Go Back
A square, overhead image of BBQ Pulled Pork. The pulled pork is in a rectangular black pan in the centre of the image. In the top right of the pan, there is a pair of tongs sticking out of the pork at an angle. This is all set on a grey background.
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe

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.
Prep Time2 hours
Cook Time8 hours
Resting Time1 hour
Total Time11 hours
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Keyword: barbecue, pulled pork
Servings: 6 -8 Servings
Author Nicky Corbishley

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

Calories: 515kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 85g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 225mg | Sodium: 923mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 7g

QR code

Scan this QR code with your phone's camera to view this recipe on your mobile device.

qr code