How to cook Smoked Pulled Pork on Pit Boss Pellet Grill

This Pit Boss Pellet Grills recipes smoked pulled pork is favorite and slightly challenging but worth it.

Smoked pulled pork is one of the classic recipes that you can do with a smoker. It tags along with briskets, smoked ribs, and many more recipes that are favorites when having barbecues.

It contains a lot of healthy nutrients with a lot of protein. It is soft and melts in your mouth so it is a great meal for both adults and kids alike during outdoor cooking sessions. 

There are many versions of smoked pulled pork around the world but slow and low cooking is the staple of making one. It is a common way and it is perhaps the most effective technique. 

Slow and low cooking is not a cooking style that you can do with any appliance. You need a Pitboss pellet grill or something like that to make the pork have a smoky flavor in it.

 So here, we will be going into the details of how you can properly cook your smoked pulled pork. You will need a Pitboss pellet grill for this recipe to follow every step of the way.

 

What You Will Need

The usual part of the pig that gets cooked in slow and low style is somewhere around the ribs or the ham. Here in this recipe, you will need to purchase a pork shoulder to cook it. 

This part of the pig is the pork butt or Boston butt. It has a lot of meat in it with a single large bone so you do not have to deal with a lot of meat separation.

Do not get overwhelmed by the pork shoulder’s weight as it gets lighter when cooked. Around 30 to 40% of the weight reduces when the pork cooks.

You are also going to need a lot of marinade for this recipe. The pork shoulder is pretty large and you need to keep it moist throughout the cooking process so get your marinade ready.

For this recipe, Pitboss requires 1 Bouillon Chicken cube, 2 tbsps of sugar, 3/4 cup of peach nectar, 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, 3/4 cup of white grape juice, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.

You will also need 3/4 cups of ice cubes. As you can see, there are some ingredients that you might need to purchase somewhere specific but you can edit the marinade to what you want.

 

How To Make The Marinade

 Unlike most marinades that you use with other types of meat and cooking styles, you need to prepare the marinade for this smoked pulled pork recipe to enhance its flavors.

 So first, place the Bouillon cube in a small pot and then heat the pot. Make sure to stir the water constantly to dissolve the Bouillon completely and leave it in there until it completely dissolves.

Add the brown sugar to the mix and then again, stir it until it dissolves. After that, you will need to add the remaining ingredients except for the ice into the pot and then turn the heat off.

Continue to stir until the other ingredients mix evenly into the mixture. After the ingredients dissolve, mix the ice in and then stir the mixture to cool down slightly.

Bring it to a cool temperature and then refrigerate at least an hour before using. Your marinade is now ready and you can get to the main highlight of your cooking and prepare the pork butt.

Procedure

 

Step 1: Prepare The Pitboss Grill

Depending on the model that you have, you can set-and-forget the Pitboss grill. There are also some upgrades available to some models to install the grill’s WiFi and Bluetooth feature.

 So, load up the pellet hopper with wood pellets and set the grill’s temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure to close the lid of the grill so the temperature can go up quicker.

 

Step 2: Marinade and Rub

Get your pork butt and an injection needle ready along with a large flat pan. Lay the pork butt on the pan with the bottom’s fat side and start injecting the marinade into the meat in a pattern.

It is best to go on a checkered pattern to ensure that most of the meat gets the marinade in it. With approximately 1 tablespoon of the marinade on each injection, go around the pork butt.

Make sure that you get more of the marinade into the part where the bone is. This will help the bone to radiate or transfer the flavor up and out towards the meat and make it more flavorful.

Pitboss also makes an available rub and you can use that after injecting the marinade into the meat. Rub it all around the meat and make sure that it is covered all around.

You can also make your rub or if you think your favorite rub will mix well with the marinade, then you can use that. Let the meat rest for about 30 minutes before putting it in the Pit Boss grill.

 

Step 3: Cook The Pork Butt

 After letting it rest for 30 minutes and if the Pitboss grill has reached the desired temperature, you can place the pork butt inside. Let it cook with the lid down and do not open it frequently.

The pork butt should cook directly on the smoker for about 3.5 hours at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure you put the meat probe into the meat and see if it has reached the doneness.

 For this first part of cooking, wait for the meat probe to read 145 degrees Fahrenheit before opening the Pitboss grill. Once it does, remove the pork butt from the Pitboss grill.

 

Step 4: Second Cooking Process 

Place the pork butt on a flat pan and add the remaining seasonings. Drizzle the top with honey to help sweeten and cook the meat’s skin and outer layers that might have burnt.

Cover the whole pork butt with foil and then place it back in the grill at 275 degrees Fahrenheit. This will also take a lot of time so be patient and avoid opening the grill’s lid as much as possible.

 As the pork butt or the meat probe approaches 190 degrees Fahrenheit, check the meat’s tenderness. Use a fork and stab the meat on the thickest part, the fork should go through easily.

At 194 degrees Fahrenheit, the bone in the center should be protruding at least 1 inch out. Once the pork butt reaches this internal temperature, remove it from the smoker and let it rest.

Remember that this is a big cut of meat so letting it rest will usually take around 30 minutes to an hour. After that, you can get your hot gloves and then start by pulling out the bone from the meat.

Use your hands to pull the meat and then shred it with a fork or a meat claw if you have one. Set up your side dishes and then serve the smoked pulled pork with it, and enjoy!

 

Should You Cook It Fat Side Up Or Down?

There have been a lot of debates over which side should the fats of the meat face. Some may argue that the fat side should be facing down since it cooks upwards to tender.

Some may even say that facing the fats upward will help keep the moisture of the meat. However, the same concept is there for us, it does not matter which way you put it.

When deciding whether to put the fat side down or up, you need to know the heat direction. It depends on how your cooking appliance cooks the food that is inside it.

So for most Pitboss grills, the heat usually comes from the bottom. So if you are cooking the pork butt in smokers such as Pitboss, I would rather have the fats facing down on the heat.

 It is best in my opinion, to let the pork butt cook with the fats facing the source of the heat. That way, the main protein source or the meat is protected from burning up too much.

 

How Much Should A Person Eat?

For smoked pulled pork, you need to consider how many people are going to eat. That way, you will know what and how heavy the pork butt you should buy to accommodate them.

As said before, the pork butt’s weight reduces when cooked. So put that in mind and see how much pork butt you should buy according to the number of guests you need to feed.

An estimate of around 1/3 to ½ pounds of pork butt will be good enough for a person. Also, consider the diet of the people who will eat whether they can take a whole pound or not.

Do not over-adjust it though, as pulled pork usually gets paired with other recipes, make sure that you get just enough of the pork butt from the market and then add other side dishes with it.

 

What To Do With Leftovers? 

Smoked pulled pork is a very delicious treat that you can make with other recipes. For leftover pulled pork, you will need to store them properly to keep it fresh for the next meal.

For cooked food, the USDA recommends that you should immediately put it in the fridge after eating. Never leave the leftover pulled pork at room temperature for over 2 hours.

By that time, bacteria would have invaded the food and developed which can spoil it faster. So place the leftover pulled pork in a resealable bag and then put the bags in a sealed container.

Put the pulled pork in the fridge and then let it stay there for up to four days. Beyond four days may have been contaminated by other foods in the refrigerator so eat it before the fourth day.

If you choose to freeze the leftover pulled pork, then it will last longer. Make sure to eat it within a month though, so you can still taste fresh meat and smoky taste on the pulled pork.

 

Conclusion

 Pitboss has made great efforts on improving their grills. The ones you get from the company will surely have you eating more and more while enjoying how you cook in them.

 The same recipe guides the recipe above that the company introduces so by using your Pitboss grill and the pork butt that you have, you will be cooking it perfectly.

So if you are planning to have a nice dinner with your family or with a lot of guests, then you can follow the instructions above and you will be having the best smoked pulled pork as your meal!

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