Smoked Pork Butt - Easy Pulled Pork
Smoked Pork Butt is a low-and-slow pulled pork recipe with juicy pork shoulder, flavorful injection marinade, and a sweet and smoky BBQ rub. This Traeger pork butt is perfect for pulled pork sandwiches, cookouts, parties, meal prep, and feeding a hungry crowd.
Servings: 20 servings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 lb pork butt bone-in or boneless
- 1 cup pork butt rub
Injection
- 1 cup apple juice or cider
- 1 tbsp pork butt rub
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225°F.
- Remove the pork butt from the packaging and pat it dry. Be sure to wipe away any excess moisture or bone fragments.
- Trim any excess fat or areas with a hard fat cap. You will want to keep most of the fat, so only remove any hard and firm areas.
Rub and Inject
- Sprinkle the pork butt rub all over the meat and rub it in. Be sure all sides and crevices are seasoned.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the ingredients for the injection marinade. Use a whisk or fork to incorporate all of the ingredients.
- Use a marinade injector and inject the marinade into the pork butt. Go in a grid pattern and inject enough until the marinade flows out of the meat before moving to the next position.
Smoke The Pork Butt
- Place the pork butt on the smoker in the middle of the grate. Use a thermometer to monitor the internal temp throughout the cook.
- Close the lid and smoke the pork butt until the internal temperature reaches between 200°F and 205°F. This will likely take 14-18 hours, depending on the size of your pork.
- Optional: Use the Texas Crutch. Once the pork butt reaches an internal temperature of 160°F, remove the pork butt from the smoker and wrap it in pink butcher paper or foil. Place the pork butt back on the smoker until it reaches an internal temperature of 200°F to 205°F.
- Remove the smoked pork butt from the smoker and let it rest for about an hour. Place the pork butt directly into a cooler to help it stay warm while it rests.
- Shred the pork butt and serve. Add additional seasoning or BBQ sauce to the shredded meat. Use it to build some amazing pulled pork sandwiches or top some macaroni and cheese with the pulled pork.
Video
Notes
- Cook according to internal temperature, not time. Pork butt takes a long time to cook, and your smoker temperature may fluctuate or be slightly inaccurate. Use a thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the pork butt and remove it from the smoker when it reaches the desired temperature, around 203°F.
- The Texas Crutch is optional, but I usually always use it for my longer cooks. Wrapping the pork butt in foil or butcher paper helps to trap the moisture and accelerate the cook. When you hit the stall (when the internal temperature plateaus for a couple of hours), the Texas Crutch will cut the stall time in half and help you get dinner on the table sooner.
- Modify the injection marinade to fit your taste. If you add fresh herbs, be sure to use a blender to ensure that the marinade is still able to pass through the needle of the injector. Add some heat by adding some cayenne powder or habanero powder.
- Hot and fast. If you are on a time crunch and cannot cook the pork butt overnight, you can smoke your pork butt in about 5 hours. Instead of cooking at 225°F, smoke the pork butt at 300°F until it reaches the desired internal temperature. This should shave off nearly 10 hours of cooking time. You can still use the Texas Crutch once the meat reaches an internal temp of 160°F, but you may not need it because the higher temperature in the smoker means you don't have the typical stall like you see when cooking low and slow.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 638kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 52g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 201mg | Sodium: 188mg | Sugar: 1g