BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
I love a smoked pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Ain’t no butts about it! Pork butts, that is. This recipe is as much about method as it is about ingredients. I’m going to share with you how to make a moist, flavorful pulled pork on the smoker by helping you manage the temperature on your smoker throughout your cook.
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Start Preparing the Pork Butt the Night Before
The night before you plan to smoke the pork butt, prepare it so that the meat will absorb flavor and tenderize overnight. Start by poking holes all over the pork butt with a knife, to allow seasoning and marinade to get deep down into the meat. On the fatty side of the meat, score lines through the fat so that, when the smoking begins, the fat will render faster and moisten the meat while it’s cooking.
Tip: When selecting your pork butt from the butcher, look for some fat marbling throughout the meat, like a steak.
For our marinade, I’m going to rub our Sweet & Spicy Hatch Chile Mustard all over the roast. This will act as both a tenderizer and a binder. The acid in the mustard will tenderize the meat, and the mustard will help adhere the seasonings, as well. Season generously with Mesquite Seasoning and Rib Rub. Make sure you spread the mustard and season all over – even the fatty part. Place in the ice box – don’t wrap it – and let it set until morning.
Tip: If you don’t have my spices & mustard, don’t worry! Use yellow mustard and your favorite bbq seasoning blend.
Used in This Recipe
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Mesquite Smoke Seasoning
$9.50 – $22.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Smoking Pork Low & Slow
Tip: About an hour before you’re ready to start smoking the meat, take it out of the ice box. This will allow the temperature to come down a bit and the pork butt will cook more evenly.
Prep the smoker by preheating the coals until the smoker is 275 degrees. I like to use hardwood lump coals with a few chunks of hickory and/or cherry smoking woods for best flavor.
Tip: Put a pan of water in the smoker with the pork. This raises the humidity level of the smoker and ensures more moisture in the pork, adding to the flavor and tenderness of the finished product.
Shut the lid on the smoker and leave it be for about 3 hours, until the internal temperature is 165. Remove from the smoker and spray all over generously with apple cider vinegar. Add some more wood and increase your temperature to 300 degrees to finish the cook.
Double wrap the roast in aluminum foil, sealing tight all over. Place the roast back in the smoker – fat side up – and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees.
Pulled Pork – The Final Touches
Once you’ve removed the pork from the smoker, leave it wrapped and let it set for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove the foil and shred with forks or a fancy shredding tool if you have it, and then you’re ready to eat!
Some folks prefer to toss the pork in the sauce ahead of time, and if you do, go right ahead. I like to leave it so everyone can fix their sandwich the way they like. Serve with pickles, Red River Mud BBQ Sauce, sliced onions, and any other toppings you think will taste good. This meat also goes really well with baked potatoes, if you would like to serve it that way.
Tip: Adding some Sweet & Spicy Mustard to the BBQ Sauce would be a great tie-in for this recipe since the mustard was part of the seasoning process to begin with.
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BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches – Cowboy Kent Rollins
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 lb pork butt
- ½ cup Kent’s Sweet Spicy Mustard or yellow mustard
- Kent’s Mesquite seasoning or your favorite BBQ rub
- Kent’s Rib Rub or your favorite BBQ rub
- Apple cider vinegar for coating
Instructions
- Place the pork butt on a flat sheet pan, fat side down. With a sharp knife, puncture holes all over the top and sides of the pork. Generously rub the top and sides with the mustard. Generously sprinkle the top and sides with the seasonings.
- Flip the pork over and score the fat side with the knife. Generously rub in the mustard followed by the seasonings. Place in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
- Remove the pork butt from the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking.
- Preheat the smoker to 275 degrees F. Place a pan of water either under or on the side of the smoker grate. Add a few chunks of smoking wood (I like to add a few chunks of hickory and cherry to the hardwood lump).
- Place the pork on the smoker, fat side up. Shut the lid and smoke for about 3 hours, or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees F.
- Remove the pork from the smoker and place on 2 sheets of aluminum foil. Generously spray the pork with the apple cider vinegar. Wrap the pork up tightly with the foil. Place back on the smoker.
- Increase the smoker temperature to 300 degrees F. Continue cooking for about 3 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork is 200 – 205 degrees F.
- Remove the pork from the smoker and let rest, covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the foil and shred the pork. Add to hamburger buns and top with bbq sauce, onions, pickles and any additional toppings. Serve warm.