi Dan first time to this site. I was wondering would you inject the butt before you cooked it. By the way your instructions is by far the best I've seen on the net
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Walter,
Welcome to the blog.
You can inject if you wish. If you are injecting things with sodium, use a rub with no or little salt.
I don't usually think of injection since I have no desire to change the flavor of the meat.
Enjoy you pulled pork.
Dan
FrankW
DrDan, thank you. I too stumbled across this site and it will now remain book marked into the future. I am a home cook who does a Pork Butt once a year and, usually the Momofuko Bo Ssam style with at best mixed results. This year the plan was to make this a key center piece. While reviewing my notes I decided I had to rectify some of the issues I had in the past, plus as simple as the recipe I had was, it never was quite right so I started my search. I discovered lots of conflicting info but kept coming back to your post and loved that you provided the "why" I always look for. What I employed this year was 1) Fat cap up or down doesnt matter, I used up. 2) double tinfoil on sheet pan with cooling rack and parchment. 3) Low and slow, I used 260F temp and did a 6 lb Butt over 9 hours (exquisite). 4) Wrapped in tinfoil and a towel at the end and let rest for 2 hours (I was working on other prep). 5) Gloves on fat cap slid off, bone tapped out easily and the meat shredded itself ( it was a pound less after I was done because I couldnt stop taste testing). This was perfection. I completed the fat cap in a preheated 500F oven after dry rubbing some brown sugar and salt, it took 7 minutes to get the crackling just right, right when the sugar and salt start to melt and the cap starts to blister and they merge at that point done and removed from the oven before burning. For the record I did a dry rub of white sugar and salt in a big baggie and stuck it in the fridge over a day or so, rotating when ever I went into the fridge.
I'd post pictures/video if I could it was so good and the best experience using your guidance.
DrDan you have a new patient. Thank You.
Jan
I was wondering I always brine my pork butt do I need to cut back on the salt in your rub because of the salt on the brine?
I so much to try your recipe and the barbeque sauce you where talking about.
Thank you for time.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jan,
If brined, I would eliminate all the salt in the rub. It is always easy to add salt later but impossible to remove it if a dish is too salty.
Dan
Chris
I've been cooking pork butt for many years, but always look for different options that people have tried. I cooked a 7.7 lb Boston butt yesterday, expecting it to take all day & night. Two things I did differently this time. I used my oven at 250°, instead of my BGE, AND I had to bake a pie midway through the cook time, so oven was at 400° for 20 minutes. Result was total cook time of around 7 hours. I expected to have to leave it in til about 9:30pm, but it was at 195° around 5pm! Let it rest an hour, pulled it, and it was ready! Yay! I did fat side down and no rack this time. It was fine, but I will use the rack next time. Lots of great bark all the same!
Charlene
Hey Chris, I have a 5.5lb pork butt that’s in the oven right now at 250f but I started later in the morning and I am afraid it would not be ready by dinner time around 7pm. I’m looking to cut down the time by doing what you did. How many hours after the pork’s been cooking at 250 do you then begin to turn the oven up to 400? Thanks!
Jan
I didn't use any salt like you said sense I brined my pork . The only thing I can say is that is was the best bbq I have ever made. Smelling it all day made me do hungry that when it was finely done and we could eat it , I ate it so fast I ended up with stomach problem, not because of your recipe . I have problems if I eat to fast.
Let's get back to your recipe it was great. I followed it to a tea including the bbq sauce. I'm North Carolina so you know how we are about our Q
Thanks for the great recipes
Love the pictures not your puppies
All dogs are puppies to me
I lost my s year ago to lung cancer, something we where not expecting. We miss him very much. He was a great company
Anthony andrews
I ABSOLUTELY LOOOOVVEEE THIS RECIPE!! I use this recipe and a North Carolina-inspired sauce that is absolutely phenomenal. My question is, can I do a brisket (a whole packer) in the same manner? I know this blog is old, but I am curious if it will work and still hold its shape, not shred like the pork does
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Anthony,
Welcome to the blog.
You "should" be able to cook brisket similarly but I have not done that. If I oven cooked brisket and didn't use our normal brisket recipe (link below), my wife would beat me. Check my grill recipe and the timing should be similar if you want to experiment. But no guarantee here since I haven't done it. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/cook-brisket-gas-grill/
May I suggest https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/oven-baked-kansas-city-bbq-beef-brisket/ which is an oven brisket we have made for 45 years many many times.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Chip
Just FYI, it is a "butt" because that was the name of the barrel size that was used to ship salted meat on sailing ships. It has nothing to do with the cut of meat itself
Melinda McLaughlin
The best pulled pork I've ever had! Directions were perfect. Everyone loved it! Some people even ate it without a roll or barbecue sauce- it was that good! I cooked 3 pork buts at once in the oven and put them right on to the oven rack to cook, with a sheet cake pan lined with foil on the next rack down.
Yvonne
Hello I have a 7 lb bone in going to bake 250 for 12 hrs Using your rub. After that can be shred then put a n slow cooker
Happy in Texas
I will have to agree that the lower temperatures are a better way to go. I have a friend that uses a grill to smoke and cook the meat and he likes to keep it around 270 for the target temp.
I didn't want to stay chained to my grill for 12+ hours so I decided to go with a target temp of 225-240F @ 1.5 hours per pound in the oven.
My first pork butt/boston butt was 9.21 lbs. It was already bag/plastic wrapped so I removed it from the fridge and brought it up to room temp by soaking it in a large bowl of warm-hot water while leaving it in the plastic bag. This took about 15-20 min. I made a dry rub while I was waiting. I used the rub recipe in Jeff Phillip's Smoking Meat book called the Big Bald BBQ Rub which can also be found in the smokingmeatforumsDOTcom.
I coated the entire pork butt in mustard as directed by several popular forums. Adding the dry rub made a nice paste. I made sure the mustard got into every nook and cranny of the pork but. I figured that my pork butt might taste like a large mutant hotdog at the end ... but the mustard flavor pretty much disappears completely.
After the mustard, I added the rub. Basically, the rub includes sugar, paprika, black pepper, lemon pepper, kosher salt, powdered garlic, powdered onion, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and lemon pepper.
Based on several finishing sauce recipes for pulled pork that I found in the forums, I also included about a tablespoon of allspice. I also included Lime Pepper seasoning (I cut the amount of lemon pepper by 1/2 and added the lime)
While these ingrediants would make you think that the drippings would have a heck of a kick, they didn't really have the level that I was expecting. I am not a big fan of hot sauces, so this was well within my comfort zone. Nice flavor, but nothing that would cause a novice to start sweating, or think about sweating.
I started out at 225, and after the fat cap split (I put the fat side up) around the 4 hour mark, I spritzed with apple cider vinager every hour for about 3 hours. Then I wrapped it in butcher paper (waxless) and then in foil and put back into the oven. I pulled the drippings pan and poured off the drippings and put the pan back under the butt in case my wrappings leaked (they did not). I bumped the heat up to 240 since the internal temp was only around 165.
At the 12 hour mark the oven safety feature turned off the oven. I was asleep and didn't notice immediately. When I came down at the 13 hour mark the meat was at 190F. I turned the oven back on and set the temp to 300 for 90 minutes. This brought the temp into the 203-205F range which was my target temp.
Since I wanted to get back to bed, I opened the oven door for about 20 minutes to dissapate the heat, then I closed the door and let the roast coast/rest for about 5 hours until I got up again. The internal temp was a bit over 160 so no food safety issues. I wouldn't have been worried if it was 60F lower since it had been wrapped the entire time.
I took the roast out of the oven and pulled the pork. It was pretty hot but it was so tender, moist, and juicy, that it pretty much fell apart.
I saved the additional drippings while setting aside the fat.
I cooled the drippings so that the fat congealed so that it could be removed, but found that it was pretty easy to pour the drippings into another bowl while the fat remained in the original bowl. A slotted spoon helped with this process.
after I pulled the pork, I put the very moist pork on some racks and cold-smoked them. There is a YouTube video of a $1 cold smoker setup using a cardboard box and some sawdust from a pecan tree or whatever smoking wood that you like to use. I used Pecan since we had one cut down recently and I saved a garbage bag full of the sawdust. But I also have mesquite chips as well. I put the sawdust in an aluminum baking pan and used bow torch to start it (youtube has videos of how people do this).
With the racks under some sort of enclosure (any type of box, teepee type thing, traditional BBQ with smoker, whatever) I cold smoked the racks of pulled pork for 1 hour. I also experimented with 30 minutes of smoking but 1 hour was the sweet spot. Even 30 minutes had good flavor but I wouldn't go longer than 60. It would be a waste of time.
The racks of pulled pork were still very very moist. The overall temp inside the smoking enclosure only went up 3-5 degrees. I immediately bagged and chilled the pork after 1 hour.
I lightly simmered the drippings for a few minutes to make sure there weren't any food safety issues, and then poured all of the drippings (minus the fat that was skimmed off) back into the bags of pulled pork.
When making the sandwiches later on, we toasted hawaiian slider and regular sized buns with butter in our oven broiler.
Some of the family likes pickles and onions added, some like their favorite bbq sauce, and some like a finishing sauce added to their pork. There are a lot of interesting recipes. It just depends on the individual.
I liked doing the cold-smoke after the oven cooking. It was simple to do. It did not take much in materials (a couple hands of sawdust and a few mesquite wood chips) ... and it had a great smoked flavor. Trying to light the sawdust with a match or lighter did not work well. A propane or butane torch worked really really well and only took a couple seconds.
The initial 9.21lb roast was bone in. I am currently cooking one right now that is 5lb with no bone. We will see how that goes.
If you have any need for smoked spices. I would recommend spreading your seasonings out on some aluminum foil and smoking them while you do the pork. It is easy, takes no extra time, and you can pour them back in the original bottle afterwards. I do this with paprika, pepper, garlic and onion powders. The give a nice flavor when doing hamburgers or other things on the stove when you don't have easy access to the grill.
Monica
I booked marked this page because I cannot tell you just how much conflicting information I got on how to cook a butt. The information on this post is clear, super helpful...and I'm on my way! Wish me luck ! Lol
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Monica,
Welcome to the blog.
I try to be informative. I always told my students it is much more important to know "why" than "what" usually so you can fix things when something doesn't quite work.
I have a 4 pounder in the refrigerator now for tomorrow.
Dan
Stephanie Licon
I’ve used this recipe twice, perfect every time.
Kim
We had this for dinner last night and it was delish!! I put it on the smoker for about an hour to add the smoked flavor. We’ll definitely use this recipe again! Thanks for sharing! I also appreciate all of the helpful hints and ways to tweak the ingredients & cooking times.