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Pulled Pork in an Electric SmokerSmoked pulled pork is a barbecue staple and great for any occasion. Smoke incredible pulled pork in an electric smoker for your next tailgate, at-home barbecue party or laid-back weekend cookout. IngredientsFOR THE RUB
FOR THE PULLED PORK
Directions1 Preheat smoker to 235°F. Add apple or cherry wood chips to the smoker box. 2 Trim pork shoulder of excess fat. Be sure to leave about 1/4 inch of fat on the fat cap. Trim off any unwanted glands or cartridge. 3 Submerge your pork shoulder in a brine solution for 8 hours in the refrigerator. 4 Rinse shoulder, pat dry and apply a light coat of mustard, using a basting brush. 5 In a medium-size bowl, combine salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, onion, cayenne pepper and celery salt and liberally coat pork. 6 Place the pork, fat side up, in smoker. 7 Combine apple cider vinegar and apple juice in spray bottle. Spritz pork with mixture after 2 hours of smoking. Continue to spritz every hour until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. 8 Remove pork from smoker and place on 2 sheets of 18 x 30 pieces of aluminum foil. Spritz one last time and double wrap. Hot Tip Wrap the pork as tightly as possible so that no bark is lost. Double wrap so that the foil doesn't tear on the grates. 9 Place wrapped pork fat side down back into the smoker until it reaches an internal temperature of 200-250°F, 7-8 hours or until tender. Hot Tip You should be able to easily remove the bone from the pork with little to no resistance when done. 10 Keep pork wrapped and let rest for 30-45 minutes. Hot Tip Giving your meat the time it needs to rest allows juices to redistribute, retaining moisture for tender meat. The internal temperature will continue to rise 10 to 15 degrees until it levels out and then begins to fall. 11 Unwrap, shred and enjoy! Click the stars to rate it. Smoke out the goods! Get recipes, cooking tips and tricks and promotional offers delivered to your inbox each week. Learn exactly how to smoke a Boston butt in a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker the RIGHT way following our detailed instructions and recipe below! This is an easy dish to prepare, in an even easier to use smoker, making it ideal for the beginner bbq enthusiast to get started. Let’s Go! What is a Boston Butt?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 Boston butt is a cut of meat that provides a variety of options, and for our purposes, is quite easy to smoke, especially in a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker! We have previously covered how to season, start, and clean a Masterbuilt electric smoker. We’ve covered how to load them with wood chips, use the vents properly, make a smoker stand for them, and even how to use them in the rain! You can tell we are big fans of this great electric wonder, especially for beginner smokers and bbq enthusiasts. In this article, we will go over what is needed to properly smoke a Boston butt step by step in a Masterbuilt electric smoker. Choosing the Best Size Boston Butt for a Masterbuilt Electric SmokerWhile Masterbuilt electric smokers offer great simplicity and ease of use, sometimes, depending on the model, they are lacking a little in shelf space compared to other larger competition, offset, or vertical smokers on the market. This is fine for our purposes, because contrary to popular opinion in some BBQ circles, bigger ISN’T always better. Think about it. The larger the Boston butt, 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 Boston butts 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 chips will also only penetrate about an inch into your meat, so if you want maximum smokey flavor, you are better with smaller cuts Additionally, if you want to try 2 different rubs or flavor profiles, you have that opportunity as well! For the average size masterbuilt electric smoker, we recommend looking for a bone-in Boston butt in the 5-7lb range. Make sure to measure your rack space and take a tape measure to the store with you. Boston butts this size can easily be found at the average grocery store, butcher, or warehouse club. 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 Boston Butt for SmokingYou can think of the process of smoking a Boston butt split into two.
You have literally a million options for seasoning and preparing your Boston butt 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 asian inspired. Trimming the FatFirst, you will want to trim any excess fat off the Boston butt 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 1/4 inch of thickness. We like using our favorite boning knife from iMarku for this task as it goes through the fat cap like butter. After trimming, score through the fat cap with your 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.
RubsLike 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 Boston butt as it cooks in the smoker. Because we are going to set the Masterbuilt electric smoker to only 250°F, you don’t need to worry about the sugar burning. After trimming the fat, cover the Boston Butt 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. 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 Boston 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, we are big fans of Blues Hog Dry Rub Seasoning. </p><h3>Marinade Injections</h3><p>For additional flavor, some bbq cooks like to inject their Boston butt with a marinade before putting it in the smoker.</p><p>The idea is to add flavor and moisture deep into the meat to help season the bland interior of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.madbackyard.com/smoked-pork-chops-on-a-pellet-grill/" data-wpel-link="internal">pork</a> while its cooking.</p><p>There Is nothing wrong with injecting, and we LOVE to injected SLICED meats like smoked brisket, ham, turkey.</p><p>The only problem, is it adds water weight and significantly extra time to your cook.&nbsp; By adding 8 oz of injection to your Boston butt you may be increasing your cooking time by an hour or more.<span id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-199" class="ezoic-adpicker-ad"></span></p><p>And think about it, when the Boston butt comes out of the Masterbuilt smoker, you are going to be pulling it apart in a big tray, and adding seasoning at that point too.</p><p>So why go through the hassle of injecting the interior if you are going to be adding seasoning later anyways?</p><p>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.</p><p>But with pulled meat like Boston butt, skip the hassle and add your seasoning at the end.</p><p><span id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-169" class="ezoic-adpicker-ad"></span><span class="ezoic-ad ezoic-at-0 leader-4 leader-4169 adtester-container adtester-container-169" data-ez-name="madbackyard_com-leader-4"><span id="div-gpt-ad-madbackyard_com-leader-4-0" ezaw="250" ezah="250" style="position:relative;z-index:0;display:inline-block;padding:0;width:100%;max-width:1200px;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;min-height:400px;min-width:580px" class="ezoic-ad"><script data-ezscrex="false" data-cfasync="false" style="display:none">if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'madbackyard_com-leader-4','ezslot_17',169,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-madbackyard_com-leader-4-0');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 <a class="amalinkspro-text-link" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W45S886?tag=rbmleads-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow external noreferrer" data-alp-asin="" data-wpel-link="external">JY COOKMENT</a>. The you can use a mixture of apple juice, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, and some of your favorite BBQ rub mixed together.</p><div class="amalinkspro-showcase aligncenter apilink yesprime no-disclaimer amalinkspro-showcase-4 alp-load-api" data-alp-showcase-id="4" data-alp-img="LargeImage" data-alp-asin="B08W45S886" data-alp-hide-prime="" data-alp-hide-image="" data-alp-hide-price="1" data-alp-hide-button="" style="max-width:750px"><div class="amalinkspro-showcase-stats-col amalinkspro-showcase-stats-col-img"><span class="alp-showcase-img-wrap enabled-img"><a class="alp-showcase-img-link" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W45S886?tag=rbmleads-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"></a></span></div><div class="amalinkspro-showcase-stats-col amalinkspro-showcase-stats-col-info"><a class="amalinkspro-showcase-4-titlebox" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W45S886?tag=rbmleads-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">JY COOKMENT Meat Injector Syringe – Flavor Injector with 3 Stainless Steel Professional Needles</a><div class="showcase-4-features"><ul><li><span class="alp-showcase-spec-val-editable">This meat injector is ergonomic threaded design, easy to assemble or dismantle. With 2 cleaning brushes makes clean up super easy, Dishwasher-SAFE.</span></li><li><span class="alp-showcase-spec-val-editable">This marinade injector contains 1pc 2-OZ capacity marinade injector barrel; 3pc professional meat needles; 4pcs spare syringe silicone O-rings; 2pcs cleaning bush; 1pc detail instruction;</span></li></ul></div></div><div class="amalinkspro-clear"></div><div class="amalinkspro-showcase-bottom-cta"><div class="amalinkspro-showcase-bottom-cta-price"></div><a class="amalinkspro-showcase-bottom-cta-link" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W45S886?tag=rbmleads-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="alp-showcase-amalink-editable">Check Price on Amazon</span></a><div class="amalinkspro-clear"></div></div><span class="ezoic-autoinsert-ad ezoic-long_content"></span><div class="amalinkspro-clear"></div></div><p> </p><h3>Wood Chip Selection</h3><p>We did a whole in depth article on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.madbackyard.com/best-wood-pulled-pork/" data-wpel-link="internal">our favorite smoking woods for pulled pork that you can find here</a>.</p><p>But in a nutshell, you’re best bet for pork is apple, peach, cherry, or some other mild fruitwood.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt.jpeg" data-wpel-link="internal"><img loading="lazy" class="ezlazyload aligncenter wp-image-13403 size-full" alt="a bag of sherry wood chips leaning up against a masterbuilt electric smoker" width="840" height="750" data-ezsrcset="https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357.jpeg 840w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-300x268.jpeg 300w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-768x686.jpeg 768w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-561x501.jpeg 561w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-265x237.jpeg 265w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-531x474.jpeg 531w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-364x325.jpeg 364w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-728x650.jpeg 728w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-608x543.jpeg 608w,https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357-758x677.jpeg 758w" sizes="(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px" ezimgfmt="rs rscb47 src ng ngcb47 srcset" data-ezsrc="https://www.madbackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/9-cherry-wood-chips-masterbuilt-e1657326567357.jpeg"></a></p><p>Cherry wood chips, <a class="amalinkspro-text-link" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OD6Z7E?tag=rbmleads-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow external noreferrer" data-alp-asin="" data-wpel-link="external">like these ones from Cowboy Brand</a> in particular give off a nice sweet aroma when you smoke with them. We are big fans of using them on pork.</p><p>Make sure to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.madbackyard.com/can-you-use-pellets-in-an-electric-smoker/" data-wpel-link="internal">always use wood chips, not pellets, in a Masterbuilt electric smoker</a>.<span id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-615" class="ezoic-adpicker-ad"></span><span class="ezoic-ad ezoic-at-0 mobile-leaderboard-1 mobile-leaderboard-1615 adtester-container adtester-container-615" data-ez-name="madbackyard_com-mobile-leaderboard-1"><span id="div-gpt-ad-madbackyard_com-mobile-leaderboard-1-0" ezaw="300" ezah="250" style="position:relative;z-index:0;display:inline-block;padding:0;min-height:250px;min-width:300px" class="ezoic-ad"><script data-ezscrex="false" data-cfasync="false" style="display:none">if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'madbackyard_com-mobile-leaderboard-1','ezslot_18',615,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-madbackyard_com-mobile-leaderboard-1-0'); Cowboy Brand Official Cherry Wood Chips
How to Smoke a Boston Butt in a Masterbuilt Electric SmokerEquipment
Ingredients
Preparing the Smoker
Refilling the Wood ChipsNow, as we mentioned, you will need to refill the wood chips every 30-40 minutes as they smolder fairly quickly compared to wood chunks and wood pellets. If you are using a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker, check out their Slow Smoker Accessory Attachment. It allows you to preload the wood chips, much like a pellet hopper on a pellet grill and smokes them more slowly so that you don’t need to constantly refill. This works great for longer smokes like for pork butt and ribs in your electric smoker. Masterbuilt Slow Smoker Accessory Attachment
How Long Does it Take to Cook a Boston Butt in a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker?At 250°F, it will take roughly 1.5 hours per lb to fully cook a Boston butt. So a 6lb Boston butt may take about 9 hours. Now, you can speed up the cook a little by increasing your cooking temperature to 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 boston butt… You are going to leave your Boston butt in the smoker 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. 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”. Don’t worry, it’s not complicated. You see, when big pieces of meat like brisket or Boston 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 degrees 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 Boston butt out of the smoker 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 smoker, 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. If you want to firm the bark back up before pulling, take it out of the aluminum foil at 195°F and place it back in the smoker UNWRAPPED for the last 15-20 minutes until it hits 197°-203°F. If this technique looks familiar, its because its very similar to how we firm our baby back ribs back up after removing them from foil too. Pro Tip: We like combining insulated cloth liner gloves with black disposable BBQ gloves over them much like the BBQ competition cooks use to protect their hands and limit constant hand washing or fumbling with BBQ tongs and spatulas when handling large pork shoulders or briskets in their smokers. Make sure to use a good instant read thermometer like our favorite from ThermoPro to spot check multiple places on the pork butt for doneness. Sometimes the leave in probe will be in a pocket of fat that is COOLER than the rest of the meat. Or conversely, the probe may be too near the bone which will be HOTTER than the rest fo the meat. This is why it’s important to check multiple spots on the pork butt. This will also inform you of how evenly it is cooking and how often you may need to flip or rotate it in your Masterbuilt during the cooking process. ThermoPro TP19H Digital Meat Thermometer for Cooking
How to Pull a Boston ButtOnce you’ve removed the Boston butt from the Masterbuilt electric smoker 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 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 Boston butt. 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 rather than dousing it in bbq sauce immediately! Serve and Enjoy!And there you have it! Serve your pulled pork on large brioche buns for an extra level of deliciousness, and you can even top it with some vinegary coleslaw and serve along with some baked beans and corn on the cob for an authentic bbq experience! Enjoy! Looking for more Great Food to Cook in your Masterbuilt Electric Smoker?Looking for some more inspiration for things to cook in your electric smoker? You’ve come to right place! Check out some of our favorite recipes below! Pork
Beef
Seafood
Poultry
Lamb
Sides and Desserts
Smoked Boston Butt in Masterbuilt Electric SmokerA Boston butt, or pork shoulder, rubbed with a classic BBQ rub and smoked in a Masterbuilt electric smoker, or any electric smoker. Pulled and served on a bun with a vinegar sauce. Prep Time 2 hrs 30 mins Cook Time 8 hrs Total Time 10 hrs Course Main Course Cuisine American, Australian, BBQ, Smoked Servings 12 People Calories 450 kcal
Prepare the Pork Butt
Start the Smoker
Texas Crutch
Pull and Serve
Calories: 450kcal Keyword barbecue, bbq, BBQ Rub, Boston Butt, electric smoker, electric smoker boston butt, electric smoker pork butt, electric smoker pork shoulder, electric smoker pulled pork, How to, Masterbuilt, masterbuilt pork shoulder, masterbuilt pulled pork, masterbuilt smoked pulled pork, Pork Butt, Pork Shoulder, Pulled Pork, rub, Setting up a Smoker, smoked, smoked pork butt, smoked pork shoulder, Smoker, Smoking, Texas Crutch, traeger smoked boston butt, Wood chips, wood smoke How long does it take to smoke a 10 lb Boston butt in an electric smoker?You are going to need between 10-12 hours to smoke a 10 pound pork butt at 225F. You will want to cook the butt in the smoke for about 5 hours, wrap it in foil and then cook for another 6 hours. Set aside the time, follow this technique and you will have some Extraordinary pulled pork!
How long does it take to smoke pulled pork at 225?At 225, figure roughly 2 hours per pound of meat, so the same piece of smoked pork shoulder takes from 12- 16 hours at 225.
How long does pork take in the electric smoker?Place wrapped pork fat side down back into the smoker until it reaches an internal temperature of 200-250°F, 7-8 hours or until tender. You should be able to easily remove the bone from the pork with little to no resistance when done.
Do you smoke pulled pork at 225 or 250?Also, bear in mind that the recommended temperature for making smoked pulled pork is 225 degrees. When the smoker is set to this temperature, you can expect it to take as long as two hours per pound before it's done.
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