5 Tips for a Perfect Big Green Egg Pork Butt

This smoked pork butt post is sponsored by Omaha Steaks, thanks for supporting the brands that we love.

Let’s talk about turning a pork butt into the best smoked pulled pork!

When you think of barbecue, the first thing that probably comes to mind is pork. And when you think of pork, it’s almost impossible not to imagine a delicious smoked butt.

This cut has been popular on pitmasters’ menus for years and years because it is so flavorful and once you get the hang of it, a pork butt is easy to cook.

It might seem hard at first glance but with these tips, smoking a perfect pork buttwill be as simple as pie!

We recently added a Big Green Egg to our arsenal of cooking tools.

A Big Green Egg is a kamado-style of cooking.

The kamado is a traditional Japanese oven that was traditionally used in the home.

When you cook with this type of grill, it’s important to have patience and take your time.

When cooking this type of cut, we find that it’s best to cook at a low temperature of 250°F. If you’re wondering how long to smoke your pork butt for pulled pork, know that you need to cook to internal temperature, not time.

The goal is to reach an internal temperature of 203 degrees F and for your meat to feel tender when poked with your thermometer probe.

These tips will help you achieve the tastiest and juiciest Big Green Egg pulled pork!

Tip 1: Start with a great piece of meat.

The first step to smoking a perfect Big Green Egg Pork Butt is selecting an appropriate cut of meat from the shoulder region.

If you’re going to spend hours smoking your pulled pork, make sure you have good meat! This is why we reached for Omaha Steaks bone-in pork butt. This cut is from the shoulder area and has some fat marbling throughout the meat on it which will create a juicy and flavorful pulled pork.

What’s the difference between a pork butt and a pork shoulder?

The pork butt, also known as the Boston butt, is a lower cut of the hog’s shoulder and the pork shoulder is higher.

A pork butt has more marbling in the meat, which makes it a better choice for pulled pork.

For more information on these cuts, check out this pork guide by Cooks Illustrated.

The Omaha Steaks bone-in pork butt is cut from the shoulder area and has some fat marbling throughout the meat on it which will create a juicy and flavorful pulled pork.

The pork butt from Omaha Steaks does not have any added solution of additives, it’s just pure, quality butchered meat.

Omaha Steaks‘ butchers expertly trim your pork roast so minimal effort is needed on your end.

You won’t have to trim off excess fat like you may need to from a grocery store pork butt.

This bone-in roast helps to bring extra flavor to the meat.

All you need to do is add a rub and pop it on the smoker.

Tip 2: Use a good rub before smoking.

Now it’s time to season your meat generously on all sides before smoking.

When it comes to a pork rub, we like to use a rub that has a mix of salt with brown sugar and a kiss of heat.

Consider using your favorite pork rub or make a homemade rub. Our Pork Rib Rub recipe is perfect with this smoked pulled pork dish.

The goal is both flavor and to enhance the moisture of the meat so season liberally!

Should you put your rub on your pork butt the night before you smoke it or the same day? This is debated by many.

Normally for beef, specifically in our tutorial on how to smoke an Omaha Steaks prime rib, we recommend letting the rub permeate the meat overnight.

This is usually our stance on beef. For this pork butt, rather than “curing” the pork (similar to a ham) by leaving the rub on for a longer amount of time, for this Big Green Egg pork butt we simply added the rub while preparing and heating up the smoker.

Tip 3: Use a drip pan in your Big Green Egg.

Above the Conveggtor indirect cooking plate, we placed a disposable aluminum drip pan filled about ⅓ of the way deep with water.

The reason we took this approach is first and foremost to keep our Big Green Egg cleaner, but also so the fat dripping from the pork shoulder doesn’t fall and burn on the plate, thus negatively impacting the flavor of the smoke.

Who knows, the added water tin might have even contributed to the fact that this smoked pork butt recipe was so incredibly moist.

Tip 4: Add some wood chunks on top of your lump charcoal.

In addition to using the Big Green Egg Brazilian Lump Charcoal, we like to add some wood chunks for additional smoke flavor.

Pork goes really well with apple wood, so we added about 4 apple wood chunks on top of the charcoal.

Be sure to buy wood chunks instead of wood chips as a big green egg pork butt is a long smoke and the larger the wood, the longer the burn.

Soaking the wood chunks in water for an hour before you light your Big Green Egg will also help the wood burn for longer.

Tip 5: Use “Turbo-butt” mode to speed up the cooking process without sacrificing quality.

Smoking meat is a labor of love and typically a long process.

We smoked our Omaha Steaks pork butt at 250 degrees F until the internal temperature hit 165 degrees F.

At that point we had established a good bark on the outside of the meat, so we wrapped the Omaha Steaks pork butt in tinfoil and opened the vents of the Big Green Egg to increase the temperature to 350 degrees F.

This helps to finish the pulled pork faster, without sacrificing flavor or juiciness.

We hope that these tips have been helpful in smoking a perfect Omaha Steaks pork butt every time you cook it.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different seasoning or cooking times until you find what works best for you!

Ways to use pulled pork

We love pulled pork because the meat can be used in so many different ways.

Add BBQ sauce and put the meat on rolls with pickles for BBQ pulled pork sliders.
Pop the pulled pork in a tortilla for pulled pork tacos.
Stuff your leftover pulled pork in a baked potato for a loaded spud!
We also love to add pulled pork on tortilla chips for the most mouthwatering nacho recipe.

What’s your favorite way to eat smoked pulled pork?

In addition to this pork butt, be sure to check out all Omaha Steaks products.