Smoked Pulled Pork on a Traeger Pellet Grill

Learn exactly how to smoke pulled pork on a Traeger Pellet Grill following our detailed instructions and recipe below!

This is an easy, yet really fun dish to prepare to feed a crowd, especially on a Traeger, but it can also easily be adapted for ANY pellet grill.

Let's Go!

Pulled pork is great for a large crowd, as even a small pork shoulder makes a lot of meat. It is best cooked low and slow to make the meat super tender and easily pulled apart.

We'll show you how to prepare the pork ahead of time and how to smoke it for maximum flavor.

Jump to:

• Pork Shoulder, Boston Butt, or Pulled Pork?
• Choosing the Best Size Pork Butt
• Preparing the Pork Shoulder for Smoking
• Trimming the Fat
• Rubs
• Marinade Injections
• Best Wood Pellets for Pork
• Add your Hardwood Pellets
• Equipment
• Ingredients
• Start up the Traeger
• Cooking Time
• How to Pull the Smoked Pork
• Serving Suggestions
• 📖 Recipe

Pork Shoulder, Boston Butt, or Pulled Pork?

A Boston butt, better known as a pork butt or pork shoulder, is a pork cut that comes from the upper shoulder of the pig, and is most commonly used to make pulled pork.

The confusing name comes from the barrels in which they were transported during the 18th century, known as butts (from the Latin “buttis” meaning barrel or casket).

They were actually considered cheap cuts of meat and stuffed into barrels for easy bulf transportation.

Nowadays, pulled pork from Boston butts can be found not only in traditional American bbq, but all around the world.

You will find pulled pork in dishes ranging from Mexican carnitas, to Latino lechón asado and Chinese char siu.

The pork shoulder is a cut of meat that provides a variety of options and, for our purposes, is quite easy to smoke, especially on a Traeger pellet grill

We have previously covered how to season a Traeger, start a Traeger, and troubleshoot a Traeger pellet grill.

You can tell we are big fans of Traegers, especially the new Timberline and Ironwood Series of pellet grills, because they just making smoking pulled pork so freaking easy, especially for beginner smokers.

In this article, we will go over what is needed to properly smoke pulled pork step by step in a Traeger pellet grill.

Choosing the Best Size Pork Butt

Depending on the Traeger model you are using, and whether you will need the second shelf available for a side dish like smoked sweet potatoes or asparagus, you will need to think about what size pork shoulder you need for your pulled pork.

Make sure to not only consider the grilling area of the Traeger, but the height available under the second rack if you can't simply remove it.

Also, contrary to popular opinion in some BBQ circles, bigger ISN'T always better.

Think about it.

The larger the pork shoulder, the longer it takes to cook, and the less surface area you have relative to interior meat after you pull it.

And the surface is where the rub and all the flavor is!

In many cases, you are better off smoking (2) 4-6 lb pork shoulders for pulled pork rather than one monster 8-12 lb one.

You get done cooking that much faster, which means less time for the meat to risk drying out, and you have more crusty barky surface area mixed in with the rest of your meat.

The smoke from your wood pellets will also only penetrate about an inch into your meat, so if you want maximum smokey flavor, you are better off with multiple smaller cuts

Additionally, if you want to try 2 different rubs or flavor profiles, you have that opportunity as well!

IF you can only find monster 10-14 pounders, go ahead and get one and just cut in half when you get home!

Preparing the Pork Shoulder for Smoking

You can think of the process of smoking pulled pork split into two parts.

1. The first part is preparing your meat for the Traeger pellet grill.
2. The second part is setting up and smoking the meat and then pulling it when it is done

You have literally a million options for seasoning and preparing your pulled pork depending on the flavor profile you are going after.

You can use anything from a traditional American BBQ rub to something more exotic or internationally flavored such as a spicy chipotle rub or maybe something asian inspired.

Trimming the Fat

First, you will want to trim any excess fat off the pork shoulder before applying your rub.

This will help the rub stick to and penetrate the meat itself rather than being obstructed by the fat.

Leaving a little fat is ok.

You'll notice one side will have a thicker "Fat Cap" on it.

It's ok to leave some of this in place but ideally trim it down to no more than about ¼ inch of thickness.

After trimming, score through the fat cap with a good meat cutting knife in 2 perpendicular directions to help the fat underneath render out during the smoking process and allow some more of the rub to penetrate the meat.

If you've followed us for any amount of time you know we LOVE the meat melting knives from Imarku.

Rubs

Like we said, you can have fun finding any new and innovative rub you would like to use.

Conventional American BBQ rubs have a lot of sugar in them as that is what helps form the crusty bark on the exterior of the pork shoulder as it cooks in the smoker.

Because we are going to set the Traeger pellet grill  to only 225°F, you don't need to worry about the sugar burning.

After trimming the fat, cover the pork in a thin layer of cooking oil or yellow mustard.

Yes, you read that right, many professional barbecue chefs use yellow mustard to help their rub emulsify and stick to the meat when preparing pork butts, brisket, or even baby back ribs.

After the long cook you won't taste any mustard flavor, trust us.

Be generous with the amount of rub you put on.  Then you can wrap the pork butt in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator until you are ready to smoke it.

This can even be done the night before to save some time the next day and to let the salt in the rub fully penetrate the meat.

We have a simple recipe below for a good pork bbq rub, or, if you prefer to buy your own, you know we are big fans of Blues Hog Dry Rub Seasoning.

Marinade Injections

For additional flavor, some BBQ cooks like to inject their pork shoulder with a marinade before putting it on the Traeger.

The idea is to add flavor and moisture deep into the meat to help season the bland interior of the pork while its cooking.

There Is nothing wrong with injecting, and we LOVE to injected SLICED meats like smoked roast beef, ham, and turkey.

The only problem, is it adds water weight and significantly extra time to your cook.

By adding 8 oz of injection you may be increasing your pulled pork cooking time by an hour or more.

And think about it, when the pork butt comes out of the Traeger pellet smoker, you are going to be pulling it apart in a big tray, and adding more seasoning at that point too.

So why go through the hassle of injecting the interior if you are going to be adding seasoning later anyway?

Injections work great on sliced meats like the ones mentioned above because you are slicing and serving and wanting the slices of meat to have flavor all the way through.

But with pulled meat like Traeger smoked pulled pork, skip the hassle and add your seasoning at the end.

If you REALLY want to inject your Boston butt or any other type of meat, always use a good quality meat injector like this one from JY COOKMENT.

You can use a mixture of apple juice, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, and some of your favorite BBQ rub mixed together.

Best Wood Pellets for Pork

You have a lot of options when it comes to choosing the right wood pellets to smoke your pulled pork on a Traeger pellet grill.

In fact, we went DEEP in depth on our favorite smoking woods for pulled pork HERE if you want to read more on the topic.

Most smoking wood pellets are fair game to some degree, however, mesquite will give a very aggressive smoke flavor to the pork, usually a little too much if used solely on its own rather than mixed in lightly with a milder fruitwood.

Save the mesquite for quicker smoking sessions on your steaks, lobster, and even crab legs where it doesn't have time to overpower the protein.

Pecan, hickory, apple, beech, alder, and cherry pellets all give great results on pulled pork when smoked on a Traeger.

For a very straightforward flavor, we are also big fans of Bear Mountain Red and White Smoky Oak Pellets

For the best results, store your unused pellets in a sealed room temperature container like this 20 lb pellet container rather than in the Traeger's hopper outside.

Traeger pellets do not last forever, but will definitely last a LOT longer if stored indoors in a quality airtight container.

Add your Hardwood Pellets

In order to cook ANYTHING well on a Traeger pellet grill, you need to first have a basic understanding of how a pellet grill works.

***Completely New to Using a Pellet Grill?  No Worries!****

Hop over and check out this Complete Guide to Understanding How a Pellet Grill Works  if you are interested in learning more in depth.  We'll be here when you get back!***

First, you add hardwood pellets into the side hopper.

The Traeger pellet grill automatically feeds these small wood pellets via an auger mechanism to a fire pot where they are burned up, providing both heat and smoky flavor.

The pellet grill automatically controls the flow of pellets depending on your temperature setting so that you maintain an even temperature throughout the entire cook.

Equipment

• A large piece of foil to cover the meat
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Wood pellets
• Brush or spray bottle (preferably the latter)
• Large forks or a proper pair of grilling tongs
• Meat thermometer
• Traeger pellet grill

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of salt
• 3 tablespoons of paprika
• ½ tablespoon of cayenne
• 1 tablespoons of onion powder
• 1 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of ground black pepper
• 5-8 lb pork shoulder
• Apple juice or Cola
• Apple cider vinegar

Start up the Traeger

There is a specific start up process for the Traeger brand pellet grills you can read all about in depth HERE if you aren't sure how to fire it up the first time.

Otherwise, here is the basic process for how to start a Traeger before throwing on your pork shoulder:

• Plug in the grill.
• Flip the power switch to ON and turn the dial to "Smoke".
• You will hear the fan kick on and the auger start to move and begin to kick pellets into the fire pot.  Your fire rod will begin to heat up as well.
• Leave the lid open for about 5-7 minutes until you start to see white billowing smoke come out of the grill.  This happens when the pellets are first igniting.
• Once a smoke is being produced, close the lid and change the temperature dial to your desired temperature setting, in our case 225°F.
• Allow about 10-15 minutes to preheat the grill.
• While you are waiting, make sure you've got the drip pan in place and the grease bucket hanging to catch any grease that comes out during the cook.
• Put your grates on if they aren't already in place.
• Using a good bristle free grill brush, clean off the grill grates if there is any leftover stuck on food from the last cook.
• When the pellet grill comes up to temperature go ahead and put on your food!

Read More: What's the difference between the Smoke setting and the 180 Degree setting on a Traeger?

Cooking Time

At 225°F, it will take roughly 1.5 hours per lb to fully cook a pork butt. So a 6 lb pork shoulder may take about 9 hours.

Now, you can speed up the cook a little by increasing your cooking temperature to 250°F or even 275°F.  It will still be delicious, albeit maybe a little tougher around the exterior.

Make sure to use a good temperature probe to keep track of your meat's temperature while it is cooking.

We are big fans of this one from ThermoPro.

While we have used and recommended ThermoPro for years, lately we have also become big fans of the MEATER leave in thermometer.

It is extremely accurate and has an incredible 165 foot Bluetooth range and works right with your smartphone so you don't need to carry a separate controller around with you like many other remote thermometers require.

It's got a great free app that is constantly being updated and even has an algorithm to predict how much longer your type of meat will take to cook based on cooking temperature, target temperature, current internal temperature.

It's like a GPS for your meat!

Anyways, back to our smoked pulled pork...

You are going to leave your pork shoulder on the Traeger until it hits somewhere between 197-203°F when measured with a probe or instant thermometer.

Don't rush it.

It will not be fall apart tender or pull well even if you take it off at 180°F.

165-180°F is a great temperature range for SLICING pork, but if you want it fall apart tender and easy to pull, leave it on until it hits 197°F.

Got it?

To Wrap or Not to Wrap, AKA the "Texas Crutch"

Another way to speed up your cooking time is by using a tried and tested barbecue technique known as the "Texas Crutch".

Cool name, but don't worry, it's not complicated.

You see, when big pieces of meat like brisket or pork butt are being cooked low and slow, and hit about 150°F internally, they tend to "stall out" and stop rising in temperature.

Sometimes for hours depending on the size of the meat.

This can be maddening if your guests are arriving soon and the internal temperature needs to rise another 50°F and hasn't budged for over an hour.

Without getting too much into the science behind why this happens, just understand it has to do with a lot of trapped moisture evaporating at this temperature and continually cooling your meat as it evaporates.

One way to "power through the stall" is to take your pork butt out of the Traeger when it hits 150°F, and double or triple wrap it tightly in aluminum foil.

Then replace your thermometer, place the meat back on the pellet grill, and let it continue to cook.

The aluminum foil will keep the moisture from evaporating, possibly keeping your meat from drying out as much while to cooks, and most importantly, let it continue to steadily rise in temperature.

Leave it wrapped until it gets to your target temperature range of 197°-203°F and then remove it from the smoker.

Unwrap the Boston butt and let it rest for about 20-30 minutes before pulling it.

Pro Tip: If you want to firm the bark back up before pulling, take it out of the aluminum foil at 192°F and place it back on the Traeger UNWRAPPED for the last 15-20 minutes until it hits 197°-203°F.

How to Pull the Smoked Pork

Once you've removed the pork butt from the Traeger pellet grill and you have let it rest in an aluminum pan for about 20-30 minutes, it's time to pull that meat!

You can use 2 forks, or better yet a pair of BBQ Bear Claws to make the job even faster (and fun)!

Once you have pulled the meat, test it for seasoning, you likely need to add some salt.

Add a little salt at time, mixing it in and re-taste testing as you go.

You can also add a little apple cider vinegar and mix it in the give it some sweetness and acidity to balance out the fattiness.

As far as sauce, our hands down favorite sauce for smoked pulled pork is Blues Hog Tennessee Red Sauce.

It has everything: spice, acid, sweetness, and gives you that truly authentic vinegary carolina pulled pork flavor that perfectly counterbalances and cuts through the rich fat and smokiness of your Traeger pulled pork.

Keep in mind a little goes a long way because it has SO MUCH FLAVOR.

Pro Tip: It's always best to offer BBQ sauce on the side and let your guests choose whether to add it and how much to add rather than slopping it all over your meat and possibly turning folks off.

You spent a lot of time on that meat so let them taste it first rather than dousing it in BBQ sauce immediately!

Serving Suggestions

Serve your Traeger smoked pulled pork on large brioche buns for an extra level of deliciousness, and you can even top it with some vinegar coleslaw and serve along with some Traeger Smoked Baked Beans and Traeger Smoked Corn on the Cob for an authentic BBQ experience!

📖 Recipe