Pulled Pork Sandwich Recipe

When it comes to BBQ nothing beats a good, simple, pulled pork sandwich. For me, pork butt or pork shoulder blade roast, as it’s sometimes called, makes the best pulled pork. Anyone can smoke a pork butt and this recipe is a guaranteed “no fail” method on how I do it.

First let’s talk about the pork butt. It’s actually not a “butt” at all. It’s the upper section of the hog’s shoulder. The lower section is called the picnic roast and the upper is the pork butt. If you see them joined together it’s simply the “whole pork shoulder”.

This pork butt came from The Butcher Shoppe, but you can find pork butt in just about every grocery store, warehouse club (Sams or Costco), or from your butcher. The price is usually around $2 per lb but many times a year pork butt goes on sale for .99 cents. This is when I try to stock a few in the freezer because these roasts freeze well; and after a short time in the fridge, they’re just as good as the day you bought it.

My “never fail” technique for pork butt is simple. I start with a light coat of mustard on the pork butt. The mustards acts as a binder to make the rub stick to the meat. It doesn’t do much in the flavor department and you’ll never know that it’s there once the butt is done; but what it does do is lets you see any spots where you may have missed seasoning. For the seasoning you can use any dry rub; I use my Killer Hogs Hot Rub because it has plenty of spice and enough salt and sugar to make a really great bark. That’s all the seasoning I use, no injection, no layering, just a good dose of Hot Rub.

You do need a smoker to create really good pulled pork. It doesn’t have to be fancy; any type smoker will do even a grill set up for indirect cooking. The main thing here is you have to be able to control the temperature. Great Pulled Pork takes time, and that means keeping the temp steady. For me my drum smoker makes the best tasting pulled pork. The big difference in it and my other pits is as the fat renders it drips on the coals below. This produces authentic bbq flavor and there’s no substitute for it.

I run my drum with Royal Oak lump charcoal and use wood for flavor. You could use any wood but hickory is my absolute favorite. I also use cherry which adds a slightly sweet flavor and mixes well with the hickory.

For pulled pork I run the drum around 250 degrees. Don’t panic if it occasionally creeps up to 275 but try to hold it closer to 250 the entire cook. This is low and slow for pork butt and the fats renders without cooking the butt too fast. We want the fat to melt and for the internal temps to slowly climb towards our target temperature of 200 degrees.

The butt goes on the smoker for 4 hours and I spritz it with a combo of Apple Juice and Cider Vinegar 50/50 mix. Give the butt about an hour before you start spritzing and do so every 30 minutes until the bark is set on the outside and it develops a dark mahogany color.

At this point it’s ready to wrap. Set the butt in a 1/2 size aluminum pan and add 1 cup of Killer Hogs Vinegar Sauce over the butt. Cover the pan with foil and put it back on the pit. You’ll want to monitor the internal temperature from here on out. I use a Thermoworks DOT inserted through the foil into the center of the butt. Make sure you don’t hit the bone for an accurate reading.

Now all you have to do is let the pit do its job. Keep an eye on smoker temp; it should stay in the 250-275 range. It’ll take about 3-4 more hours to finish out.

Once the internal temp on the pork butt hits 200 internal, it’s time to glaze the bark. Carefully move the pork butt from the smoker to the counter. Know that the pan will be full of juice and it’s extremely hot.

I wear cotton glove liners with nitrile gloves over the top to insulate my hands. Take the foil off and transfer the butt to a chicken rack over a sheet pan.

For the glaze I use a combo of Killer Hogs The BBQ Sauce and Killer Hogs Vinegar Sauce 50/50. Combine the 2 sauces and brush over the bark. Place the butt (sheet pan and all) back on the pit and let it glaze for 15-20 minutes. Take the butt off the pit and rest it for 20 minutes before shredding it by hand into pulled pork.

Now for the Pulled Pork Sandwich…

After you’ve removed the blade bone and pulled muscles you’ll have about 4 lbs of mouth-watering pulled pork. Load up the bottom half of a jumbo size burger bun with a mound of pulled pork.

Drizzle some of the remaining bbq sauce over the pile of pork and top with Cole slaw. (recipe for the slaw is below).

Top with the upper half of bun and you’re ready to enjoy one of life’s simple pleasures – The Pulled Pork Sandwich!