I’ve changed my mother’s old recipe to be dairy-free because I’m lactose intolerant. This ideal substitution uses Tofutti® cream cheese. It’s not real cream cheese, but you wouldn’t know it. On a warm spring day, serve this during breakfast or brunch.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 4 hrs |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 13 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 7 pounds |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ⅓ cup ground black pepper
- ¼ cup ground paprika
- ¼ cup garlic powder
- ¼ cup Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- ½ cup apple cider
- ¼ cup apple juice concentrate
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3 drops liquid smoke flavoring
- 7 pounds bone-in pork butt
- ½ cup yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup whiskey barrel wood chips (such as Jack Daniel’s®)
- ½ cup apple wood chips
- ½ cup apple juice concentrate
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Make dry rub: Combine brown sugar, salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, and sage in a small container. Measure 1 tablespoon dry rub mixture into a container large enough to fit pork butt. Refrigerate remaining dry rub.
- Make marinade: Pour apple cider, apple juice concentrate, honey, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke into the large container with dry rub; mix well.
- Prepare pork: Score top of pork butt in a checkerboard pattern. Inject some of the marinade into the bottom, sides, and top of pork butt. Place pork in the container with remaining marinade. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator, 8 hours to overnight.
- Prepare wood chips: Combine whiskey barrel wood chips, apple wood chips, apple juice concentrate, and water in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal and let soak, about 20 minutes.
- Preheat an electric smoker to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Fill smoker box with wood chips according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Remove pork from marinade; rub mustard and honey evenly on top. Coat pork butt heavily with reserved dry rub. Place pork fat-side up on a rack.
- Place the rack in the smoker and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) for medium or 170 degrees F (77 degrees C) for well done, 4 to 6 hours. Add additional soaked wood chips halfway through cooking time.
- Place pork butt fat-side up on a serving platter. Cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes, turning over halfway through resting time.
- You can use fresh herbs instead of dried in the rub.
- You can use orange concentrate, or a combination of apple and orange concentrates in the marinade. Concentrated juice may be substituted with fresh. You’ll need to cut down or eliminate the amount of water if fresh juice is used.
- You can use all apple or all Jack Daniel’s wood chips. Other wood types will change the flavor.
- Smoking time may be adjusted as desired. The meat will continue to cook while resting, so I recommend removing it just before the desired doneness is reached to avoid overcooking.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of marinade and dry rub. The actual amount of marinade and dry rub consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 411 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 43 g |
| Cholesterol | 82 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 3460 mg |
| Sugars | 35 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Solid recipe! My wife and I enjoyed your dry rub combined with the apple blend marinade. We used all applewood for our smoke and I have nothing but good things to say about the pork we pulled out of the pit! We used smoked paprika which added another layer of flavor to the rub (plus it was what we had in the pantry, lol). Pro-tips for those new to smoking: put a heat safe pan under the pork butt to catch all the amazing juices that drip off. You can put a small amount of the drippings back into the pork after you’ve pulled it to add to the artery clogging goodness you’ve slaved over. We use the aluminum pans you see at backyard grill outs all the time so we can just pitch the tin when we are done. It will definitely be hot immediately after grilling, so here’s your obligatory “be smart when removing, use gloves” disclaimer.
I did all of the prep work as directed but once it goes outside and in the smoker hubs takes over. He did the rest as directed except for the temperature. From previous smoking experience he kept the temperature between 250-260 and it still took 7 hours. Not all pork butts are created equal but I do recommend bumping the temperature up on your smoker. With that being said, this turned out great. It was super flavorful and stayed tender and juicy.