How to Smoke Pulled Pork in an Electric Smoker
Always wanted to learn how to smoke a Boston butt in your electric smoker to make delicious pulled pork? This super simple recipe will help you master it!
Ingredients
- 8 lb Boston butt or pork shoulder
- 4½ tablespoons yellow mustard or binder of your choice
- 1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice
- 1/4 cup BBQ rub use this if you don't want to make your own rub
Dry Spice Rub
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 ½ tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons ground fennel
- 2 ½ tablespoons coriander
- 2 ½ tablespoons cayenne pepper
Spritz
- 2 part apple juice
- 1 part part ACV
Instructions
- You don’t have to trim much from a Boston butt, just remove any dangling or loose meat or fat. You can remove the fat cap, however I just score it right down to the meat. Scoring your meat in perpendicular cuts to help with tenderizing the pork as well as seasonings penetrate. You will find that the fat cap also help help to keep the meat moist.
- Coat the meat with a binder (I like to use yellow mustard) this ensures the rub sticks on the pork.
- Coat meat with yellow mustard; this ensures the spicy rub sticks on the pork. Then combine all the ingredients for your dry spice rub and apply generously on the pork meat; cover and keep in the refrigerator overnight or for a few hours before smoking.
- You can either use a homemade rub dry or a store brought rub. If your using a homemade rub combine all the ingredients in a bowl first.
- Then apply generously on the pork ; cover and gently massage it into the meat ensuring you get into all the nooks and crannies. Then place pork in the refrigerator for at least an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker at 230°F. Add your wood chips, I like to use applewood, cherry wood or pecan with pork. I prefer using wood chips over wood chunks as produce better smoker. Make sure you also fill up your water pan.Place a pan under the grates of where you will place your pork . This will help to catch the drippings and keep your smoker clean.
- Place the pork directly on the grates of the smoker with the fat cap down. Then place a temperature probe in the pork so you can monitor the temperature without opening the door. At 230°F it ill take around 8 – 10 hours to cook.
- Spritz your meat every 60 to 90 minutes to keep the meat moist, you can use apple juice, water or beer. Just make sure you don’t spritz to much as the chamber of the smoker will be quite moist.
- Most times, your meat will stop rising in temperature at about 150°F to 165°F, his is known as a stall To get past the stall, take your pork out of the smoker and wrap it in butcher’s paper or Aluminum foil.
- Then pop it back into the smoker to continue cooking.If you want your pork to fall apart even when you look at it, make sure you get the internal temperature to 205°F, this will ensure it is tender enough to shred.
- The pork is done cooking when your meat thermometer reads an internal temperature of around 195°F to 205°F.
- Make sure you allow enough time for resting the pork. You should remove some of the foil and tent it over the meat. I usually try to allow at least one to two hours of resting, just make sure you no one is sneaky and try’s the meat
- Now it’s time to make your pulled pork. Get your forks or bear claws to pull apart your meat, giving you a nicely shredded Boston butt.
- Now it’s time to shred the pork. First, ensure that the cooked pork is tender and easily pulled apart. If it’s not tender enough, continue cooking until it reaches the desired tenderness.Once the pork is cooked, let it rest for a few minutes to retain its juices. Then, transfer it to a clean cutting board or a large bowl.Use two forks or meat claws to pull the meat apart. Hold one fork steady and use the other to shred the pork against the grain. Alternatively, you can use your hands (after ensuring the meat is cool enough to handle) to shred the pork.Continue pulling and shredding the meat until you achieve the desired textureDrizzle some of your favorite hot sauce, BBQ sauce or seasoning and you’re good to go.