Southern Pulled Pork Recipe
Pulled pork is a favorite southern food. My family loves it, so hubby and I make it often, as a joint effort, even though we each have our own favorite pulled pork recipe. I concoct the wet rub or dry rub recipe and rub the meat, and he tends to the smoker.
Really good pulled pork is an all-day job. If you cure the pork in the refrigerator the night before, it’s an even longer job. You can find recipes that are done more quickly, but you won’t find any better than ours.
What Is It?
If you don’t know what pulled pork is, I’m very sorry. You’ve missed out on one of the most wonderful dishes ever dreamed up by mankind. Traditional southern-style pulled pork is made from pork shoulder roasts, which are often called “Boston butts,” “pork butts,” or simply “butts.” The pork is smoked for long hours over hickory, oak, pecan, or some other type of barbecue wood.
To get the best pulled pork, the temperature on the smoker has to be right, and it needs to stay that way throughout the smoking process. The ideal temperature is 225 degrees, but if you can keep the heat between 200 and 250 degrees, you’ll still have an awesome result.
Once the meat is super tender and completely cooked, you pull it. That means that the meat is shredded into fibers, through the use of forks, your hands, or bear paws. Once the meat has been pulled, sauce can be mixed in with the meat. Because the meat has been shredded, there’s a lot of surface area, so the pulled pork will hold onto a lot of tasty sauce.

Why Use Pork Shoulder?
Pork butts seem to have been especially created for pulled pork. The shoulder inherently has large amounts of fat and collagen, and when cooked properly, these dissolve into a wonderful texture and flavor.
Another reason a pork butt is the perfect choice for pulled pork is that it’s usually just the right size to fit on a small smoker. Pork shoulders are also relatively inexpensive, and a smoked pork shoulder will feed several people.
Rubs
Most folks like to rub their pork butts when they’re making pulled pork. This gives the meat a lot of flavor, and if you use a wet rub with an acidic liquid, the rub can also help tenderize the butt.
A dry rub is made with herbs and spices, and a wet rub is made of the same herbs and spices, along with a liquid.
I usually prefer using a wet butt rub for a pulled pork recipe because the liquid helps to release the flavors in the herbs and spices, and because it helps to deliver the flavors deeper into the pork.
My Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Boston butt pork shoulder, about 5 pounds
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions
- Rinse butt and pat dry.
- Only remove some of the fat if there’s really a lot of fat. I’ve rarely had to do this.
- Combine all the dry seasonings and mix with vinegar and oil to create a wet rub.
- Rub the pork roast all over with the mixture.
- Place it in the fridge, uncovered, and leave it for about an hour.
- At that point, wrap the butt in plastic and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.
- If you’re using an electric smoker, you’ll need to add some wood for flavor. We use pecan wood. We soak the wood for a couple of hours in water or apple juice before cooking. Fill the water pan with apple juice and bring the smoker to 225 degrees.
- Unwrap the pork shoulder and place it on the smoker. Our smoker has two racks, and when we smoke just one or two butts, we put them on the top rack to smoke.
- Put the lid on the smoker and cook the meat for around 5 hours. Add more wood and re-fill the water pan.
- Continue smoking for about 5 more hours. The general rule of thumb is two hours per pound of butt at 225 degrees.
- After ten hours, check the internal temperature of the smoked pork shoulder.
- It’s safe to eat at 165 degrees, but it’ll be more tender and easier to pull if you wait until the meat reaches around 190 degrees.
- Remove the meat from the smoker and place it in a metal roaster. When the pork is cool enough to handle, pull out the bone, and cut the meat into several large chunks.
- Use two forks, bear paws, or your hands to pull the pork, separating the muscle fibers.
- Once all the pork is pulled, you can mix in your favorite BBQ sauce.
For pulled pork sandwiches, serve your pulled pork on hamburger buns, onion rolls, Kaiser rolls, or sliced barbecue bread.
Since some folks don’t like the sauce mixed in with the pulled pork, you might want to leave some of the meat plain. Honestly, if you’ve used a good pulled pork recipe, the smoked pork shoulder can stand on its own.
Rate my pulled pork recipe! Thanks!
How to Smoke a Pork Butt
How to Pull Pork pt. 1
How to Pull Pork pt. 2
Questions & Answers
Comments
I havent made the pork recipe yet but it sounds great, and i will use it .Thanks
I tried this recipe a couple weeks ago, smelled fabulous cooking, followed everything to a tee. One big problem....190 degrees?!?! 190 degrees completely dried it out, complete waste, is that a typo? It has to be, I should have listened to my gut and pulled it at 165...
Do you soak the wood chips if using and electric smoker ?
OMGness. Used your recipe. And its in the smoker. I smells heavenly. Only a couple more hrs. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
great hub
iteresting
We used this recipe last night.....awesome! Happy New Year. mike
Me again. Just wanted to let you know I'm working on our pulled pork recipe and should be posting it in a day or so. Thanks!
You can tell who are the "Southerners!" I too enjoy "pulled pork!" Great article and flag up!
I'm loving your pulled pork recipe! It's similar to ours, but we use a dry rub instead of a wet rub. the wet rub makes more sense, like you say. We'll be trying that method next time.
I always wanted to make pulled pork and now, you've offered a true and tired recipe. Will this method works for beef? Rated up.
I love pulled pork as well. I second the comment that it is excellent with sweet potato fries. I have never attempted it at home from scratch, but it is amazing that way.
I can smell the wonderful aroma of that pork butt cooking in the smoker from here, Holle. Pulled pork sandwiches (on soft hamburger rolls) are one of my all-time favorites especially when accompanied by sweet potato fries. This is a scrumptious-looking recipe.
Do I need to dress for dinner?
Holle, I love the southern pulled pork and the butts are the stuff, when I smoke I generally do two at a time with my rub and at 200 to 220 degrees in the smoker, at about 7 hours when they have a good smoke ring and are pulling away from the bone, I wrap them in foil and move them to the oven at 200 degrees and go to bed. I take them out in the morning after right at 14 hours of cook time and let them rest before pulling due to being to hot on the fingers, but wild or Sams, they just fall off the bone and come apart. I found freezing it ruins it after it's pulled it turns to mush on thawing, so I carry it to friends to share fresh.
Have you had any luck trying to store it cooked? I think canning would just finish it to paste as well. I make tamales and wrapped in corn husks in dozens, it thaws and steams back to life for good tamales, I generally get about 60 tamales to a shoulder and they don't last but about 6 months 'cuz they are a treat to eat so I can't say past that.
dust
I have never had pulled pork. The method of cooking is similar to our jerk pork but we don't shred ours we cut them into bite sized pieces.
Hi habee, this looks delicious, I just love pulled pork! We may have to buy a smoker soon because I would like to give this a try...great job!
Cloverleaf.
A favorite of mine when i visit US, wish you could get it in the uk.Great and informative hub.
Me, too - I love pulled pork! I especially love when it's made by someone else, though, and I happily recently discovered a local restaurant that makes THE BEST pulled pork and I'm hooked! I honestly don't know if I would like it as much if I made it myself ... I'm not good with raw meat. :-/
I love me some pulled pork.. "ain't" nothing BETTER!!!!
Man that sounds good... Love pulled pork barbecue.. Thanks for sharing!
Sounds great. I've never heard of it. I enjoy smoking meat and will definitely try this recipe over the next weekend that I don't have to work.
yummy!!! I love pulled pork!!!
40