My favorite childhood memory, and the one that drove me to a career in BBQ, was having pulled pork sandwiches at Pierce’s Pit BBQ in Williamsburg, VA when I was a kid with my dad. Williamsburg, VA was between our home in Northern Virginia and my grandparents home in Norfolk, VA. My dad would make a stop at this place on the way down to visit his parents and on the way back home. Whenever I want to recreate those amazing memories I make pulled pork sandwiches and serve them with coleslaw and a cold Dr. pepper. Now sit back, grab yourself an ice cold Dr. Pepper, and enjoy this post for How to smoke a Boston Butt on the Big Green Egg.
How to smoke a Boston Butt on the Big Green Egg
Starting with an 8 to 10 pound boston butt, score the fat cap so you can work the rub down to the meat.
I use yellow mustard as a binder for the rub. You can use olive oil or hot sauce as a substitute.
I am using Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust for the BBQ rub. Let the rubbed Boston Butt sit at room temperature while your Big Green Egg is preheating to 250°F. I like to use 3 – 4 Hickory Wood chunks mixed in with the lump charcoal for the smoke flavor.
Once your Big Green Egg is at temperature and the smoke is light grey in color, place your Boston butt inside fat side down. Let it sit in the smoke bath for 3-hours before checking.
Make your spritz using a mix of 50/50 apple juice/apple cider vinegar and a few dashes of hot sauce and worcestershire sauce.
At the 3-hour mark open the Big Green Egg and start checking your Boston butt. If you see dry patches in the pellicle spritze with the mix you made. Do this every 30 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165°F and the bark is set.
When you hit 165°F internal and the bark looks good, take the Boston butt out of the Big Green Egg.
NOTE: This typically takes 5-6 hours total cooking time to get to this point of the cook but varies cook to cook given the multiple variables involved.
Now double wrap the Boston butt in aluminum foil. Place the wrapped butt back in to the Big Green Egg and bump the temperature to 275°F. Let this cook until the internal temperature of the meat is 204°F and the meat is probe tender. If you are curious to see if wrapping your Boston butt makes a difference read about it HERE.
NOTE: This can be another 3 to 5 hours of cooking time. So, wait until your thermometer probes in and out of the meat like you are poking a ziploc bag full of butter.
Remove the Boston butt from the Big Green Egg and crack the foil to let the steam and heat out. Wrap the butt tightly back in foil after 15 minutes then place into a cooler for an hour or two to rest. After that, take the meat out, remove the bone, and shred the meat.
Time to enjoy the best pulled pork sandwich ever!
How to smoke a Boston Butt on the Big Green Egg
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 pound Boston Butt
- 2 Tbsp yellow mustard
- For the mop:
- 1 cup apple juice
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- Several dashes of hot sauce
- Several dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Take your Boston Butt out an hour before cooking it
- Fill your Big Green Egg with lump charcoal placing 3-4 hickory wood chunks in the charcoal
- Light your Big Green Egg lump charcoal and set temp to 250°
- Cross hatch the fat cap on the Boston Butt
- Apply mustard slather and then rub
- Once the Big Green Egg is stable at 250° and the smoke is clean, put your pork in
- Leave untouched for 3 hours
- Mix the mop ingredients together (Apple juice, Apple Cider Vinegar, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce)
- After 3 hours start spraying/mopping the sauce on the Boston Butt every hour for the next 5 hours
- At the 5 hour mark take your Boston Butt off and wrap in foil with a little mop applied to the Butt
- Putt back on the Big Green Egg, bump temperature to 275° and let cook another 2 hours
- When the meat is probe tender and measures 204° take the Boston Butt off the Big Green Egg
- Make a crack in the foil to let steam escape and Boston Butt to stop carryover cooking
- After 20-30 minutes, wrap the foil tight, place Boston Butts in cooler with a towel and let rest for an hour or two before pulling meat and serving
Going to make this for Washington state college football bowl tomorrow. Will let you know how it turns out for us! Looks amazing!
Can’t wait to see!
Follow up- I happened to see my hubs was looking up this recipe and remebered I left a comment here!!
This was sooooo good 🤤 and a huge hit at our party. Thank you for your site- your work is so amazingly helpful for us in learning how to cook delicious meats using our Egg.
I love reading this! Thanks for the comment.
This is my go-to method for a pork butt, Comes out perfectly everytime.
Thanks brother!
5 stars from us too, I think we will make this again this week
Are you cooking this on direct heat or using the deflector shield?
I am cooking indirect using the ConvEGGtor.
Great recipe!!! Used it several times and it turned out great!
Thanks Bob!
This is sad… I’m not commenting on your recipe; rather, on the fact that you grew up in NoVa. I grew up in walking distance to the Springfield Mall. It’s a small BBQ world.
Now I have to try this recipe. Egg on.
I went to Springfield Mall with my dad every weekend and had an orange Julius then went to Time Out to play video games!
Getting ready to light the grill for an overnight cook.
I hung out at Time Out too. Lived near Robinson HS
I have a 5lb pork butt. Any thoughts on how long I should anticipate. I really don’t want to get up at 5 am on a Sunday if I don’t need to 🙂
About 8 hours at 250°
I have a 12 lb. butt. Would you make any changes?
Plan for about 90 minutes cook time per pound. So, 18 hour cool time approximately at 250°.
Excellent. Can’t go wrong with the budha
I’ve never wrapped my ribs or butt, however since this is an experiment, may see what happens!
Followed this recipe exactly as written and ended up with a new favorite. Easy and came out perfectly. Guests were raving. Thanks!
Thanks for the comment brother!
Do you use the plate setter in the egg?
Do you use a foil a drip pan with water?
Thank you,
Joe
I do use the convEGGtor and sometimes I’ll use a drip pan with water. More so with brisket than pork shoulder/butt.
I’ve used a number of your recipes and all have turned out fantastic.
Question – should your temperatures in these recipes be based on green egg thermometer or one placed on grate such as a Thermoworks?
Depends on the recipe. If it’s a low and slow recipe like this then I’m referencing the grate temp using an EGG Genius or FlameBoss.
Literally the temp of the metal? I have a Fireboard. I’m amazed at the different air temps in different spots within the Egg even on a slow cook. The BGE thermometer itself seems to register low (and I have had two of them).
For a beginner, how much chunk charcoal
3-4 chunks nestled in to your lump
Question on cook time. Is the following correct
Cook 3 hours untouched
Hours 4-5 spritz/mop every hour
At hour 5, wrap in foil and cook at 275 for 2 hours
At hour, release steam and let set for 1-2 hours with a meat temp of 204
Correct on last line, should read at hour 6, let sit…..
All correct
Correct!
I used a different spice rub, but this was the first time I had ever wrapped a pork shoulder in foil. I’ve cooked about a dozen pork butts/shoulders over the years and I was looking for a recipe to refresh my memory on the temperature to cook it to. This is the most tender pork shoulder I’ve ever done on the Green Egg. I can guarantee that I will be wrapping them in foil for the last few hours from now on. Thank you
So glad you found this post!
Turn out good , but could have been perfct!
I wish the recipe would have specify the indirect cooking method. I assumed it was direct heat, and I’ll figure out it was indirect cooking after it was done while reading the reviews.
Good catch! I’ll update the post to be more clear about setup and cooking instructions!
I have used many different recipes for butts, but this is the best method if you have an Egg. Turns out perfect every time! Only tweak I do is I use 1/2 teaspoon of salt per pound of pork and dry brine overnight on a wire rack in the fridge. Also want to say that your recipe for no-wrap baby backs is the best as well! If y’all haven’t tried his method, do it, you will love the results.
This is my go to recipe for pork Butt! I’ve made 4 already an the people Love it!
Just need to adjust Cook time on the site. Untouched for 3 hours, mopping for 5, then foul for two. Says 8 hours cook time at top of page. With the proper cool down as you recommend, You should plan to give yourself a good 12 hours + before you can serve this goodness.
Good catch! I’ll fix ASAP 🔥
I want to have this Boston Butt after a Wedding. I need to cook it two days before serving. How do I store it to keep it tender and juice?
Vacuum seal the meat after pulling it, refrigerate, and warm to 145° in a sous vide bath.
Great Repice
Thank you 🙏