Remember last week when we were talking about company recipes? This is one of those recipes. I’ll never forget the first time I had this *perfect* pulled pork. I was a guest in someone’s home and this was their company recipe. And true to company recipe fashion, I immediately fell in love with it and begged for the recipe.
This pulled pork is SO yummy and flavorful and tender, it just melts in your mouth. And it really is *perfect* for company because everyone I’ve ever made this for has just raved over it. You have to try it, at least once. Really. You will be hooked. :)
Let’s pick out the perfect pork shoulder for your perfect pulled pork. The best piece of meat for pulled pork is a 4-7 lb whole boston butt.
Make sure your pork shoulder has a layer of fat on the bottom:
And it should also have a bone going about halfway through it. (It doesn’t go all the way through. Just halfway.)
Now, if you notice, my pork shoulder is 7.91 lbs. I got a big one because I wanted to feed 6 people *and* have tons and tons of leftovers. Normally I hate leftovers, but I LOVE this leftover. People always want some to take home with them and it *just* as yummy heated up the next day. Just pop it in a 350-375 degree oven for about 5 mins. You’ll know when it’s done because the whole kitchen will start smelling so good and your mouth will be watering and you just won’t be able to wait any longer before you yank it out of the oven and put it on a plate. It even freezes really well, although we never want to freeze it because we always want to keep eating it for the next couple of days. lol.
After you pick out your perfect pork shoulder, you may want to pick up a few other items while you’re out..
You’ll need a 3″ deep roasting pan that’s big enough to hold your pork shoulder so that there is at least 1″ of extra room on all sides. Of course you may have a nice roasting pan at home that you can use. Lucky. I don’t, so I just pick up one of these babies at the grocery store. Disposable, yet oh so dependable. You’ll also need something LARGE to brine the roast in. I use a 2 gallon ziploc bag. And the last thing is a digital thermometer with an alarm. You don’t *have* to have one of these, but I find this an *extremely* useful piece of equipment in my kitchen. The thermometer stays in the meat, in the oven while the digital reader sits outside on top of the stove. You set the alarm and it will go off when the meat has reached the desired temp. I LOVE it because I don’t have to constantly keep checking on the roast. I just put it in and forget it! :) You can pick one of these up pretty cheap (less than $20) at the grocery store (and almost anywhere- Target, Walmart, Linens-N-Things, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc). And you can use it for everything- chicken, steak, burgers, etc. I love it for baking chicken because you know exactly when the chicken is done and it doesn’t get dried out. :)
So! Now that you’ve got all your equipment, let’s start out by making the special dry rub that makes this pulled pork so perfectly seasoned and savory.
Dry Rub
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix all ingredients together well and store in an air tight container.
This smells absolutely divine. Cover it and set it aside for a sec.
Now for the brine – A brine solution gives the meat the extra moisture it needs for a long, slow cooking process so you don’t end up with tough, dried out meat.
Brine Solution
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 qts cold water
3 tbsp dry rub mix
2 bay leaves
Add salt to cold water and stir very well until all the salt is completely dissolved. Then add the brown sugar and dry rub and stir well to combine.
Rinse the pork shoulder in cold water and place in a 2 gallon ziploc bag (or a container big enough so the shoulder is completely covered in brine solution).
Carefully pour in the brine solution…
And add two dried bay leaves (found in the spice section of the grocery store)
And refrigerate for at least 8 hours. I like to clean out a spot in my door and keep the pork there because it seems to be the best place to keep the shoulder completely covered in brine.
At least 8 hours later…
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F, remove the pork shoulder from the brine solution and place in the roasting pan.
Pat the skin dry with paper towels so you’ll get a nice, crisp crust.
Generously, generously, cover the WHOLE thing in your dry rub mix.
And massage it into that skin real good. Be sure and get it up under any flaps you may come across.
It should look like this when you’re done massaging. If you have dry rub mix left, that’s okay. We will be using it later.
Make sure the fat layer is facing UP and stick the thermometer into the thickest part of the shoulder, but not touching the bone.
Place uncovered in a 225 degree F oven, yes 225 degrees F, on the middle rack. Resist the urge to use a higher temperature.
Set the alarm on the thermometer for 200 degrees. We don’t want to take it out of the oven until the center of the shoulder reaches at least 200 degrees. The first time I made this, I was like what?? 200 degrees?? Are you kidding?? Isn’t a roast usually done at 170 degrees?? Won’t my meat be tough and dried out?? But here’s what I found out. The pork is finished to the point of being sliceable at 170 degrees, but to get that tender, falling apart shredded meat, the ideal internal temperature should reach at least 200 degrees. And it’s still just as tender, juicy and flavorful because of our seasoned brine solution.
Now, cooking at 225 degrees F, this shoulder will take between 1.5 to 2 hours per pound to cook. As it happens, this 8 lb shoulder took 13 hours, so a little over an hour and a half per pound.
Here’s how I normally do it… The morning on the day before I want to serve this, first thing when I get up, I prepare the brine solution and let the shoulder brine all day in the fridge. That night right before I go to bed, I season the shoulder with the dry rub and put it in the oven and let it cook overnight. The alarm has never woken me up the next morning, I’ve usually already been up a couple hours before it goes off. And I am not an early riser. (yeah, yeah I can hear ya’ll laughing at how much of an understatement that is)
When the alarm goes off and the shoulder has reached 200 degrees, turn off the oven and let the roast cool for about 2 hours before removing from the oven. Turn off the alarm, but keep the thermometer in the meat, so you can monitor the temperature. If the bottom of the pan is dry (or crusted with dried spices) then cover the pan with foil to retain internal moisture of the meat during the cooling period. Mine still had lots of juice in the bottom this time, so I didn’t have to cover it.
After a couple hours, when the temperature drops to 170 degrees or slightly lower, remove the shoulder from the oven.
Place on a large, clean work surface such as a cutting board, and remove the large sheet of crusted fat on the top. Using two large forks, begin pulling the meat apart. It will fall apart *very* easily and it should not take you long at all to pull apart this whole roast.
Now remember how I said that a 4-7 lb roast was best, but I ended up getting an 8 lb roast? Well, that was just fine and dandy, but my meat wasn’t as seasoned as it normally is with a smaller roast. But that’s no problem cause I had plenty of dry rub mix left! So take a few taste test bites, then generously sprinkle the shredded meat all over until your heart’s content. Be really generous with the dry rub and really mix it in good. This seasoned meat is fantastic. Keep taste testing along the way. ;)
Our favorite way to eat pulled pork is on hamburger buns. We pile ‘em high and let the meat overflow onto our plates and eat that with a fork.
But it really doesn’t matter how you serve it because it won’t be on the plate more than 3 seconds anyway. ;)
Having a Labor Day get together with friends & family this weekend? Go ahead and knock their socks off with this slow roasted, seasoned and savory pulled pork.
Have fun and enjoy!
Perfect Pulled Pork
1 whole boston butt
Dry Rub
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix well and store in an air tight container.
Brine Solution
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 qts cold water
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp dry rub mix
Add salt to cold water and stir very well until all the salt is completely dissolved. Then add the brown sugar, dry rub, and bay leaves and stir well to combine.
Pork shoulder preparation:
Rinse the pork shoulder and place in a large container, pour in the brine solution until the shoulder is completely covered. Cover the container and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Then remove pork shoulder from brine solution, pat dry with paper towels, place in baking pan that is bigger than the shoulder by at least a inch in length and width and at least 3 inches deep. Sprinkle dry rub onto the surface of the shoulder and massage in such that it adheres to the surface. Coat all sides. Make sure the fat layer on the shoulder is facing up before cooking! Place baking pan uncovered in a 225 degree F oven on the middle rack. Insert a probe thermometer into the center or thickest part of the shoulder, but not touching the bone. Monitor the temperature throughout cooking (a digital thermometer with an alarm function is the easiest way to do this). Do not remove from the oven until the center of the shoulder reaches 200 degrees. When the shoulder has reached 200 degrees, shut off the oven and let the roast cool for a couple of hours before removing from the oven. If the bottom of the pan is dry (or crusted with dried spices) then cover the pan with foil to retain internal moisture of the meat during the cooling period. When the temperature drops to 170 degrees or slightly lower, remove from oven. Place on a large, clean work surface such as a cutting board, and remove the large sheet of crusted fat on the top. Pull apart with two forks, it will pull apart very easily. Serve for friends and family!
This pulled pork is so delicious, it earns two pages in the recipe book.
Make for: Dinner / Main Dish
Tags: ham & pork
Follow Amanda on 
599 Comments
I like to cook a little higher heat and put it on the grill with pecan wood chips that are water soaked for about an hour. Then put in oven for about 6-7 hours at around 285. Then slice not puld. A thick non vinegar bbq sauce like hunts thick and rich or sweet baby rays over top last hour of cooking. for about
Hi,
This recipe looks great, but I was wondering if I could freeze the meat after making it for leftovers in the future or if I make it and plans get cancelled, etc? If so, how would you recommend storing it? Thanks so much!
Hi guys! I just made this today. Wow. Just wow. It turned out amazing. Bringing it to the tailgate tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe. This turned out even better than I was hoping it would. Cheers.
Philip
I made this earlier in the year and it turned out GREAT.
So now it’s Christmas time and I have it the brine as I type this to take to my fiance’s parents for Christmas Dinner <3
I'm So so excited and can't wait to see everyone's responses!
First time trying this recipe. Going away from a traditional Christmas dinner. Serving this year:
Pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw, etc. This looks like a great recipe for ribs. Have you tried it in a smoker.
After looking through many websites for a pulled pork recipe I found this site and decided this would be the one I would follow, the step by step guide including photos really helped!
This was my first attempt at making pulled pork and it was very successful the meat was very very tender and full of so much flavour from the brine and dry mix.
Thank you for the recipe needless to say I will be using it over and over again!
Many thanks!
WOW!
The best pulled pork I have ever cooked! Initially I was worried about taking the meat to 200 degrees but this was the most moist, most tender pork ever! Amazed at the way it came apart. Save some rub to sprinkle once it’s pulled. Took a little over 13 hours at 225- 7.6 lbs. Thanks for the recipe!
This recipe turned out great for my family New Year’s Day meal. It took 17 hours for my 8 lb prok shoulder to cook, but it was worth it! I will definetly use this recipe again!
I’m definately going to try this — but already convinced I’ll try a little trick first.
I just did this with a brisket – and, oh my.
Will put it on my smoker (200 degrees) for 3-4 hours first. It will hardly begin to cook (won’t even be messy yet) but that will be enough to get a smoky flavor into the pork.
Then I’ll put it into the oven and finish it off for ever how many hours it takes.
Now – if I can just get my wife and daughter to eat red meat every once in a while.
What an exceptional tutorial and recipe! I feel extremely confident to make this and it turn out perfectly. I’m feeling fortunate that it was only the second recipe I came across, I usually have to search much longer than that. Thank you so much! I will let you know how it turns out.
I’m so glad that I found this recipe. I make this quite often and have done it in the crock pot as well as the oven. I like it in the oven better because you get this really nice bark that you don’t get in the crock pot. The last time I made it in the crockpot, I took it out and put it in the oven for 1.5-2 hours to allow it to develop the bark. The brining makes a big difference because I skipped that step before and didn’t taste as good.
Holy Smokes! I did everything the same, except put it in a crock pot with the rub, and it was a total HOME RUN! Thanks!
I made this recipe night before last and we all loved it. I was short on time, though, and cooked it in the crockpot. While it cooked, I made homemade sourdough ciabatta rolls to serve the pork on. Fabulous combination! Topped with southern slaw, it was deliriously yummy!
Next time, I will plan the timing better, and roast it in the oven. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Valery
I am cooking my pork now and though about how great homemade rolls would be. Would you care to share your recipe?
I just finished a weekend where I multiplied this recipe for 100 lbs. of pork (14 butts!) and it worked beautifully. The only modification I made was a 3-hour smoker session at 190 degrees. I’ve cooked quite a bit but never made this dish. Thanks a million for all the information, the entire wedding party in Northwest Oklahoma LOVED IT!
Cheers.
Enjoy!
I’ve made this recipe several times now, best pulled pork I’ve ever had. I think brining is a big part of the reason, but the rub is also very flavorful. Served it for a crowd of 30 at one point (made two, side by side). Found that it stretches quite far, had a lot of leftovers for the freezer afterward, which was wonderful! Thanks for posting this recipe!!
I used a sirlion roast and It came out a little dry could that be the problem
thanks
Wow…Amanda, Kevin, this was awesome…after reading a few reviews though, I decided that I didn’t have 13 hrs to cook this thing. So I opted for my cast Iron Dutch Oven, I added sliced onions to the bottom and cooked the whole thing @ 300 for 4hrs, and it was pulled porky heaven. The rub is truly fantastic! I had never thought of the brine, but oh yeah…when the kids got done shovelling it into their mouths, they agreed, brining is in!. Thanks for an awesome recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I absolutely LOVE it!!! Takes a long time to cook but so worth it. It is so moist. This is the first time I have tried making pulled pork and it turned out great.
I hope you can answer a question for me? I am making your recipe right now and have just gotten the pork into the brine. I plan on take it out of the brine tomorrow first thing in morning, put seasons on it and let it rest until that evening. Next day I will cook this up in a slow cooker or low oven depending on responces here. Questions is do I rinse the brine off the pork once it gets pulled out of plastic bag or leave it the way it comes out of the bag and not rinse it off? Do most people prefer this pork oven cooked or slow crock pot? Thanks so much for any help. Hopefully sooner than later…..
Don’t rinse off the brine.
Can someone answer my question of whether or not you rince the brine off the pork before adding more salt and spices? I am about to make my pork and need an answer…………..thank you.
no rinsing needed
On the slow pulled pork recipe. Would it worked if I cooked it for 6 hours on one day and then 6 hours the next?
Hi! I know I am super late to this party, but I was thinking about making this and wondering how spicy it is. My family is spicy-adverse but I think it looks soooo good. Any thoughts? I saw one person left out the cayenne pepper?
Thanks!
this will be my second time using your recipe, the first time was with my neighbors, they went crazy for it. I will use your recipe for the second time this weekend SUPER BOWL Sunday, I will have the same people over and there asking me to cook the pulled pork, of course I told them it was my recipe, LoL THANKS for posting this recipe and sharing it.
Just made this for the Super Bowl and was a little disappointed, though I’m sure it is due to something I did wrong rather than the recipe. I used a Boston Butt just under 4lbs. Brined it overnight for 10 hrs. and then cooked it in the oven at 225 for 8 hrs. The internal temp. reached 180 degrees and I pulled it out at that point to let it rest so we could eat at halftime. The flavor was great, however the meat did not pull apart at all. I had to saw it into chunks with a chef’s knife. Even so, it was tender and enjoyable, if a bit rubbery. I will definitely try this again.
I think the problem could be two things. 1. You really should let it get to 200 degrees. I’ve made this several times, and it helps make it “pullable.” 2. This is probably the bigger problem. You should have left it in the oven to rest and reabsorb moisture for at least 1 hour, preferably 2-3 hours if you have time. By taking it out instead, a lot of the moisture was lost to the air, causing the rubbery-ness and the need for cutting rather than pulling.
Love your dry rub recipe! I cook a smaller 5 pound pork butt in my crock pot for 8-10 hours. I throw some onions and garlic underneath and put a few tablespoons of our favorite local BBQ sauce. That is really all you need in the crock pot… by the end of the day there are juices half way up the sides! I made this for my in-laws a few weeks ago… they kept raving about how much better mine was than the one they always make :)
I made this tonight and it was divine. I brined it from 5pm-830am the next day. Instead of regular paprika in the rub, I used smoked paprika. Didn’t have garlic or onion powder, so I omitted the salt in the rub and used garlic salt. Threw in a tablespoon of garam masala and a tsp of 5 spice powder too.
It was a 5 lb roast, and I cooked it from 830am-4pm, and let it sit in the oven for another 2 hours after turning it off at 4pm. I cooked it at 250 degrees since I heard from comments it look upwards of 13 hours at 225. It was ready to eat at 6pm.
I made a bbq sauce from here:
http://bbq.about.com/od/barbecuesaucerecipes/r/st-louis-barbecue-sauce.htm
and made some changes too.
Ingredients:
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water + 2 tbsp
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon onion powder (used a tbsp of the dry rub mix instead)
1 tablespoon garlic powder (ditto)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (ditto)
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 pureed onion
4 pureed garlic cloves
1 tsp garlic salt
Thew all ingredients in the pot and cooked as per the recipe above (extra water was to allow longer cooking of the raw onions/garlic). Add 5 mins of cooking.
then put sauce through a sieve.
Seriously the best bbq sauce I’ve ever had.
Made two of these for a church dinner last night. Served with sauce “imported” from Alabama. Big Hit!
What a great post!!! I love to cook, but I have yet to tackle pulled pork. My grocery store had a sale so I bought a HUGE pork roast and had no idea what the heck to do with it! This recipe is so thorough and helpful. Thanks!!
Hello loyal followers…
I stumbled across this when searching for a pulled pork recipe to goby. I had purchased a double shoulder package on sale and wanted to ensure I didn’t mess them up. It had been awhile since I last prepared a slow roast pulled pork and couldn’t remember the formula. I have never brined a pork before… it probably paid off, the flavor throughout was sensational… and it was very moist.
The results are full proof and excellent. The only changes and or recommendations follow:
• I added a bottle of hard cider to the pan halfway through the cooking… the bottom was dry… I thought it might like a steam bath.
• I incorporated all of the drippings/cider into the pulled pork for extra flavor… who cares about the calories and additional fat.
• Failed to tend to the pulling at the prescribed temp and timing… this resulted in a lot of dry edges… I did’t cover the meat during that time… mistake. I incorporated the dry edges into the mix because I personally love “bark” and this was very much the bark… just a little too chewy for most.
• Instead of throwing away the fatty seasoned rub… we cut it up and served it on the side… we love bark and this was fabulous bark… we aren’t counting calories or fats on this dish.
• I didn’t take my time pulling the pork into nice clean shreds… I became impatient and started pulling extra fast not clearing my forks out in between pulls. This resulted in a large part of the final product ending up in a bit of a mash rather then shreds. It was still very good, but less eye appealing.
My Manthing and I tried this recipe for Christmas with our children coming over. I thought I was going to have leftovers…oh…well…it was too delicious!!!
I have just put my pork butt in the brine and in the fridge! I have read through many of the comments and have not seen a lot about smoking this after using the brine. Has anyone done this? I just got a smoker and I am still trying to get used to it. It has a water pan and is electric. If smoking it is a good idea after brining, what kind of wood would you recommend I use? Any advice is greatly appreciated! :)
I just found this site the other day and I am very impressed! Can’t wait to explore the rest of the site and check out the other recipes! Thanks for all your hard work!
Karen
Crockpot is my least fave method, as you have to pan-sear any meat if you want it to appear brown in any way, and then you put it in the crock pot and it basically poach / braises itself into a gelatinous mush of protein. No amount of spices will add any sort of “smoked or cooked” flavor into the crock pot meat, and ends up tasting bland and water-logged. That, and the fact that the crock pot is basically the adult version of the Easy-Bake oven, makes me tend to want to just boil meat on my regular stove-top. I have more control over my heat and lid this way, instead of the crock pot’s two temperatures, low and high.
By far the best pulled pork I have ever had! This was a huge hit for my family. Took 10 hours and 45 minutes to cook a 5.32 lbs Boston Butt Roast, then another 2 hours to cool in the oven but well worth the wait. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
I can’t wait to make this. I have been wanting this for sometime now. It looks sos delicious.
I made this in the oven, 4.4olbs. for 7 hours at 225, it was great, the next day I
took the left overs and put them in the bamboo steamer for 3 hours to reheat
and it was even better, only 2 of us so will get to eat all we want, may even
freeze some.
Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe… have made it several times… perfect everytime! (I have never done the brine as the first time I made it with just the rub in the slow cooker on low… it turned out PERFECT!)
Flavour is sooooo great!
Do you have any fish recipes? Spicy fish burgers using ground white fish?
First time ever making a pulled pork, and I was completely shocked when I finally tasted it how easy it really is. There is only one thing you really need for this recipe, TIME! I followed the directions just as is, but I did use fresh garlic instead of the powder (only because I could’nt find the darn powder!). Now, one of my biggest suggestions is to find really, really good rolls to put it on. Reason being, after tasting this, it would be disrespectful to the pork after how wonderful it tasted! Great job Amanda! It was my first recipe from you (happen to come across it on google), but it certainly will not be my last!
I am making this tomorrow for the third time. We absolutely love this recipe. I did have to cut down on the cayenne in the recipe though because it was way to spicy for us. We always have this with coleslaw. I do make my own barbecue mop sauce and put a little all over it after I have pulled the pork and added some dry rub to it. I can’t wait to have this tomorrow!!
Only had this once and really liked it – how fool proof is this because I am totally not the best cook!? I want to try this for Easter festivities but do not have time for a test run. Please let me know your advice.
Amanda: Just came acroos your recipe fpr the pulled pork, sounds delicious, am thinking about making this for our wedding reception in June, Planning on 150 people, what would you recommend us getting for amount of pork(how many lbs) If I made this the day before, would it be the same the next day? Thanks for all the great info and your time.
I have made this twice and went by what the recipe said with no changes. It is the best! You can’t get any better then this! No changes are needed!
Thanks so much for a recipe I will be making for the rest 0f my life. I have been cooking for 45 years and know what I am talking about!!! LOL ;)
I was wondering if this would work if the pork did not have a bone in it and what would I have to do different?
I tried this the other day simply amazing! I did however make a few changes, i did not cook mine in the oven I used a crock pot so I can leave the house. Turned out amazing!
I have been checking out all kinds of pulled pork recipes and after a shocking 41/2 or so hrs. finally one that sounds like I will enjoy it.
So thank you for posting it. Libbie
Will let you know when I do it if it holds up to what my brain is saying (mental taste buds?!?!!). It will be a while as hubbie wants ham for easter.
I have made this recipe at least 25 times . It get’s better all the time. The last time I left it in the brine for 2 days before I cooked it. I was making it for a party and knew I would not have the time to do it the day before. The morning of the party I put it in the oven at 2am. The party was starting at 6pm. I forgot it was in the oven and did not check it until 4pm. I then turn the oven off. When everyone arrived I finished it and put it into the chafing dish. Everyone was raving about it.I had a few of the guys show up the next day for left-overs. Plus they told me how I out-did one of the wives – who is(was) known for her pulled pork.Her husband agreed! ouch! We still are friends!LOL!
Tried it in the crock pot- It is not the same- just ok! It needs the oven to get the crusty part.
Kevin and Amanda- You Rock! I have since tried many of your other recipes and have yet to find one that is not loved!
Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe. I made my first pulled pork with this recipe and it was an instant hit. So much so, that I just put two more in the brine solution to cook up for our family Easter gathering.
We loved it right out of the oven with a little more dry rub, but we also loved it with a fantastic barbeque sauce made locally (Suwanee Sweet Meats, owned by the Terry family).
My son & I made this on the weekend. This may have been the best pulled pork I have ever eaten!
THANK YOU!
Hi, I compared pulled pork recipes for 3 days, before deciding to use this one. I did not use the brine (I use one for my Thanksgiving Turkeys). I did not cover with foil after turning off the oven-next time I will. I reduced the the cayenne to 2 1/2 tsps-btw the rub is fantastic; divine-I LOVED it! I made your yummy Ultimate Baked Beans, coleslaw, mac & cheese, and a blueberry coffee cake. Next time I will use the brine. This was delicious. Thank you!
We are giving your recipe a shot this weekend. Your directions and site are really great, this is for our friend who is turning 50 and he does almost all of the grilling when we go on camping trips. I’m not sure of the size of the roast(s) and we will be using a charcoal(indirect) rotisserie method. It seems that the key will be keeping the heat on the lower end. Any great suggestions. We’ve been talking about doing a pulled pork this will be our first foray. My personal best in these weekends has been the turkeys, on the Weber. The rest of the cooking has been unoriginal. I wanna knock their socks off with this pork.
Thanks,
Lisa K
Can and most likely will add wood chips for smoking. at what point?
First of all… LOVE the recipe. The best one I’ve ever tasted.
Secondly… Do you know how much sugar is absorbed when brining?
Thanks!
Has anyone smoked the meat with this recipe?
My son prepard this pulled pork for my husbands 60th bithday and it was great realy tasty.
Hi Kevin and Amanda,
I LOVE your website. I stumble upon it when searching for an oven baked boston butt recipe over the internet. I have my boston butt soaking in brine right now. On the sauce… .what kind of pickle juice do you use? Sweet, Bread and Butter, Dill???
Love your web page, I’m printing the recipe as I type this, only 17 pages of it, I’m getting married June 23rd and am going to try this for the picnic party afterwards I’ll let you know how it turned out…..
I’m going to try this recipe for my soccer kids (12-12 y/os) plus their parents. My question is would it take the same amount of time for 2-8 #ers? They’ll be in separate containers but wondering if they really need to be cooked separately.
Thanks!
Hi Amanda, that’s my daughter’s name as well! I am a gourmet in Ghana with worldwide experience. Say pulled pork sandwich and I will say Hard Rock Cafe. That is where I first had this delicacy served on toasted bun and topped with a special coleslaw. Yes it’s divine. I am just curious, have you tried a dash of apple cider vinegar in the brine? Your recipe is great an the gourmet that I am, I normally brace the upper part with prosciutto ( I reduce the fat layer to thinnest possible). Thanks
Hello there!
Thanks a lot for this recipe, I’ve tried it today. It was my first pulled pork ever and I have to say I nailed it!! By reading the recipe online I was imagining / expecting a taste (a delicious one) and once cooked it was exactly what I was thinking about :)
Many thanks again!
Love from France!
Great recipe and top notch instructions with good photos. I’ve cooked a couple of butts in the crockpot using basically the same method but without the brine and they turned out great. I can see how the brine will help to retain moisture in the dryer cooking environment of the oven.
Thanks!
I just found this on Pinterest and in perfect time. I plan on having a picnic next weekend and wanted to wow my future in-laws with something special to prove I can cook more than toast and mac & cheese. Thanks for the great detailed recipe. I will let you know how it comes out.
How many people would an 8lb roast serve? Would like to sure pulled pork at a birthday party with 40 people. How many do you think I’d have to do?
Did you serve it? How many pounds did you cook? Am also doing it for 40 this weekend – but unsure how much to buy.
I found this recipe about 6 months ago, and have made it 8 or 9 times since. It’s great every time.
To incorporate some smoked flavor I add liquid smoke to the brine and swap regular paprika with smoked paprika and cayenne pepper with chipotle chili powder in the rub.
Variations on a wonderful original theme. Thanks!
currently cooking it overnight now, the smells are keeping me awake though ;) I added some sliced apple to the bottom of the pan with mine as well as a tiny bit of cider. smells like its working :D
This is fool proof!! and totally amazing. Tried with a 7lb shoulder grass fed pork…Absolutely phenomenal!
I made 40 pounds of this for my son’s graduation and it was a huge hit!! I brined the meat for 4-5 days before cooking it. I cooked some in roasters and some in the oven and it turned out soooo good!
I want to try this on Memorial Day. Will it work on the grill if the temperatures are the same?
It is the 4th time we prepare it and your method is just infallible, THANK YOU for sharing this well made cooking book and your suggestions. Pulled pork made with your recipe is just the most delicious, better than any restaurant I tried too!
This recipe is amazing! I am making my 4th one tomorrow! I decided this would be served at my son’s 2nd Birthday party! Thanks so much!
this sounds so good! I found your site with this recipe as I was hunting for a way to do pulled pork for my son’s graduation. I really think I want to try this, but could use your advice on a couple things.
I’m going to be doing 60-70 lbs of pork (a case from Sam’s) and was planning to have a mess of crock pots/roasters going over a few days time. I do love slow cooking in my oven, but need to get these done in mass. Do you think doing them in a big roaster (those giant counter top ones) will work ok? I reckon it should but am nervous about doing a new recipe for 150 guests!
Have you ever done this and then frozen the meat? Was planning to do all the cooking next week and freeze for the party on June 16th.
Thanks so much!
Lisa
hi. im not sure if this question was answered already, but, after you pull the meat apart, do you put it back in the roasting pan to mix with the juices? i have the roast in the oven now and am serving tomorrow so im hoping to hear back from you soon. thanks.
I made this recipe a couple of weekend ago it was great. There was a few misses on my first attempt. Firstly, I only had a 2 pound piece of pork leg, so I didn’t have the fat layer on top (due to the cut of the leg), and because I only had 2 pounds of meat, it wasn’ t enough to feast til our bellies were bursting! I have changed a couple things this time. Firstly for my brine, I have used Molasses instead of brown sugar. Secondly for my rub, I have replaced the paprika with half a tablespoon of smoked paprika and added a touch (two teaspoons) of Chinese Five spice, 5 freshly ground cloves and two teaspoons of freshly ground fennel. I think fennel is an excellent spice that adds that special flavour it adds to curries, meat, and is not praised enough about in the daily newspaper headlines! I have in brine at the moment, a 10 pound shoulder, and just can’t wait to have my brothers and their wives around tomorrow night to feast on my Perfect Pulled Pork. Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Thank you SO much for this great recipe! I married a Memphis man, and for years have envied the admiration he attributes to the perfect pecan pie and pulled pork prepared by some of our loveliest Southern friends. For his birthday last week, I used your recipe (ran a day short on time and had to skip the brine), rubbed the living daylights out of two pork butts with your rub recipe, 225 for 11 hours, plus two hours of sit time in the off-oven and… yes… my husband LOVED it and these fine post-Confederate friends raved too…
thanks for helping make this Yankee Girl proud!!
-M
Try this out
This is WONDERFUL! Thank you for sharing. Any thoughts as to how many butts(average 5lbs) I should cook to make pulled pork buns for 40? I’m thinking 3, but thought I’d ask an expert!
great recipe. quick and simple, how cooking should be.
i look forward to trying it.
Amazing!!! I have done this recipe twice, once with the brine and then without. I didn’t see a difference with either way, and each time was SO JUICY and absolutely delicious! It is ridiculously easy! I make my own rendition of the rub, as I don’t normally use measuring cups or spoons and I guess at the amounts. This is a recipe that will definitely be a part of our holidays, our family. It will be one of those recipes that will be passed down by showing our kids how to cook this, etc.
Kevin and Amanda, thank you very much for this wonderful recipe! I very much appreciate your time and dedication to cooking–
Amazing. We smoked ours for ~15 hours. Totally worth it.
Amanda,
The recipe sounds delicious. Question, do you think this would work in a roaster oven? I’ve seen everyone’s posts about the crockpot but I would like to try the roaster. Thanks for sharing!
Doug
I am making this recipe this weekend for a family reunion. My family does not like spicy food (although I do). I was wondering about using 1 Tbsp of cayenne. That seems like a lot. None of the reviews mention the rub being too spicy though. Does the sugar counteract the heat?
I made this for my daughter’s graduation party and everybody LOVED it!!! I used pork shoulder roast.
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe – can’t wait to try more of your recipes!!
I made this for a cookout last week and it was an absolute hit!!! People could not believe that it was my very first time ever making pulled pork. Thank you for the great explaination and the amazing pictures. I loved it!!! My tip would be to definitely make sure that you mut more rub on the pork than you think you need. It doesn’t really permeate the fat layer as much as I would have liked. But I did add some run to the pulled pork and it seasoned it nicely.
I used your recipe with a couple of spices my family loves… and it turned out great! Thanks for sharing your method :)
Thanks for the great recipe! I made three 8.5 lb roasts this weekend for a BBQ. The three roasts sat in the brine solution for 12 hours and were in the oven for a total of 19 hours before they reached the appropriate temperature. They literally fell apart as we pulled them, and I received numerous compliments on the taste and texture, with several requests for the recipe. The only thing I will change is to decrease the chili powder a bit- that was the most noticeable spice in the taste, and could be a bit over-powering for some. Again, thanks for the great recipe. This will be my go-to BBQ meat from now on!
I was so excited to try this and was disappointed when after brimming the cut for eight hours and cooking it when it reached 170 degrees it was awful. Please tell me maybe it was the cut the butcher gave me. I told him I wanted a shoulder cut – butt and he gave me a piece of meat that was almost 6.5 lbs and cost me -’a total of 15.09. I did take the meat back and told my Safeway that it was the worst meat in the whole world. Do you have any idea what went wrong? I do want to try this again because it smelled really good but ended in a disaster Can you help me. I told him what I wanted from your recipe and this is what they gave me. Mahalo. Kristen
Kevin & Amanda…we had a graduation party last night and the pulled pork was a hit!! Unlike you guys, we didn’t have leftover pork due to the overwhelming seconds, but no complaints here! This was our first attempt at a pork butt and it will continue to be a recipe we follow from here on out. Thank you so much for sharing this amazingly delicious pulled pork recipe.
For those of you trying to decide on a recipe, hands down best pork out there! We suggest following the recipe as instructed.
Greetings from the north of England. I tried your recipe at the weekend and WOW, it will become a favourite . Tonight for dinner I turned some of the left overs into a pulled pork quiche. And it was delicious , 100ml of milk, 200ml of cream a savoury pastry flan case baked for 35 minutes . Absolutely lovely
Greetings from the north of England. I tried your recipe at the weekend and WOW, it will become a favourite . Tonight for dinner I turned some of the left overs into a pulled pork quiche. And it was delicious , 100ml of milk, 200ml of cream , 4 eggs and a savoury pastry flan case baked for 35 minutes . Absolutely lovely
This was the first time I EVER attempted at making pulled pork, I followed the instructions on this website exactly! Let me just say it was the best pulled pork I’ve ever eaten, and to think I had made this, made it all the more better! I piled this slow cooked savory pork on a Kings Hawaiian Sub Roll and topped it with sweet cole slaw, it was DELICIOUS!! Thank you for this recipe, I will use it for years to come!
Chris, age 25
Im going to try this recipe with a HUGE boneless pork shoulder from Costco. I make pulled pork every year for a big party we have and I’m very excited to see how this turns out! Thanks for the easy instructions!!
After the roast is done and you are getting to pull apart, do drain the left over juice or do you incorperate in the pork?
Mine is in the oven right now! I had it in the brine for about 24 hours and now I will be cooking it for about 20-26 hours. I got a 14lb roast for my birthday/graduation party. I’m excited to see how it turns out.
Excellent instructions. Mine is in the oven but my piece is much smaller, only 2.5lbs and it has been in there for 7 hours and still isn’t past 185. I have 2 thermometers just to be sure. I don’t know how long I can wait because dinner hour is over and I’ll need to go to bed soon!
I cooked 2 nine pound pork butts in my large turkey roaster. Cooked those for
11 hours at 245 then 225 for 2 more hours. Served 30 people and still had left overs. Got raving reviews from my guests.
Thanks will done this again soon.
Hi
I am going to try the Pulled pork but was wondering if the oven temp is celsius or Fahrenheit
This recipe sounds delicious have also looking forward to making the best chocolate cake it sounds so yummy
Thanks
Gillian
Sydney Australia
I assumed it was Fahrenheit, as this is a slow-cooking recipe and at 200+ degrees Celsius I’m pretty sure after 8 hours, this would be totally dry!
Converted to Celsius it comes to about 107 degrees.
I bought an 8.25lb shoulder without the bone and used McCormick pork rub and sweet and smoky rub. I then cut 2 large onions and put with the meat in an aluminum pan. I also used liquid smoke and garlic powder. I covered the pan with aluminum foil and baked at 300-315 for 6 hours. This came out perfect becaus I wanted some so soft it could be pulled and also some of the meat in tender “chunks” that stayed together smothered in bbq sauce, some honey,brown sugar and the meat’s juices. This fed about 10 people and I still have alot left over. Awesome.
I made this for 4th of July party and it was a huge hit. Very easy to follow your step by step instructions and pictures. I will make again and have lots of requests for website
Hey guys,
Fantastic recipe, been looking for a pulled pork recipe that we could cook at home and didn’t use vinegar. Looks incredible, really really looking forward to trying this one out!!
Just made 20lbs of this for my son’s family birthday party and this was a HUGE hit. Everyone loved it. My hubby said it was the best pulled pork!!! Thanks for the great recipe!
i dident see the pickle and dryrub sauce any where.what kind of pickles. i am new mabe i missed that.