How to smoke a pork butt

When you are new to all things BBQ you can definitely feel overwhelmed by the lingo, times, and temps. Smoking a pork butt (aka a pork shoulder) can feel intimidating just like smoking a brisket, but with the right information and step by step directions you can smoke the perfect pork butt and feel confident that it will taste amazing! We are going to walk you through the Lane's way to make pulled pork with a pork butt.

Jump to Lane's Pork Butt Recipe below.

Make sure you have the time

Smoking a pork butt takes roughly 8 to 10 hours from start to being ready to eat, so don't think you can run to the store when you get off work grab a pork butt and be eating it anytime that night. It's not going to happen! Make sure you have the time from start to finish.  

Picking out the pork butt

• When you go to the grocery store, butcher shop, or meat market, be sure to know that a pork butt, which is a part of the shoulder, is also known as Boston butt. You might not find anything named a "pork butt." You will most of the time find them labeled as one of the two, either pork shoulder or Boston butt.
• Bone in vs Boneless - Definitely suggest getting a bone in pork butt, that shoulder bone will keep the meat nice and tight. If you choose a boneless the butcher will have had to cut the bone out leaving the meat kind of flopping around and needing to be tied up. 
• Try and get an 8 to 10lb pork butt.

Prepare your pork butt

1. Trimming - This can be a hot topic in the BBQ world, but for us we like to trim up that thick top fat cap. The reason we trim is because we want that nice bark connected to a nice piece of meat and not connected to a big chunk of fat. We suggest trimming immediately when you pull the butt out of the refrigerator. It is way easier to trim a cold firm piece of fat rather than a gooey slimy piece of fat on a butt that you have left out for 30 minutes. Your trimming doesn't have to be perfect just knock down that layer of fat closer to the meat - For safety, trim away from your body and hands. (see our video below for an example of this) Use a good knife, we suggest a good boning knife.
   
   
   
2. Binders - Binders are needed only to help keep the seasoning on the piece of meat, they do not add flavor to your butt. Most of the time the butt has been sitting in some liquid from the butcher and you can season without needing a binder. We like to use olive oil, mustard, or even mayonnaise as a binder. Just rub the pork butt down with your preferred binder, it does not need to be a thick layer. Just enough to hold your rub & seasoning. 
   
   
   
3. Seasoning - Now it's time to season your pork butt to help create a tasty bark. Even though we trimmed the fat cap down/off, we still like to smoke the butt fat cap up. So when you are putting the rub/seasoning on the butt be sure to start with the grate side of meat. Coat the bottom, sides, and top of the pork butt. Don't go light - the better rub layer the better bark you are going to get. Don't get crazy though. 

Recommended Lane's Rubs for Pork Butt:  

• Sweet Heat
• Spellbound Rub
• Island Dust Rub
• Q-Nami Rub
• Lane's Signature Rub 

Setting up your smoker

This is all about what you have or based on preference. We have smoked on all of them and here are some key takeaways for each.

• Ceramic - Setup for indirect heat | Make sure your basket is full | Keep an eye on those temps | Add a water pan | Setup wood chunks for lasting smoke
• Pellet - Make sure your hopper is full of pellets | Great for not needing to manage temp | Great for full consistent smoke
• Electric - Watch your water pan | Make sure to keep good smoke on it | Great for not needing to manage temp

What type of wood chunks you use is completely up to you. We prefer Cherry Wood, Apple Wood, or the RecTec Pellet blend.

How long to smoke your pork butt

We like to smoke our butts at 275 degrees for about 6 to 7 hours - until the butt internal temp is at about 180. 

Then you will want to wrap the butt and put it back on the smoker for 1 - 2 hours till the internal temp reaches 205.

It's not burnt! Ok, so we have had a few comments from people who don't do barbecue saying "Oh lawd, how can you eat that burnt piece of meat?" Let me tell you, it's definitely not burnt. That is called bark, that is where all that great flavor lives! If you are new to BBQ, if it looks burnt but your internal temp is correct don't worry it's going to be perfect. 

Resting the pork butt is important

Ok, your butt is done cooking, but you have to let it rest in a cooler/oven/counter about an hour or more. The key is making sure it's in a pan just in case any juices want to sneak out. That huge 8 to 10lb behemoth will be screaming hot for a while. If you try to pull it while its that hot you will pay the price.

Time to pull

Finally all the hard work is done and it's all downhill from here. It's time to get pulling and get that goodness in your belly. All that good flavor is on the outside of the pork butt, so we like to do a little bit extra to add moisture and flavor throughout the pulled pork. 

1. Get a large bowl - add 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and a 1/2 cup light brown sugar. The apple cider vinegar will help keep the pulled pork moist even for next day leftovers. 
2. Pull out the shoulder bone, if you followed the process it should just come right out easily. 
3. If you have them use heat gloves with your food safe gloves.
4. Start to pull - This is the fun part. Just get your hands in there and break it all apart. You will see just how tender it is and your mouth should be watering. You can chop it up if you'd like, but we just like to roughly pull it apart. 
5. Be on the look out - for gristle and cartilage - alot of times there is one thick piece of cartilage that is inedible. Get rid of it. 
6. Season and mix - We like to hit it one more time with some seasoning and mix up all the pulled pork with the apple cider vinegar and brown sugar.

Sauce and enjoy

There is no reason to wait any longer. You probably have snuck a few bites by now. So before you make your sandwich/plate you gotta think about sauces. 

We got all the perfect BBQ sauces for your pork butt, really is up to preference. 

• Kinda Sweet - Rich sweet bbq sauce
• Sorta White - Your savory Alabama mayo based white sauce
• Sweet n White - Mix Kinda Sweet and Sorta White for a crazy good flavor
• Itsa Vinegar - Your classic vinegar based bbq sauce
• Carolina Mustard - Vinegar and mustard based bbq sauce
• Spicy n Sweet - We have Lil Spicy and Pineapple Chipotle both have a good bit of sweet and a good bit of heat.  

Lane's Pork Butt Recipe

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Category

BBQ

Cuisine

American

Servings

12

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

9 hours

This companion recipe to our "How to Smoke a Pork Butt" guide will help walk you step by step through the whole process of smoking and shredding a pork butt for an amzingly delicious meal to share with your family and friends!

Ingredients

• Lane’s Spellbound Rub

  Pitmaster ∙ $12.99 Small ∙ $7.99 2 lb bag of rub ∙ $27.99 Add To Cart

• 1 bone in Boston Butt (8 - 10lbs)

• Olive oil or Mustard

• Foil or Butchers Paper (we prefer foil)

• Apple Cider Vinegar

• Brown Sugar

• Lane’s Sauces

We Make It Easy

• Lane’s Pork Butt Starter Kit (Spellbound, Kinda Sweet, Meat Claws & Meat Temp Magnet)

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Directions

1. While the Boston butt is still cold from the fridge - Trim the fat cap down to about an 1/8 of an inch

2. Using a binder (Olive oil or Mustard) rub the binder over the entire butt and season well with Lane’s Spellbound Rub

3. Set smoker to 275 degrees and place the seasoned butt on the smoker fat cap up and smoke 6 - 7 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 180.

4. Once the internal temperature reaches 180 - remove and wrap with foil (or butcher paper) and place back on to the smoker for 1 - 2 hours until the internal temperature reaches 205.

   Wrapping - I take two pieces of foil about 3ft long each and place them like a PLUS symbol ( + ) then place the butt in the middle and wrap it from inside foil to the outside foil.

5. Once the internal temperature of the butt reaches 205 remove and rest for at least 1 hour. I like to place mine still in the foil in a yeti cooler. You can also wrap it with a beach towel and place in a cooler or even the oven.

6. In a large bowl add ½ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ cup brown sugar, and a tablespoon of Spellbound Rub. Using heat resistant gloves and food safe latex gloves - Remove the bone from the butt and begin pulling the meat to the consistency you prefer and place in the bowl. Once you’re done pulling, pour the leftover juices in the bowl. Mix together and you’re ready to eat.

Recipe Video