How to Smoke a Pork Butt
You can use pulled pork in a lot of different recipes and, let’s be honest, it’s just delicious.

How to Smoke a Pork Butt
Ingredients
- One 6-7 lb pork butt (bone-in)
- Head Country Original Championship Seasoning (or your favorite pork seasoning)
- Bad Byron’s Butt Rub (or your favorite rub)
- Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
- Meat Thermometer
- Pellet/wood of your choice (There is literally no wrong choice here. Fruit, nut or hardwoods, pork loves them all.)
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 250º F. Trim the pork butt of any extra fat leaving about a 1/4″ of fat on the fat cap side.
- Apply a generous coating of Bad Byron’s Butt Rub on the entire surface of the pork butt, then do the same with the Head Country seasoning.
- Place the pork butt fat side down in your smoker. Smoke until there is a nice mahogany color on the outside of the pork butt and it has formed a nice bark (about 5 hours). The internal temperature should be about 160º-165º F.
- Remove from the smoker. Wrap the meat tightly in the aluminum foil and return to the smoker.
- Continue cooking until a meat thermometer or toothpick goes into the pork butt with very little resistance and the bone feels like it can be pulled out cleanly (about another 2 hours). Internal temp will be about 198º-200ºF.
- Remove from the smoker and open the foil to vent some of the steam to prevent overcooking the meat. After 10 minutes, close the foil and place the pork butt on the counter for at least an hour to rest or in a cooler to rest for up to 4 hours as long as the internal temp of the meat stays above 145ºF. After resting, open up the foil and pull the meat apart using either gloved hands or two forks. Be sure to remove any excess fat, sinew or connective tissue. Enjoy.
Prep Time:20 Minutes | Cook Time: 8 Hours | Total Time: 8 Hours 20 Minutes
If you’re new to smoking and wondering where to start – try the pork butt. In this video David Huff shows you how to make juicy, tender pulled pork that will impress your guests. You can use pulled pork in a lot of different recipes and, let’s be honest, it’s just delicious.
Pork butt is the most forgiving meat to cook. There is a large window between not done and when it would be overdone so the chance of making a mistake a lot less likely. Let’s get started.
David Huff of HuffDaddy BBQ