Big Green Egg Pulled Pork Recipe
This Big Green Egg pulled pork recipe is easy, delicious, and fool-proof. Learn how to make great barbecue without a lot of fuss with this simple-to-follow cooking process. You’ll feel like a skilled pitmaster after the first bite of this mouthwatering pork bbq! Born and raised in South Carolina, amazing barbecue is a big part of our southern food culture. So let’s get smoking!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to follow instructions for perfect results every time.
- Learn what BBQ tools are best for smoking meat in a Big Green Egg.
- A great smoked pork shoulder recipe for beginners or BBQ pros.
- It’s incredibly delicious!
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
- Boston Butt Roast- you’ll need an 8-10 lb pork roast. Despite the name, this roast is from the pork shoulder (we often make 2 at a time, but this makes for a very LONG cook time, so I don’t recommend this if you’re a smoking newbie)
- Black Pepper– fresh cracked pepper for seasoning the roast
- Yellow Mustard– for making a nice outside crust to the meat and acts as the “glue” for the flavorful rub
- BBQ dry rub– feel free to use your favorite bbq rub spice blend here. You can sprinkle in some brown sugar for a bit more sweetness if your rub doesn’t have much added already
- Apple juice concentrate-you’ll need a can of frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed, for basting the roast as it cooks
- Disposable drip pan– to catch the fat as it renders from the meat as it slow cooks
- Wood chunks– pecan, hickory, and apple wood chunks are great for pulled pork. We love a blend
- Thermometer probe– for monitoring temperature
- Squeeze bottle– or spray bottle for basting meat
- Aluminum foil– you’ll need heavy duty tin foil for wrapping the butt to rest after it comes off the smoker
- Cutting board– for shredding meat
How To Make A Big Green Egg Pork Butt
Step 1. Prep the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking by filling it with natural lump charcoal. Light the charcoal with starter cubes or a torch and burn for about 10 minutes. Make sure that both the bottom vent and daisy wheel are wide open when igniting and the plate setter placed after lighting.
Next, add 3-5 chunks of wood. We use 3 large chunks (about the same volume as a baseball of hickory and pecan wood (2 hickory/1 pecan). Apple wood chunks are also fabulous here with pork butt.
Adjust the daisy wheel and bottom vent to be about 5% open. We like to smoke butt at 240 degrees F. You can smoke butt anywhere from 225 degrees F to 250 degrees F, but keep in mind that the higher the target temperature makes for a shorter cooking time and nicer crust. A lower cooking temperature creates more tender and juicy meat. Smoking at 240 degrees is the sweet spot for us.
Step 2. Remove the pork roast from the package and place it onto a cutting board or clean surface. Make sure to trim excess fat from the fat cap to ensure a nice outer bark. The internal fat content of the butt will baste the meat as it cooks. Season the roast generously with freshly cracked pepper.
Then coat the butt generously with yellow mustard.
Next, Coat the butt with a bbq spice rub. We love this blend from spice house, but your favorite pork rub will work here. If you like a little sweetness to the bark, you can mix in a few tablespoons of brown sugar. IMO a good bark has a nice blend of sweet and spice.
Step 3. Make sure you have a pan or drip tray. You need some means of catching the drippings as they will put out your fire. We use disposable aluminum pans.
Place the seasoned butt roast on the Big Green Egg cooking surface and insert a temperature probe and close the lid.
Step 4. Every 3-4 hours liberally wet the butt down with undiluted concentrated apple juice.
When doing so, try to be as quick as possible to avoid heat loss. Don’t be surprised when the temp stalls at between 165* – 185*F. When the internal temperature reaches 200*F, remove the butt onto a cookie sheet and wrap it in tin foil.
Place in an empty cooler with clean old towels and let it sit for 1 hour. The rule of thumb is 90 minutes/lb to give a general idea but use a meat thermometer with a cabled probe to track temp continuously without having to remove the lid.
Step 5. Remove from the cooler and pull. Ensure the removal of any remaining fat and fascia when pulling. We like to use nitrile gloves when handling the hot pork when shredding. Sprinkle with a little extra seasoning, if desired. Serve the pulled meat with all your favorite fixings. We love pork sandwiches with southern vinegar cole slaw!
Recipe Tips
- A wired thermometer with Wi-Fi capabilities and a digital temperature control device is a game-changer with slow smoking on a Big Green Egg. We have the BBQ Guru DigiQ and love it. Honestly, not sure how we smoked without it for several years! We use both the InkBird Bluetooth meat thermometer and DigiQ when we smoke meats.
- Don’t forget to note the weight of your pork butt on the packaging before you throw it away! This will help you determine how long the roast will take.
Are you a mustard-based or tomato-based BBQ sauce fan? We love both in this house!
Storing & Freezing
Pulled pork will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. We love to make this in bulk and freeze it.
Freezing. After the shredded pork has cooled completely, portion the meat into freezer-safe zip-top bags and squeeze out any excess air. A vacuum sealer works great for this. Freeze the meat for up to six months.
Reheating. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Place the pork in an oven-safe dish and cover tightly with foil. Cook at 225 degrees F. until pork reaches a safe 165 degrees F.
BBQ FAQ
The rule of thumb is 3 servings per pound and a bone-in butt will yield about half it’s weight in pulled meat. So an 8lb bone-in Boston butt will yield around 4 lbs of meat, so 12-16 servings.
You can slow cook the butt anywhere from 225 degrees F to 250 degrees F. The lower temperature will take a bit longer to smoke and yield more tender and juicy pulled pork and the higher temperature will make for a nicer crust. 240 degrees is the sweet spot for us, but it comes down to personal preference. It will be delicious either way!
We recommend smoking the pork butt with the fat cap side down toward the heat source.
More Great BBQ Recipes
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Big Green Egg Pulled Pork
Equipment
- Big Green Egg smoker
- 1 Disposable drip pan
- 1 Squeeze bottle or spray bottle
- 1 Wired thermometer probe for monitoring temperature. Wifi capabilities make the job so much easier.
- 3-5 Wood chunks pecan, hickory, and apple wood chips are great for pulled pork. We love a blend
- Aluminum Foil for wrapping the butt to rest
- 1 Cutting board for shredding meat
Ingredients
- 8 lb Boston Butt Roast 8-10 lbs recommended. An 8lb pork butt will yield around 4 lbs of pulled meat.
- 3 tbsp Black Pepper fresh cracked pepper for seasoning the roast
- 4 oz Yellow Mustard you need just enough to coat the entire pork butt
- 2 tbsp BBQ dry rub feel free to use your favorite bbq rub spice blend here. You can add a few tablespoons of brown sugar for a bit more sweetness.
- 12 oz Apple juice concentrate can of frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
Instructions
- Step 1. Prep the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking by filling it with natural lump charcoal. Light the charcoal with starter cubes or a torch and burn for about 10 minutes. Make sure that both the bottom vent and daisy wheel are wide open when igniting and the plate setter placed after lighting. Next, add 3-5 chunks of wood. We use 3 large chunks (about the same volume as a baseball of hickory and pecan wood (2 hickory/1 pecan). Apple wood chunks are also fabulous here with pork butt. Adjust the daisy wheel and bottom vent to be about 5% open. We like to smoke butt at 240 degrees F. You can smoke butt anywhere from 225 degrees F to 250 degrees F, but keep in mind that the higher the target temperature makes for a shorter cooking time and nicer crust. A lower cooking temperature creates more tender and juicy meat. 240 degrees is the sweet spot for us.
- Step 2. Remove the pork roast from the package and place it onto a cutting board or clean surface. Make sure to trim excess fat from the fat cap to ensure a nice outer bark. The internal fat content of the butt will baste the meat as it cooks. Season the roast generously with freshly cracked pepper. Then coat generously with yellow mustard. Next, Coat the butt with a bbq spice rub. We love this blend from spice house, but your favorite pork rub will work here. If you like a little sweetness to the bark, you can mix in a few tablespoons of brown sugar. IMO a good bark has a nice blend of sweet and spice.
- Step 3. Make sure you have a pan or drip tray. You need some means of catching the drippings as they will put out your fire. We use disposable aluminum pans. Place the seasoned butt roast on the Big Green Egg cooking surface and insert a temperature probe and close the lid.
- Step 4. Every 3-4 hours liberally wet the butt down with undiluted concentrated apple juice. When doing so, try to be as quick as possible to avoid heat loss. Don’t be surprised when the temp stalls at between 165* – 185*F. When the internal temperature reaches 200*F, remove the butt onto a cookie sheet and wrap it in tin foil. Place in an empty cooler with clean old towels and let it sit for 1 hour. The rule of thumb is 90 minutes/lb to give a general idea but use a meat thermometer with a cabled probe to track temp continuously without having to remove the lid.
- Step 5. Remove from the cooler and pull. Ensure the removal of any remaining fat and fascia when pulling. We like to use nitrile gloves when handling the hot pork when shredding. Sprinkle with a little extra seasoning, if desired. Serve the pulled meat with all your favorite fixings. We love pork sandwiches with southern vinegar cole slaw!
Notes
- A wired thermometer with Wi-Fi capabilities and a digital temperature control device is a game-changer with slow smoking on a Big Green Egg. We have the BBQ Guru DigiQ and love it. Honestly, not sure how we smoked without it for several years! We use both the InkBird Bluetooth meat thermometer and DigiQ when we smoke meats.
- Don’t forget to note the weight of your pork butt on the packaging before you throw it away! This will help you determine how long the roast will take.
Nutrition
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Terrific taste & easy to follow directions
Thank you for the review, Sally!