Pulled pork, cooked nice and slowly on the barbecue is like nothing else! The smoky flavour penetrates the meat, and the slow cooking results in tender, juicy pork that pulls apart easily.
You can serve it as it is, or stir in some BBQ sauce for a sweeter-sticky pulled pork, then serve in buns, on baked potatoes or on the side of all of your other BBQ favourites.
This smoky, juicy BBQ Pulled Pork is just so mouth-watering. It really is a game-changer for BBQ dinners! I really love how you can personalise the flavour with seasonings and sauces. Personally, I love this with a sweet and tangy BBQ Sauce.
It takes a little bit of prep, but once that’s done the BBQ does most of the work!
I love this as a summer dinner alongside a BBQ feast or as a sandwich or taco. It also makes the most PERFECT leftovers, which is great because you will be craving it for weeks afterwards. 😋
📋 Ingredients
Pork – Bone-in or boneless both work just fine, You want to use a pork shoulder joint (or Boston butt in the US) as they tend to have lots of fat running through which is going to really add tender juiciness and flavour to the pulled pork.
BBQ Sauce – I used my Homemade BBQ Sauce, you can use your favourite brand or make your own.
How to make it:
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.***
- First, you want to make the rub by mixing all the rub ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Then, prepare the meat by scoring and dusting it with the rub, before covering and leaving to dry brine.
- Preheat your BBQ. Once preheated, place the meat in a pan or foil tray in the centre of the BBQ and leave to smoke for 2 hours (see image below).
- Next, transfer to a foil tray and spritz with a little apple cider vinegar before leaving to cook for another 2-2.5 hours per KG of meat.
- Once it’s cooked, take of the BBQ, cover and leave to rest for an hour.
- Finally, shred the meat and remove any bones you may have, then serve alongside my Homemade BBQ Sauce.
Pro Tip
Score the pork before drying brining. This provides more surface area for the smoke to penetrate into the meat – giving you more flavour.
Super simple but packs a juicy, meaty flavour punch!
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Pin It🍽️ What to serve it with
- This dish is perfect as the star of the show in a sandwich, heaped with Creamy Coleslaw and dipped in Homemade BBQ Sauce.
- Alternatively, my favourite way to serve the dish is as a BBQ feast alongside these classic dishes:
- Easy BBQ Beans
- Easy 4 Cheese Mac ‘n’ Cheese
- Creamy Potato Salad
Cooked to absolute perfection!
🍲 More fantastic BBQ recipes
Yes! There are a couple of ways you can make this ahead of time.
First, is by preparing the pork up to step 4 of the instructions and covering overnight before cooking.
You can also make this ahead by following the instructions through to the end, and cooling, then putting in a sealed container. Then, you can refrigerate for up to 3 days. When you want to reheat, heat in a skillet/pan until piping hot throughout.
Yes! This actually freezes and reheats really well so I would recommend saving any leftovers you have!
Just follow the recipe to the end, quickly cool and store in a sealed container in the freezer.
When you want to reheat, defrost overnight at room temperature. Then fry the meat in a pan/skillet until piping hot throughout.
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BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 kg (6.6lb) Pork Shoulder (Boston Butt – See Note 1)
For the Rub:
- 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp mild chilli powder (optional)
Also:
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (for spritzing)
- 6 tbsp BBQ Sauce
Instructions
Prepare the pork:
- First of all we're going to make the rub. Add all of the rub ingredients into a jar and mix together until fully combined.2 tbsp soft brown sugar, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp mild chilli powder
- Take the Pork shoulder and remove the skin (you can ask your butcher to do this for you). Then score quite deeply (approx 1 cm deep) in a criss cross pattern on the top fat cap side of the meat.3 kg (6.6lb) Pork Shoulder
- Lightly dust the pork with the rub on all sides and into all the cracks and scores in the pork.
- Cover and leave for 1-2 hours or up to overnight to allow the meat to dry brine.
Cook the pulled pork:
- When you're ready to cook, preheat your BBQ or smoker to 110C (230F) and set the BBQ up for indirect cooking (see note 2). I use applewood to smoke as I love the flavour of applewood with pork, but hickory or oak would also work really well.
- Once the BBQ is up to temperature then place a pan (or foil tray) in the BBQ underneath where the pork shoulder will be placed and pour in some water into the tray. (see note 3)
- Place the pork shoulder in the middle of the BBQ and close the lid, and leave to smoke for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, you should see a lovely pink bark starting to form. At this stage the smoke has done its job penetrating the outer layer of the meat, Now we're going to transfer the pork joint to a foil tray and spritz with a little apple cider vinegar in a spray bottle. This is to help ensure the outside of the meat doesn't dry out. The acidity of the vinegar helps break through the fat and adds to the pork flavour.
- We want to cook the pork for approx 2-2.5 hours per KG altogether (including the smoking) until the the internal temperature when tested with a meat thermometer is around 95C (200F) (see note 4). So for a 3kg pork shoulder, continue to cook with the BBQ set at 110C for an additional 4-5.5 hours, lightly spritzing with cider vinegar every hour. For the last hour of cooking cover the tray with foil and leave on the BBQ to continue cooking.2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Once the pork has hit the internal temperature and the meat thermometer passes into pork nice and easily then we're ready to rest. Remove the tray from the BBQ and cover with foil and a couple of clean tea towels and leave to rest for 1 hour before serving.
- Uncover the pork shoulder (remove the bone if you have a bone-in joint) and break up the meat. You can you a couple of forks or tongs. The meat should fall apart and the bone (if you have a bone-in joint) should come away clean.
- Now you can serve just like this, or what I like to do for a traditional pulled pork, is add 6 tbsp of my homemade BBQ sauce (you can use your favourite brand) and mix it all together.6 tbsp BBQ Sauce
Notes
Note 1 – The Pork Joint
Bone-in or boneless both work just fine, You want to use a pork shoulder joint (or boston butt in the US) as they tend to have veins of fat running through which is going to really add lots of tender juiciness and flavour to the pulled pork. Score the pork before dry brining to give more surface area for the smoke to penetrate into the meat giving you more flavour.Note 2 – Indirect heat
You need to set your BBQ up for indirect cooking – so you want a barrier in between the heat and the meat. Some BBQ’s have a ceramic plate in between the charcoal/wood and the grill surface (such as Kamado Joe or Green Egg). Sometimes the heat source/charcoal area is off to one side – so the grill part you’re cooking on isn’t directly over the coals.This means it will be the hot air/smoke that is cooking the pork slowly – not the heat source itself. This will help you get nice juicy meat. Here’s a video we found to show how to set up indirect heat on a Kamado Joe BBQ. I’d recommend searching You Tube for how to do this for your own specific BBQ.
Note 3 – Liquid
The foil tray of water adds some moisture to the circulating air – helping to keep the meat moist as it cooks.Note 4 – Temperature of the meat
For safety reasons, usually pork is required to be cooked to 63C/145F. So why are we cooking to a much higher temperature than this? For cuts rich in collagen, like pork shoulder/pork butt, the meat needs to be brought up to a higher temperature over a longer period (95C/200F) to break down the connective tissues – which results in tender, fall-apart pulled pork.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I used the rub on a piece of belly pork; marinated over night. Slow cooked in oven and then browned on BBQ. Delish 😋
Can I do this in a slow cooker, if so what setting and how long.
Can I use rolled Pork