Pit Boss Texas Style Smoked Pulled Pork Recipe - Joshs Cookhouse (2024)

This exceptional Texas-style smoked pulled pork recipe on the Pit Boss makes for one heck of a backyard barbecue. You will find this pulled pork is absolutely tender and ready to be the feature piece of any pulled pork sandwich.

A perfect Texas-style smoked pulled pork is easy to cook and only requires a pork butt, salt and pepper, and a wood pellet smoker. The meat will cook to be juicy and tender while the outside will have a perfect, smoky bark.

Texas Style Smoked Pulled Pork

If you aren’t familiar with what Texas style barbecue is, it often is referred to as barbecue that has been smoked low and slow using both post oak and a simple dry rub that consists of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. The goal is to provide flavors that complement the meat, not overpower it.

If you are a big fan of Texas Style barbecue, check out my Texas Style Smoked Brisket Recipe

A great example of “Central” Texas barbecue is the legendary Pitmaster Aaron Franklin, owner of Franklin Barbecue. He is known around the world for his barbecue and is known to only smoke his pork butts and briskets using kosher salt and coarse black pepper.

Smoked Pulled Pork Ingredient Notes

Just like my brown sugar smoked pork butt and smoked apple pork butt recipe, this smoked pulled pork is simple and delicious to make.

• Pork Butt/ Boston Butt: Whether you call it a pork butt or Boston butt, it doesn’t make a huge difference if you use a bone-in or boneless pork butt. I personally do use bone-in pork butts and you can read why I prefer them in What Is Pork Butt?
• Texas Style Pork Rub: Texas style pork rubs are super simple and can be made right in the kitchen. All that is needed is a 50/50 mixture of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. The most important thing to know is that I don’t measure how much gets added to the pork butt. I simply apply a generous layer evenly over the entire butt.
• 50/50 Apple Cider Vinegar & Water: This is not for injecting the pork butt. This mixture is for spritzing the pork meat.
• Mustard: Mustard is optional. The mustard isn’t provided to add flavor, it is used as a binder to help keep the seasoning stuck to the outside of the pork butt.

What To Eat With Your Smoked Pulled Pork

I’ve seen people eat their smoked pulled pork plain. Honestly, I think that is absolutely nuts. I love to have all the fixings when eating pulled pork, especially if it can be made into a pulled pork sandwich. Try your smoked pulled pork sandwich with some of these toppings for an epic meal.

• Buns
• Barbecue Sauce
• Pickled Onions
• Famous Dave’s Signature Spicy Pickles
• Butter
• Candied Jalapenos
• Coleslaw

Once you have your toppings on your pulled pork sandwich, don’t forget to get your sides on your plate. The family and I decided to enjoy Traeger Corn on the Cobb, this sweet corn went great with this savory pork recipe.

Essentials Needed To Smoke Pork Butt

• Pit Boss Wood Pellet Grill: It doesn’t matter which type of Pit Boss model you use, however, I have lots of experience with the Pit Boss Pro Series 1600 and recommend trying the pro series line out.
• Wood Pellets: For smoking pulled pork Texas style, I recommend using an oak blend pellet as that is the closest thing to post oak wood used in Texas barbecue.
• Water Pan: A water pan is a great tool for keeping moisture in your smoker so the outside of your meat doesn’t dry out.
• Spritz Bottle: Spritzing your meat, like the water pan, helps keep the outside of your meat moist so that it doesn’t burn up.
• Wireless Meat Thermometer: Using a wireless meat thermometer, like the MEATER Block is best used to keep track of how your cook is progressing.
• Butcher Paper/ Aluminum Foil: Deciding what to wrap your pork butt in is a personal choice. Personally, I do use aluminum foil more often so I can speed up the cooking process.
• Boning Knife: Even though pork butts require much less trimming than something like a brisket, I still trim off some of the loose material that may burn up or even some of the connective tissue that is found inside the cut of meat. Check out the Dalstrong Boning Knife, which is my personal favorite for trimming meats.

Best Time To Wrap Pork Butt

Just like wrapping briskets, deciding when to wrap pork butts seems to be something plenty of people disagree on. So, I won’t tell you this is the only way to do it. It’s just my personal preference.

I decide to wrap my pork butts after they have just come out of the stall. This is typically in the 170-180 degree range. The pork butt will have a nice dark color to the bark once it makes it through the stall will be ready to wrap.

Best Wood Pellets For Texas Style Pulled Pork

There are 3 types of hardwoods that I prefer to use when smoking pulled pork. To keep this cook the closest to how Texas style barbecue is, it would be best to use an oak pellet because it is the closest thing to post oak, which is one of the most popular woods to use in Texas barbecue.

• Oak Pellets: Oak hardwood pellets produce a lighter smoke flavor for those that aren’t looking for a strong smoky taste.
• Hickory Wood Pellets: Hickory provides a bit stronger flavor compared to oak but makes for a great substitute if you can’t find any oak pellets.
• Fruit Hardwood Pellets: Fruit hardwood pellets could be anything from apple, cherry, or maple hardwoods that provide a light and sweet smoke flavor to pork.

How To Set Up Pit Boss For Smoking Pulled Pork

Getting your Pit Boss Wood Pellet Grill set up for smoking pulled pork is quick and simple to do. All you need to do is follow these instructions.

1. Fill the hopper with your desired pellets and plug your Pit Boss into a power source.
2. Turn the power on and open the lid. Let the pellet grill begin to smoke before closing the lid. While the pellet grill is getting started, fill a pan with water and set it either to the far side of the smoke stack.
3. Set the pellet grill’s temperature to 250 degrees and let it get to temp.
4. Once your Pit Boss is at the correct temperature, place your seasoned and trimmed pork butt onto the pellet grill so that the moisture from the water pan will pass over the pork butt.

Joshs Cookhouse Tip: If you are looking for a stronger smoke flavor, feel free to add in a smoke tube.

How Long Does It Take To Smoke A 10 Lb. Pork Butt?

The time it takes to smoke pork butts is generally 1 per pound. With a bone-in pork butt, it may take a little longer than that. For a 10-pound bone-in pork butt can then be expected to take up to 10 hours to smoke, possibly upwards of 12 hours because of the bone. You can check out How Long To Smoke Pork Butt For Pulled Pork for a full chart showing how long it will take to smoke pork at several temps.

You’ll know for sure when the pork butt has fully cooked once the meat is probe tender and the bone can pull out clean.

While you wait for the pork butt to finish smoking, you should try out these Teriyaki Pork Chops from Blog Chef that are amazing on the grill and will keep you satisfied until the smoked pork is done.

How To Smoke Texas Style Pulled Pork On Pit Boss

1. Prepare Pit Boss: For this step, simply follow my directions above for setting up a Pit Boss.
2. Trim The Pork Butt: Remove any loose fat or muscle that may burn up during the cook. You can score the fat cap but do not remove it. If you know how to trim in between the muscles, I recommend this. It is not absolutely necessary, but it will save you some time later on from having to pick out as much connective tissue from the pulled pork.
3. Apply Binder & Seasoning: Apply a light layer of mustard to the entire pork butt then apply an even layer of your Texas dry rub over the entire cut of meat as well. This is also when I insert a wireless probe into the meat. Make sure the point reaches the center for the best readings.
4. Start Smoking Texas Style Pork Butt: Your smoker should be ready for the pork butt. place the pork butt, fat side up and not directly over the firebox if possible. Smoke the pork butt for 3 hours without touching it. You can look to make sure it’s not burning but do not spritz. You want the bark to start developing as soon as possible.
5. Spritz The Pork Butt: Once the 3-hour mark has passed, start by spritzing the meat and not the fat cap every 30-45 minutes until you wrap the brisket.
6. Wrapping Texas Pork Butt: I personally wrap my pork once it has reached 170-180 degrees internally. I do this to develop a flavorful bark and so that the pork butt has gone through the stall already. You can wrap it once the pork butt hits the stall in order to speed up the cook.
7. Pulling Pork Butt From Smoker: The smoked pork butt will be ready to come off the Pit Boss once it has become probe tender, this will be somewhere near 203-205 degrees internal. Another sign your pork butt is ready to come off the pellet grill is if the bone pulls out clean.
8. Resting Pork Butt: Let the pork butt rest for an hour before pulling it apart.
9. Shredding Smoked Texas Style Pork Butt: Now that your smoked pork butt has rested, you should be able to pull it apart by hand. I recommend wearing cotton gloves with food-safe black nitrile gloves so your hands don’t get burnt. This is a good time to pick out any connective tissue that didn’t break down.
10. Serve: Once pulled, your smoked Texas style pork butt will be ready to be turned into delicious pulled pork sandwiches.

Every pulled pork sandwich could use some sauce to top the sandwich off. Give my apple whisky bbq sauce or crown vanilla co*ke whisky bbq sauce recipe a try and you won’t regret it.

Perfect Smoked Pulled Pork Side Dishes

• Smoked Jalapeno Corn Muffin Wrapped In Bacon
• Baked Mac And Cheese With Smoked Brisket
• Easy Cheesy Potato Recipe: Top the Tater Cheesy Potatoes
• Fully Loaded Twice Baked Potato Recipe