How to Smoke a Pork Butt for Pulled Pork

Buy a bone-in pork butt weighing 7-9 pounds. Trim the fat cap to about 1/4 inch thick the night before. You want some fat for moisture but too much blocks smoke penetration and bark formation. Remove loose flaps and hard fat chunks. Pat completely dry with paper towels.

Coat with yellow mustard as a binder. Apply about 1/2 cup of dry rub on all sides. A classic pork rub is equal parts brown sugar, paprika, and garlic powder with smaller amounts of onion powder, cumin, black pepper, and cayenne. Press the rub in. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight so the salt penetrates throughout.

Stabilize at 225 F before putting meat on. For charcoal, use the Minion method. For pellet grills, preheat 15 minutes. Add hickory and cherry wood for classic pork flavor and mahogany color. Fill water pan if your smoker has one to help regulate temperature and keep the meat surface moist.

Place fat-side up on the grate. Insert a leave-in probe into the thickest part avoiding the bone. A second grate-level probe gives true cooking temperature since dome thermometers can be off by 25-50 degrees. Close the lid and do not open for at least 3 hours. Every lid opening loses heat and extends cook time by 15-20 minutes.

Once bark starts forming, spritz surface every 45-60 minutes with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and apple juice. Keeps surface moist, helps smoke adhere, adds tangy sweetness. Keep lid open less than 10 seconds. Maintain 220-250 F throughout. Close intake vents if above 275, open vents or add fuel if below 200.

Around 150-170 F internal temp, the meat stalls for 2-4 hours as evaporative cooling kicks in. Wrap in pink butcher paper to save 2-3 hours while preserving bark (foil makes bark soggy). Wrap tightly, reinsert probe, and return to smoker. You can also wait it out unwrapped for crunchier bark if you have time.

Target 200-205 F with 203 as the sweet spot. Do the probe test: thermometer should slide in like hot knife through butter with no resistance in multiple spots. If there is resistance at 200 F, keep cooking. Collagen must fully break down into gelatin. Total cook time for an 8-pound butt is typically 10-14 hours.

Wrap in a towel and place in a dry cooler (no ice) for 1-2 hours. The cooler keeps meat above 160 F for up to 4 hours, giving you serving flexibility. Juices redistribute and collagen continues breaking down during rest. Skipping rest means losing moisture and getting drier texture. One hour minimum, two hours ideal.

Remove the bone (should slide out with zero resistance). Using bear claws or two forks, shred into chunks then pull apart into strands. Remove large fat chunks. Mix with accumulated resting juices — this liquid gold is full of rendered fat and gelatin. Sprinkle with original dry rub and toss. Serve on brioche buns with coleslaw, pickles, and BBQ sauce on the side.