
This is an easy smoked pulled pork recipe, designed for a Traeger grill or similar pellet grill. It's perfect for beginners, or seasoned pros. While some pulled pork recipes call for wrapping the meat, adding a water pan, spritzing, and more, this is a no-frills, no-babysitting recipe that still gives great results. This recipe is designed for you to set it and forget it, just remember to refill the pellet hopper!
Extra steps like wrapping will help speed up the cook a bit, but I prefer the amazing bark that forms on an unwrapped pork shoulder. Sprtizing the shoulder (often with a combo of apple cider vinegar and either apple juice or water in a spray bottle) will keep the outside of the roast moist, but I don't think it does much for the inside. Personally, I have found these extra steps to not be worth the effort.
The thing that makes the biggest difference in the quality of a smoked pork shoulder, in my opinon, is the final internal temperature of the pork. Some recipes will tell you to pull the shoulder at lower temps, but waiting until 195F to 200F gives the most tender pork because all of the connective tissue has time to break down. This takes a lot of time to reach, espically since we aren't wrapping the meat, but that just means starting your smoke a little sooner.
I put my shoulder in the smoker 24 hours before I want to serve it. Typically, it will take 20 to 23 hours to reach ~200 F for an 8-10 pound pork shoulder, but this will vary for each smoke. At the end, we want to rest the meat wrapped in foil for about an hour, then it's ready to shred and serve.

FAQ
What temp is smoked pulled pork done?
Smoked pulled pork is best when removed from the smoker somewhere between 195 F and 200 F internal temperature. Pulling it out at 200 F will result in softer meat than 195 F. You may see some recipes say you can pull the pork out around 165 F, while this is true from a food safety standpoint, the pork will not be as tender.
Can you freeze smoked pulled pork?
Absolutely! Pulled pork freezes and reheats very well, so it's a great way to make use of all those leftovers! See the end of the recipe for freezing and reheating instructions.
How to reheat smoked pulled pork?
To reheat cold pulled pork, I recommend using the microwave. Place the pork in a microwave safe dish and microwave on low, tossing every ~45 seconds, until its warmed though. You can reheat it in a skillet as well, set over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until warmed through. If you are reheating a lot of pulled pork, adding it to a slow cooker on warm will work, this isn't my favorite and will probably require adding some water as well.
What cut for smoked pulled pork?
Pulled pork is best made from pork shoulder / pork butt. These are the same cuts of meat, and may also be called Boston butt, picnic shoulder, or blade roast. I recommend using the bone-in variety, but you can use boneless as well.

How to Smoke Pulled Pork
- Preheat your smoker to 225 °F. (You can do 250 °F if you want it to cook slightly faster.)
- Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels, and double-check the outside for any small bone fragments. Trim excess fat off of the outside of the pork shoulder (most have a large fat cap), then coat the entire thing in a thin layer of mustard (I love to use whole grain, but you can use yellow mustard or whayever you prefer).
- Heavily dust the pork shoulder all over with brown sugar spice rub, using as much as you can get to stick. I use nearly 1 cup of rub per ~8 lb pork shoulder. This dry rub contatins brown sugar, kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, smoked paprika, and chili powder).
- Place the prepared pork shoulder in your preheated smoker and insert a meat probe thermometer into the thickest portion.
- Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195 °F to 200 °F, this will take around 20 hours but can vary every time. Pulling the meat off at 200 °F will result in slightly softer meat. Make sure to check the pellet hopper occasionally and refill as needed.
- Leaving your pellet smoker unattended overnight: It is fine to leave your Traeger (or similar grill) running overnight. Make sure you top off the pellets before going to bed and check the hopper first thing in the morning to ensure your grill does not go out. Note, the grill uses more pellets when the outside temperature is low, if it's cold outside you may want to check the pellet hopper once overnight.
- When you pull the meat off of the grill, wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 1 hour before shredding. Place the wrapped meat in an empty cooler while it rests. If you don't have a cooler available, place the wrapped pork on a cookie sheet and let it rest in the oven (do not turn the oven on).
- After resting, shred the meat and remove the large bone (I do this in a large baking sheet). Remove any large chunks of fat or gristle that you see. Optionally, toss the meat with a few more tablespoons of the dry rub. Serve immediately, I like to have it on toasted buns with my favorite bbq sauce.

Key Tips - Smoked Pulled Pork
Use a bone-in pork shoulder or pork butt.
- Pork shoulder and pork butt are the same cut of meat and can be used interchangably. Some other names you may see for this same cut are "boston butt", "picnic shoulder", and "blade roast".
- I recommned using bone-in rather than boneless if you have the option, but bone-less will work as well. Bone-in tends to be cheaper and the bone is so easly remvoed after cooking for this smoked pork.
Serve this pulled pork on sandwiches and more!
- I typically serve this pork on grilled buns (butter the buns then place them cut side down on a hot pan or griddle until golden) with a little barbecue sauce.
- I also love this pork in cheesy melts, just sub it for the chicken in this BBQ Chicken Melt recipe!
- This pork is also delcious on it's own, on top of loaded fries or loaded nachos, on a pizza, over mashed potatoes, or whatever you can think of!
Don't be afraid of a little pink in the cooked meat.
- If you're new to smoked meats, the pink color seen on pork smoked this way may be alarming. Don't worry, the pork is fully cooked!
Freeze the meat after smoking for super easy meals!
- I love pulling this smoked pulled pork out of my freezer for an easy weeknight meal! Since this recipe always makes a ton of food, I usually end up with leftovers. This pulled pork reheats so well from frozen!
- A vacuum sealer is definitely a bit of an investment, but if you plan on frequently meal prepping meats in the freezer, it's a tool you will quickly fall in love with. Vacuum sealing keeps the meat super fresh in the freezer and prevents freezer burn completely.
- I recommend this vacuum sealer, which is one of the cheaper options among the name brands. I also love these vacuum bags!
Dietary Restrictions - Smoked Pulled Pork
This dish is naturally Dairy-Free.
This dish is naturally Gluten-Free.

A Note On Serving Sizes
Serving sizes are a very personal thing, making it very difficult for me to select a serving size that suits everyone. An 8 lb bone-in pork shoulder makes about 64 oz (4 lbs) of cooked pulled pork. I use about 3 oz (¼ lb) of meat per sandwich, so this makes about 16 servings.
I like to account for about 1 lb of raw pork shoulder per adult when estimating quantities for a party if this is the only meat, assuming 2 sandwiches per person. This will over shoot a bit, but the leftovers are so easy to freeze, and it's better than running out!

Smoked Pulled Pork (Easy Traeger Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 large pork shoulder / pork butt 7-10 pounds
- dijon or stone ground mustard or similar, can use yellow mustard
- ~1 cup brown sugar dry rub recipe included below, or sub store-bought
Brown Sugar Dry Rub:
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup kosher salt
- 2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225 °F. (You can do 250 °F if you want it to cook slightly faster.)
- Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels, and double-check the outside for any small bone fragments. Trim excess fat off of the outside of the pork shoulder, then coat the entire thing in a thin layer of mustard.
- Heavily dust the pork shoulder all over with brown sugar dry rub, using as much as you can get to stick. I use nearly 1 cup of rub per ~8 lb pork shoulder.
- Place the prepared pork shoulder in your preheated smoker and insert a meat thermometer into the thickest portion.
- Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195 °F to 200 °F, this will take around 20 hours but can vary every time. Pulling the meat off at 200 °F will result in slightly softer meat. Make sure to check the pellet hopper occasionally and refill as needed. Leaving your pellet smoker unattended overnight: It is fine to leave your Traeger (or similar grill) running overnight. Make sure you top off the pellets before going to bed and check the hopper first thing in the morning to ensure your grill does not go out. Note, the grill uses more pellets when the outside temperature is low, if it's cold outside you may want to check the pellet hopper once overnight.
- When you pull the meat off of the grill, wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 1 hour before shredding. Place the wrapped meat in an empty cooler while it rests. If you don't have a cooler available, place the wrapped pork on a cookie sheet and let it rest in the oven (do not turn the oven on).
- After resting, shred the meat and remove the large bone. Remove any large chunks of fat or gristle that you see. Optionally, toss the meat with a few more tablespoons of the dry rub. Serve immediately.
Freeze Leftovers:
- Separate into the portions you expect to use at a time (I use 10-12 oz per meal for two adults). Seal these portions in a freezer-safe zip bag with the air pressed out, or vacuum seal if you’re able to. Place the packets in the freezer until ready to use.
To Reheat:
- Place the sealed bag of frozen pulled pork in a bowl of cool water, let it sit until it's mostly defrosted, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pork to a microwave safe container and warm in the microwave, tossing every 30 seconds, until heated through.
To Use:
- There are endless possibilities for what you can add this pork to! Serve it on lightly grilled buns with barbecue sauce for a classic pulled pork sandwich. Try it in loaded fries, loaded nachos, or sub it for the chicken in my BBQ Chicken Melts!
Notes
Nutrition
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James says
Just tried this over the weekend and it turned out awesome, thank you!
Trevor says
Appreciate this approach, easy for a beginner (this was my 3rd time smoking) and it came out great. I might try some of the more complicted methods for myself but this was already the results I was hoping for. Thanks for the freezing tips!
Mark says
Easy and came out really good
R says
THANK YOU! I dont want to babysit my smokes all day, so many recipes for smoked pulled pork have way too many unnecessary steps. This truned out great and it was so easy.