Smoked pulled pork is one of my favorite sandwich fillings, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone on that one. When it comes to backyard BBQ, smoking a pork butt is one of the first things you should try as the meat is not expensive, and its very very difficult to get it wrong. The recipe below is a very simple and straightforward approach to making smoked pulled pork that will keep all your friends and family happy.
Tap/Click above to watch the recipe or scroll below for the steps: Video – Traeger.com
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Step 1: For a BBQ beginner, a pork butt really is a good place to start as its one of the most forgiving meat cuts to prepare on any BBQ/pellet smoker. Ideally, it will be bone-in as it will hold together as it cooks, otherwise, you might want to truss it up.
Step 2: You’ll want to inspect the pork butt for any particularly thick bits of fat/connective tissue. As you won’t want to eat large chunks of fat and it stops the seasoning from getting to the meat itself.
Step 3: With a sharp knife, you’ll want to trim off the thick fat edges etc, but don’t go crazy and trim off all the surface fat, as fat is flavor after all.
Step 4: For this pulled pork recipe a mustard binder was used. You don’t need to go fancy with the mustard, its not really where the flavor is being added in this recipe.
Step 5: The mustard binder was applied all over the bone-in pork butt on both sides as a good base to help the seasoning adhere to the pork.
Step 6: For this recipe, the Meat Church Honey Hot BBQ Rub was used which contains Sugar, Salt, Honey Powder, Paprika, Garlic, and Celery.
Step 7: When applying BBQ rubs to large pieces of meat like this don’t be worried about applying too much rub. If you want a good bark, you need to go heavy on the rub.
Step 8: The pork butt was left for 15 minutes for the seasoning/salt to penetrate the meat and you can clearly see that. Ideally, if you have the time, leave the seasoned pork butt for an hour before it goes on the grill, or even better overnight in the fridge the day before.
Step 9: For this recipe the Traeger was preheated to 275 degrees for a faster cook. However, if you have the time, dropping down to a lower temperature such as 225 degrees will enable more smoke to be produced and absorbed by the pork butt.
Step 10: Insert a meat probe into the pork butt, but avoid hitting the bone for a false reading. Ideally when on the grill place it on an upper rack to avoid any direct heat from the pellet burn pot.
Step 11: When the internal temperature of the pork butt reached around 165 degrees internal it was taken off the pellet smoker and placed in a baking tray ready for the next stage.
Step 12: The smoked pork butt was then dressed with some brown sugar.
Step 13: Then three knobs of butter were placed on top. For the braising stage, there are lots of things you could add to the baking tray, this recipe is just keeping things simple.
Step 14: For a little bit more flavor, this recipe added in just a light sprinkle of the Meat Church Honey Hog Hot BBQ Rub, which is very similar to the previous rub, but it has some Jalapeno powder in it for a little kick.
Step 15: Then some foil was placed over the top of the smoked pork butt in the baking tray and put back on the Traeger at 275 degrees until tender which will be an internal temperature of just over 200 degrees.
Step 16: When the pork butt came off the Traeger at an internal temp of 200 degrees it was already trying to fall apart ready for the pull. However, you’ll want to leave it a while to cool down/rest so its easier to handle and so the juices/fat can be reabsorbed back into the meat.
Step 17: To pull the cooked pork butt you can use your hands (with suitable gloves) or you can use forks or bear claws, your choice.
Step 18: The juices from cooking the pork didn’t go to waste, they went into a fat separator jug and some of it was poured back onto the shredded pork butt meat.
Step 19: With just enough of the pork cooking liquid from the fat separator jug added all the shredded pork butt was mixed together which would also move pieces of the bark throughout.
Step 20: As a final little touch before you start to load your delicious pulled pork onto sandwiches etc, you may want to hit it again with a light sprinkling of BBQ Rub.
Hi, I’m Chris Scott. I started PelHeat.com back in 2007 and I have a background in pellet manufacturing. PelHeat.com is an educational resource on BBQ pellets, pellet grills & smokers. Check out our Pellet Grill & Smoker Database.
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