Smoked Pork Butt/Shoulder on the Pellet Grill

The one positives of feeling like we are in a drought is that I haven’t had to worry much about rain when it comes to grilling!

So we have been smoking ALL the meats this month!

Yesterday we smoked a pork butt/shoulder. The process is identical to smoking a brisket, so if you are familiar with that process, this will be easy for you. I feel like I have perfected this process… not as far as timing goes because it’s near impossible to time it perfectly. It can take 1 to 2 hours per lb of pork. But, as far as getting it to the perfect fall apart consistency… that I have down. I’ve done this process with pork 3 shoulders so far and each one seems to have turned out better than the last. This one was probably the most amazing because I didn’t have to worry about timing much. We have made it in the past while hosting a big group of people and I get anxious about the process taking far too long and having my guest waiting. So I typically smoke it up ahead of time, shred it up and put it in my instant pot day of hosting so I don’t have to worry about timing. This works wonders BUT there is nothing better than fresh pork of the grill. So this time it was an enjoyable process to time it as close to dinner as possible then enjoy it fresh with just the hubby and kiddos.

Here is how we smoke our pork butt/shoulder on the pellet grill.

Prep the Pork:

1. I like to prep the day before and let is sit 12-24 hours.
2. Most people like to add lots of seasoning. I use JUST Redmonds Real Sea Salt. I find that smoking the meat gives it all the flavor it needs. I don’t even eat it with BBQ sauce (my hubby does). I start my prep by sprinkle salt over the pork and I rub it all over every part of it’s exterior. You can do the same with whatever seasoning you like if you feel it needs more than just sea salt. We buy our Redmonds Sea Salt at Thrive Market.
3. Cover or wrap your pork and let it sit in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.

Smoking in the Pellet Grill:

1. I like Hickory Flavor pellets best but you can use any type of pellet to fill up your pellet grill. Most bags have little charts on the outside to show which complements which type of meat best.
2. Preheat your pellet grill to 225. This typically takes 15 min. I have the meat sitting on my counter while I preheat the grill.
3. Once preheated, place your pork on the pellet fat side down. I then put my pellet grill probe into the center of the pork shoulder to keep an eye on the meat’s temperature on my Grilla Grill app.
4. When the internal temperature of t your meat reaches 165 degrees, wrap it in butcher paper and place back onto the grill fat side up.
5. Now, reduce the pellet grill temp to 215 degrees.
6. Cook the meat at this temperature until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees.
7. Once it has reached this temperature you can remover it from the grill and let it rest for at least an hour. Many people wrap theirs in foil at this point. I just throw it in our unheated oven on a stainless steep pan to rest.
8. Once it has rested, I put the meat and all it’s juices into a glass Pyrex dish, and use my “meat claws” to shred it.
9. ENJOY!

Like I said before, there is a science to cooking in that you will want to wrap and change the temp after the internal temp is 165… but how long that will take has been different every time we’ve made a pork butt. It can take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours per lb of meat. I have sometimes brought the temperature of the grill down to 200 after it’s been cooking wrapped a while if it’s cooking so quick that it will be ready before dinner.

I hope you love your pork as much as we do. While I typically pick grass fed beef over pork day to day, nothing beats the price of pork right now!

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