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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 until you hit an internal temperature of 165°F. (NOTE: This can take an additional 5 hours. What you are looking for is the bark to be set i.e. the seasoning doesn't run off when spritzing.)
- When the bark is set and the internal temperature is at least 165°F, 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 it cook another 2 hours or until the internal temperature is greater than 200°F. (NOTE: in this final stage, cook the wrapped butt until the temperature probe slides in and out of the butt with little to no resistance. Imagine if you were poking a ziploc bag filled with softened butter... that is the "feel" you are looking for).
- When the meat is probe tender and measures 200-204°F, 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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 🔥
Hi and thanks for the great recipe however, I am a bit confused. There is a post above that is as follows: 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
I take this to be 3 hrs untouch, and 2 hours of mopping.
Yet this post says untouched 3 hours and 5 hours of mopping.
Which is the way the recipe should read?
Thanks again.
Always leave untouched in the smoke for the first 3 hours before starting to mop/spritz. After that it’s a combination of watching for bark formation and internal temperature. Typically I wrap when I see the bark is fixed and doesn’t run off when I’m mopping/spritzing and the internal temperature is 165°F or higher. Hope this helps!
Yes. Thank you. I have learned it is way better to read the entire post and not just follow the recipe. I now see in the entire post detail that this is a combination of things (time, temp etc.). Not a hard and fast set rule. Thank you.
I can also update the recipe. Good catch!
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 🙏