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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.
If I want to cook several butts ahead of time for an event (2 weeks away) can I freeze them? If so, do I freeze them whole, before pulling apart?
I would pull the pork and keep as much of the fat and juices as possible mixed in with the pork. If you can, vacuum seal the pulled pork before freezing. If you have a sous vide machine that will be the best way to reheat (after thawing). Place thawed vacuum sealed bags in 145°F sous vide bath for 2 hours and serve.
Best Boston Butt ever! I followed this recipe to the letter, and the end result was great! I sliced the meat instead of shredding. So glad that I used this simple recipe!
Thanks for your response!
Two questions:
1 – Will placing the butt in an aluminum pan, and sealing the pan with foil produce similar results to just wrapping the butt in foil? I typically use a pan and pour some “mop” or apple juice in the bottom of the pan for moisture.
2 – Once the butt is shredded and placed in a warmer, do you have any recommendations for keeping the meat moist and tender over the course of a couple of hours?
At present I’m approaching the four hour mark and nearing 165 degrees. Have a great July 4th!
Answers:
1) Yes this will work just fine!
2) I’d keep the whole butt wrapped and in a cooler or Cambro until time of service then shred. If you need to shred beforehand, add some warm chicken stock to help keep it moist.
Can you recommend an affordable but decent digital thermometer for something like this?
This is my favorite: https://www.thermoworks.com/ThermoPop?tw=THEBBQBUDDHA