Learn exactly how to smoke pulled pork on a Camp Chef 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 Camp Chef!
Wood pellets for Camp Chef preferably hickory, apple, and/or cherry.
Aluminum Foil Trays
Plastic Wrap
Internal Meat Thermometer
Brush or spray bottle (preferably the latter)
Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
Cutting Board
Knife
Large forks or a Pair of BBQ Bear Claws
Ingredients
5-8lbPork Shoulder Bone-In. Also sometimes labeled as a Pork Butt or Boston Butt.
Olive Oil or Yellow Mustard
Mad Backyard's Pulled Pork Rub
4tablespoonBrown sugar
3tablespoonSalt
3tablespoonPaprika
½tablespoonCayenne
1tablespoonOnion powder
1tablespoonGarlic powder
2tablespoonGround black pepper
Additional Ingredients
Apple Juice or Cola in a Spray Bottle optional to spray during the cook
Salt to taste
Apple cider vinegar to taste
Blues Hog Tennessee Red BBQ Sauce - OR - any vinegar based BBQ sauce for pulled pork
Instructions
Prepare the Pork Butt for the Camp Chef
Trim any excess fat from the exterior of the pork butt. Trim the fat cap down to ¼" thickness. Score the fat cap with a meat knife in 2 directions perpendicular to each other.
In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. This includes the brown sugar, salt, paprika, cayenne, the onion and garlic powders and the ground black pepper. Mix it all to make the dry rub. Keep in mind you can always buy your own dry rub or use your own recipe. It’s up to you.
Cover your boston butt with a thin layer of olive oil or yellow mustard, then generously apply your rub to coat the entire exterior of the meat.
Wrap your boston butt in plastic wrap and place it back in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Start the Camp Chef Pellet Grill
Fill your hopper with pellets.
Plug in and turn the power switch to "ON", keeping the lid open. Set the dial to "Feed". This will start the auger turning and bring the pellets towards the firepot. If the auger is completely empty, this can take about 5-7 minutes to fill the auger.
Once you or see pellets going into the fire pot you can switch your temperature dial to 225°F.
Once you hear a torchy burning sound and the pellet grill starts producing a lot of smoke, you can close the lid.
Wait about 10-25 minutes for the grill to come up to temperature.
While you are waiting, make sure you’ve got the grease trap in place and the grease bucket hanging to catch any grease that comes out during the cook
Put your grates on. Using a good bristle free grill brush, clean off the grill grates. Then apply a little bit of cooking oil for your food.
Start Smoking the Pork Butt on the Camp Chef
Remove the pork from the refrigerator, add any additional rub that may have come off, and once the Camp Chef is at 225°F, place the pork butt on the grate with the fat side DOWN and the thickest part facing to the hotter RIGHT side.
Place your thermometer inside the pork making sure to not touch the bone.
Set a timer to 3 hours and close the lid to the Chef. Every hour you can optionally spray or baste the exterior of the meat with apple juice or cola to help form the bark and keep the meat moist.
Your meat will take on average 1.5 hours total to cook per pound. You can refill more wood pellets as needed, however, with a full hopper you should not need to add much more.
Texas Crutch
When the internal temperature of the pork butt hits about 150-155°F, remove it from the Camp Chef and triple wrap it in aluminum foil. Replace the thermometer and place back in the pellet grill.
Once the internal temperature hits 192°F, remove the pork from the foil and place it unwrapped back in the Cap Chef to firm the bark back up. You can increase the temperature up to 275°F at this time if you wish.
Once the internal temperature hits 197°-203°F, remove the pork butt from the Camp Chef and place it in an aluminum pan. Let it rest fo 20-30 minutes.
Pull and Serve the Camp Chef Smoked Pulled Pork
Pull your pork using a pair or forks or Bear Claws. Discard any large pieces of fat and the bone.
After you finish pulling and mixing, taste the pulled pork and add salt to taste, mixing as you add it in. You can also add some apple cider vinegar to taste to add some acidity.
Serve with buns and a vinegar based BBQ sauce on the side to top with like Blues Hog Tennessee Red.
Notes
Check out this video from Anderson Smoke Show for additional tips and information