| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 17 hr 20 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 8 hr 30 min |
| Cook: | 8 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 pounds pulled pork |
Ingredients
- 3 quarts water
- 12 ounces kosher salt
- 8 ounces molasses
- 8 to 10 pound boneless pork butt
- Special equipment: Smoker and 4 ounces hickory or oak wood chunks
Instructions
- Place the water, salt and molasses in a large 12-quart container and stir until the salt dissolves. Add the pork butt to the brine and weigh down with a zip top bag filled with 2 cups of the brine to make sure it is completely submerged in the brine.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove the pork from the brine, and pat dry.
- Heat the smoker to 225 degrees F. Add the wood chunks, and place the pork into the smoker. Cook until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, 4 to 5 hours.
- Once the meat reaches 140 degrees F, heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Wrap the pork in aluminum foil and transfer to a half sheet pan. Place on the center rack and cook until the pork reaches an internal temperature of at least 200 degrees F and is tender and pulling apart easily, 3 to 5 hours. Remove from the oven and rest, covered for 30 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 24 servings |
| Calories | 344 |
| Total Fat | 21 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 7 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 7 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 105 mg |
| Sodium | 693 mg |
Reviews
Love this recipe. Makes great pulled pork. I bring it to 210-215 in the oven so it pulls apart. 200 sometimes it doesn’t pull apart well but chopped up it still tastes great
Followed the recipe but used 2/3 hickory chips and 1/3 apple. Didn’t rinse it off after taking it out of the brine (I forgot) and used a dry rub recipe but omitted the salt since I brined it. Was worried about too much salt but IT WAS PERFECT! From what modifications I did I wouldn’t change a thing, sooo good!
Very good recipe! Used a 5 pound pork but and cut the brine in half. Turned out great.
This is a go to recipe. It will make you delicious and perfect pork butt every time. Thank you Alton. You are to me the greatest teaching chef out there!
Too salty, use half the salt. Other than it’s a Great Recipe! Giving it 3 stars due to the pork butt I ruined.
We had the family over for the weekend and decided to smoke a pork butt. We brine the pork at least 15 hours. Afterward, we used a dry rub on it before putting it on the smoker. Wow this was so tender and tasted so good. Everyone loved it!
Brined for 20 hours. Brining changes everything. Changed the rub slightly, and it comes out perfect. Everyone loves it. Thanks Alton
Can you just half the recipe if you have a 4 lb butt?? I’m assuming the temperatures wouldn’t change with a smaller butt… right??
After 25 years of smoking I have never used the Texas Crutch. Not any more. The flavor and texture was pure Bar-B-Que. The commenter that said it would turn the Butt into boiled pork must have done something wrong. I used your rub from another recipe and that also was a big advantage to this meal.The only thing I did different was that I put the tin foil wrapped Butt into an ice chest and covered it with bath towels. 2 1/2 hours later it separated with a salad fork and still hot.
Great job Alton – thank you so much for sharing. This will no doubt be my go-to recipe for large groups. As easy a recipe as I have ever seen or executed for pulled pork butt. And it tastes great. Rich, smokey flavor. No BBQ sauce required. I fed 14 people easily with a 7-lb roast. I smoked two roasts (Costco sells them in pairs) simultaneously using the gas BBQ method Alton shows to convert temporarily to a smoker. Steady 222 degrees. Unbelievably how steady. I had way more trouble in my electric oven for the second half of the cooking time. It varied from 260 to 330 degrees, even though it was set to 265 degrees convection roast. Note – I used the salt and molasses specified in the brine, but for two roasts instead of one (14.75 lbs total). I added a bit more water to cover the two roasts and brined them overnight in a cooler. I covered the roasts with a 1 gallon ziplock filled with water to weight them down and then covered all that in a layer of ice.