Ultra flavorful and tender, this Pork Shoulder is smoked low and slow, and creates the most amazing, melt in your mouth pulled pork! Perfect for any cookout or BBQ, complete with grill cooking instructions as well.
This Smoked Pork Shoulder recipe is one of those that I love to make for potlucks and bbq’s. We also love easy smoker recipes like my Smoked Chicken Wings and 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs. This is one of my Summer recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
If there’s one summertime food that I’m obsessed with, it’s barbecue! Smoked meats of all kinds, in any flavor. Just gimme that smoke ring!!
My husband is the master smoker in our household, but I like to throw my hat into the ring once in a while… it’s genuinely fun.
Smoked pork shoulder is a great crowd-pleaser, and it makes a TON. Once you shred all that mouthwatering pork, you have enough for sandwiches, potato toppers, mac and cheese toppers, and plenty left over to freeze.
There’s something about that succulent meat combined with the peppery bark-like crust that just makes me SO hungry. And now you don’t have to pay out the nose for a small portion from a bbq restaurant… you can make your own, pitmaster-worthy smoked pork shoulder, at home!
HOW TO MAKE A SMOKED PORK SHOULDER
- Prepare the smoker. Consult your smoker’s manual for how to best get your smoker ready. Fill baking dish or foil pan with water and set on one side of the smoker grate. This keeps the pork nice and moist.
- Rub the pork. Rub pork with olive oil. Combine rub seasonings and rub into pork on all sides.
- Fill spray bottle. Fill with a 1:1 ratio of apple juice and apple cider vinegar and set aside. You’ll be spritzing the pork every hour for the first 4 hours.
- Smoke pork. Add pork shoulder to smoker grate and smoke at 250°F for 4 hours. Each hour, open up the smoker and spritz pork.
- Wrap the pork. Spritz pork one more time, then wrap with foil or peach paper. Return to smoker and smoke at 225°F for approximately 4 more hours.
- Check temp. Pork should have an internal temperature of between 195-205°F.
- Let pork rest. Remove pork from smoker and keep pork wrapped while it rests for 20 minutes or up to 2 hours.
ADDITIONAL COOKING TIPS
If you’ve never smoked a pork shoulder before, don’t let it scare you. 90% of the time spent making it is hands off time, and I’ve detailed step by step instructions down below in the recipe card. Plus, here are a few extra tips.
COOK TO TEMPERATURE, NOT BY TIME
When smoking, you need to use the cook time, as a guideline, not an actual timer. SO many factors can go into a piece of meat taking longer to smoke, such as the meat itself, smoker variations, wind and outside temperature, and more.
The key to smoking is going low and slow and with plenty of patience. Instead of relying on time, you’ll want an internal thermometer. The internal temperature of the meat is what you’ll be using instead of time.
I’ve linked my favorites below, but don’t be thrown off thinking you’ll need to drop a bunch of cash. You can get a quality thermometer for not much more than a large pizza!
WATCH FOR THE STALL
If you have a thermometer that continually monitors the pork’s temperature, you’ll notice there will come a time where the internal temp is just. not. rising! That’s perfectly normal, and nothing to worry about.
It’s called the stall. This is where the temperature stops rising as the collagen in the meat breaks down. It can be frustrating, but all cuts of meat that take hours and hours to cook will have this. Brisket and pork shoulders are notorious for it.
Just keep smoking the pork, it will make it through this plateau, I promise!
TO WRAP, OR NOT TO WRAP
Some smoked pork recipes don’t call for the pork shoulder to be wrapped. I’ve made it both ways, and I prefer the wrapped version. The main reason is to push through the stall quicker.
Without being wrapped, the pork can take longer to finish cooking, as well as potentially losing juices during the longer cooking time. Wrapping the pork locks all that moisture in. This is sometimes referred to in BBQ circles as the “Texas crutch”, since it’s a crutch to get you over the stall hump.
VARIATIONS OF THIS RECIPE
- MUSTARD – I used olive oil to bind the rub to the pork shoulder in this recipe, but I’ve also made this using plain yellow mustard, like I do with my Crockpot Beef BBQ. It works just as well, and adds a little tang to the dish.
- BOURBON – Bourbon and pork are just perfect together! Try adding a little bourbon to the spritzing bottle and/or the baking dish of water.
- BBQ SAUCE – This pork is full of flavor… in fact, you may not need or want bbq sauce! But if you do, use either your favorite bottled variety, or try my Bourbon BBQ Sauce or Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce.
- LOW CARB – if you’re watching your carbs very carefully, you could swap the brown sugar with a sugar substitute, such as Swerve. Also, make sure you’re using apple juice that is 100% juice with no sugar added.
MAKING SMOKED PORK SHOULDER AHEAD OF TIME
As this pork takes a while to smoke, you kind of ARE making it ahead of time! But if you’re just going to be far too busy the day of, you can smoke your pork the day before.
Smoke as directed, let rest as directed, then shred. Let pork cool completely, then add to foil pans and cover tightly with foil. Refrigerate overnight.
To reheat, add foil pans to your smoker (at 225 F degrees), or an oven set to 225 F degrees, and let them gently reheat about 40-45 minutes, until hot.
STORAGE
Leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container and consumed within 4 days.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR THIS RECIPE
- Tongs – these tongs are durable and I love the longer one for grilling/smoking.
- Traeger Pro Series 34 – this is my exact smoker, and it’s amazing for so many things!
- Peach Paper – perfect for wrapping the pork up.
- Apple wood pellets – the same pellets I use.
- Internal Meat Thermometer – the key to great grilling/smoking is to use a meat thermometer! This one is inexpensive, accurate, and so quick! If you prefer a thermometer that stays in the meat and can alert you when the meat has reached a set temperature, try this ThermoPro!
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We like to serve this Smoked Pork Shoulder with:
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 8 lb bone-in pork shoulder these may also be labeled as pork butt
- olive oil
- water
DRY RUB
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 Tbsp black pepper coarsely ground
- 2 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp dried minced onions
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
SPRITZ
- 1/4 cup apple juice
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
PREPARE THE SMOKER
- Fill hopper of smoker with wood pellets, I usually use applewood, but pecan or cherry would work as well.
- Start smoker on the smoke setting for 5-10 minutes. Increase heat to 250 F degrees.
- Fill an 8×8" baking dish, or other baking dish with water and set aside to add later. I like to use a foil dish for this, since I won't care if it gets messed up.
PREPARE THE PORK SHOULDER
- Place all your seasonings (brown sugar, pepper, salt, paprika garlic, minced onion and cayenne) in a small bowl and stir with a fork to combine.
- Place your pork shoulder on a baking sheet and rub the entire shoulder down with olive oil. Sprinkle the seasonings over it and rub the seasonings into it (every inch of the shoulder should be covered). There's no better tool for this than your hands, so if you're squeamish about touching raw meat, use a pair of disposable gloves.
SMOKE THE PORK
- Add baking dish filled with water to smoker, on the grate on one side of the smoker.
- Fill a small spray bottle with the apple juice and apple cider vinegar and set aside. Every hour you're going to open up the smoker and completely spritz the pork shoulder.
- Place pork shoulder on the grate and close the lid. Keep the smoker temperature around 250-275 F degrees while smoking during these first several hours. Smoke for approximately 4 hours, spritzing with the spray bottle every hour.
- Check the internal temperature of the pork shoulder using a meat thermometer. By this time, the pork should be at LEAST 145 F degrees.
- Completely spritz the pork shoulder one more time and carefully wrap it in aluminum foil or peach paper.
- Place pork back into smoker and lower temperature to 225 F degrees. Smoke pork about another 4 hours, but do not spritz during this stage of cooking.
- Check the internal temperature of the pork shoulder using a meat thermometer. You're looking for your pork shoulder to be about 200 F degrees. 195-205 F degrees is a good range for making amazing pulled pork!
- Remove pork from smoker and let rest for at least 20 minutes, but up to 2 hours. Keep the pork wrapped up tight, and I like to add mine to either clean, empty cooler, or my oven (turned off).
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- This recipe was made using a Traeger Wood Pellet Smoker. Other smoker types will work, but will vary in terms of the set up process. Consult your smoker’s manual for how to prepare your brand of smoker.
- I do not have a charcoal smoker or grill and cannot offer solid advice on using those.
GAS GRILL INSTRUCTIONS
- Fill an aluminum foil pouch with soaked wood chips, seal and poke a few holes in it to allow the smoke to come out. Start grill on HIGH, lighting half of the burners of the grill.
- Place pouch of wood chips directly over the heat until you see smoke coming through the holes of the foil pouch. Do not light the other burners. The pork will go over the burners that aren’t lit.
- Proceed with rubbing the pork, then keep grill around 250 F degrees and cook for 4 hours. Wrap and lower heat to about 225 F degrees and cook another 4 hours.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Nick Gross says
I am fairly new to smoking….got a pit boss pro series 5 a year ago and have only
Done about 5-6 smokes. Today I did a pork shoulder for the first time and used this recipe. Turned out fantastic!!! So we’ll, my company assumed I have been doing these for years. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!! It was fantastic!!
Carolyn says
AMAZING! such great rub and easy to follow procedures! I love to cook and we got our first smoker this summer this is a great easy recipe and it turned out magnificently! I added about a cup of boiling water to the foil “pouch” when wrapping the shoulder to make sure it stayed extra hydrated before the juices started to really flow. Thanks again
Jason says
Greatest detailed recipe ever so helpful for a rookie smoker
J chris Simmons says
Question: what determines when you should move to the aluminum wrap- 4 hours or getting to internal temp of 145 or so?
Amanda says
It’s the internal temperature, but the timing should be fairly close 🙂
Brian says
Excellent recipe. We smoked this on our Primo smoker yesterday for the first time and it turned out awesome. Super tender, tasty easy to prepare and cook.
Thank you for the terrific recipe Amanda !
Barbara says
This is my second time to smoke using this recipe, it is perfect. My family raves about the flavor. I use a pork butt bone in. I also smoke my Mac and cheese.
Gary says
I have only found pork butt in 8 to 15 pound in the store…. there are only two of us. can I cut down the size of the butt to 4 or 5 pounds and get the same result???
Amanda says
You can halve the recipe, but the cooking times would need to be adjusted. Just cook according to the internal temperatures mentioned in the recipe 🙂
Dave Everton says
Amanda, thanks for sharing this recipe! I have made it two or three times this past summer (most recently yesterday) and it is fabulous!!!
Matt says
If you wrap the pork at 4 hours how does any more smoke get into it? I really want to make this but that’s the bit that is confusing me.
Amanda says
Hi Matt 🙂 Generally the first several hours of the smoking process is where the meat takes on that amazing smoky flavor. Wrapping it doesn’t keep the meat from tasting smoky, it just ensures a moist final result 🙂
Ray Frech says
First time smoking. I have a Pit Boss combo gas grill and smoker. Thanks for your suggestions. I like to make things simple so I am not going to wrap and see how dry it comes out. I did inject with apple juice and apple cider vinegar though.
David Cone says
Tastes great, very moist and tender
BBQ Ben says
REALLY great, as long as you have enough time to cook it.
The first time I made this, I budgeted 10 hours using time guidance in this recipe. It was definitely not enough time and I had to serve it kinda chewy and tough (peak 170F). I just finished my 2nd attempt with 8lb pork shoulder and 17.5 hours of smoking time. It was perfect and ‘just’ got to 195F internal temp. SO GREAT as long as you start cooking early enough. I budgeted 2 hrs per pound plus 2 hours rest time and it still came out a little late.
I added some broth to the pulled pork for extra moisture (thanks for the pro tip). I will definitely make this again and again. It was truly awesome!
KEVIN D McBRIDE says
Great Recipe and tips , A++ for mentioning “the stall” .However your picture of this rib shows a nice smoke depth but overall the meat looks dry.
Brian says
Love this site and going for this recipe on my Pit Boss pellet grill today. We’re at 3.5 hours and my 8 lbs, bone in at about 160 degrees. My only concern so far is if I should have been lifting the pork to spritz on the portion in contact with the grate. C’est la vie! I’ll get it on the wrap.
Paul R Owens says
Have made this twice. Excellent both times.
Robert M Joisten says
Sounds like a great recipe and will let you know tomorrow how it turns out.
Have a great weekend!
Bob
David Bergeron says
My first successful pulled pork ever! Incredibly delicious. The recipe is very simple but so flavorful. I used a 4 to 5 pound pork butt and a lean 2 and a half pound pork roast. Was a little nervous about the different cuts and sizes but followed the internal temperatures for each and enjoyed the balance. Will absolutely do this recipe again!!
Jeremy Graddy says
We have made this so many times now. It has been brilliant since the very first attempt. I just hit the 4 hour wrap mark with two 5 pound pork butts. They’re at 165 and 178. Where I am at we tend to go a little quicker to get to temperature, but I also think we tend to get smaller available cuts of meat rather than one big 10 pounder. Such a crowd pleaser! Making it for our great grand mother, has has not met our 1.5 y/o baby due to COVID, and the rest of the family. Try some of the other Chunky Chef recipes as well! I just got a smoker for the first time last Christmas and the Chunky Chef makes it easy. Thank you!!!
Jeff R says
Made these last week. They were awesome. Done in a Masterbuilt 30″ electric smoker. They took about 9 hours to reach the “sweet spot” temperature. My son (who is a chef and a critic) thought it was the best pulled pork he ever tasted. I am making them again for company tomorrow. Can’t wait to try the ribs next.
Mary says
turned out great