Oven Pulled Pork from pork butt is cooked in the oven low and slow. Our best-pulled pork recipe is tender and moist with delicious bark. Super easy, with almost no work—you rub, bake at 250° for 8 to 9 hours, shred, and eat.
🐖Ingredients
Pork butt, AKA Boston butt—boneless or bone-in
Dry rub—brown sugar, kosher salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper
Liquid smoke—optional but suggested
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐖Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Cook Pulled Pork in the Oven with Pork Butt—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- ⏰How long to cook pork butt in the oven
- 🌡️When is pork butt done?
- ✔️Tips and variation
- 🍽️Serving Pulled Pork
- ♨️Storing pulled pork butt
- Reheating pulled pork butt.
- ❓FAQs
- 🐖What is pork butt and why use it?
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Comment by Lisa B :
"I was beyond amazed at the end product of this recipe. The cooking method is foolproof. People thought the pork was cooked on a smoker or grill. It was perfectly moist but with the crunchy texture of the bark mixed in. So easy! Outstanding results."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Everybody deserves great pulled pork, but most of us don't have smokers. You can make perfect moist and tender pulled pork with fantastic bark in your oven.
We make this recipe almost monthly. With only 10 minutes of prep, you can make perfect pulled pork by simulating a smoker's or grill's cooking environment using 250°F oven temperature, dry rub, and liquid smoke.
For other pork butt recipes, see Smoked Pork Butt on a Gas Grill and Crock Pot Pulled Pork. Or for pork butt carnitas, see Oven Baked Carnitas and Crock Pot Pork Carnitas.
👨🍳How to Cook Pulled Pork in the Oven with Pork Butt—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Use a bone-in or boneless pork butt, AKA Boston butt.
2. Pat dry and coat with liquid smoke (optional) and dry rub.
3. Place on a rack on a rimmed baking sheet.
4. Roast in a 250° oven until an internal temp of 200° to 205°—about 8-9 hours.
5. Wrap with aluminum foil, and then wrap with several towels.
6. You can shred in as little as 15 minutes, but better in 1-2 hours.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
⏰How long to cook pork butt in the oven
In a 250° oven, a 4-pound pork butt will take 8 to 9 hours. Bone-in will take a bit longer. Two hours per pound at 250° is a good starting point for timing. This time will vary from 1 ½ hours to 2 ½ hours per pound by the weight and thickness of the meat.
The best oven temperature is 250°, but you can use oven temperatures of 225° to 275° and adjust the cooking time. I do not suggest 300° or above since the outside will dry more before the collagen in the center is fully melted. I also do not recommend using convection for the same reason.
Much bigger pork butts will take much longer into the 12+ hour range. I suggest cutting huge pork butts into smaller pieces to speed up cooking and help predict timing better.
A quick warning: Many ovens will shut off at 8 to 12 hours for safety if people leave the stove on accidentally. So, watch for that problem with your oven.
🌡️When is pork butt done?
Pork butt is done at an internal temperature of 200° to 205°, which will produce the most tender results. The collagen connective tissue will start melting in the 175° range but is not complete until about 200°.
The only way to tell if your pork butt is done is by checking the internal temperature of the thickest part with a meat thermometer. You can not cook by time or color of the meat.
✔️Tips and variation
Use a dry rub: There are many dry rubs available, and if you have one you like, use it. I have provided the dry rub I use for pork butt recipes. It is simple and uses common pantry ingredients. It is a version of BBQ Dry Rub or use Memphis Dry Rub. A touch of cayenne pepper can be added if you want a bit of heat.
Elevate the Pork Butt: Use a rack or crumbled-up foil to elevate the pork out of the fatty drainage. You don't have to do this, but the results will be nicer.
Liquid Smoke: A good-quality liquid smoke will add a nice smokiness, but you can skip it if you want. You can rub the pork roast with a light coat of yellow mustard before adding the dry rub.
🍽️Serving Pulled Pork
We prefer pulled pork sandwiches on a great bun or bread and topped with Memphis BBQ Sauce, but others like to pile on coleslaw or other condiments on their pork sandwich.
You can never go wrong with a nice pile of pulled pork with sauce and sides on your plate. But you can use pulled pork to make great nachos, pork tacos, or quesadillas.
Suggested side dishes
The standards are cold side dishes like coleslaw, potato salad, Caprese Pasta Salad, or Macaroni Salad. Cornbread and cheesy potato casserole, French Fries, or Mac and Cheese are also great sides.
♨️Storing pulled pork butt
Store leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for 4 days, but I prefer two days since the texture suffers.
Pulled pork will freeze well for 3 to 4 months. Many will freeze pulled pork in reheatable sealed bags which can be reheated in boiling water.
Reheating pulled pork butt.
Reheat on a sheet pan sprinkled with a bit of water with your hand (don't overdo it). Cover tightly with foil and into the oven at 250°-300° until hot.
The time varies by how you shredded it and the amount on the tray. Usually, I take about 45 minutes or so in the oven. I know that is not very exact, but you get the idea.
You can then turn the oven down (keep it covered) or transfer it to a crock pot on low to keep warm.
Never reheat or store with sauce applied -the acid will destroy the texture of pulled pork.
❓FAQs
No, but it will add some smoky taste.
There are many "bad" versions of liquid smoke on the market. And the chemical-filled versions will ruin your pork.
I stick to Wright's brand only. If not available to you, the ingredient list on the bottle should only have smoke and water—nothing else.
Bone-in pork butt will take a bit longer to cook, but not much. Some will argue a taste difference one way or the other. Nope, no difference to me (or most people) in the taste. So use what you have.
Absolutely. The rest before the shred could be as short as 15 minutes, but longer is better. Shred just before serving. It will stay warm with my method for up to 4 hours, giving you ample time to serve freshly shredded pork.
Special tools are made for shredding, but you don't need them—just a couple of good forks work well.
Any bone will pull out easily and then attack with the forks. There may be some non-eatable parts that should be discarded.
No. Please keep it open to the dry oven environment to develop the fantastic bark of pulled pork.
The moistness of pulled pork butt comes from the melting of connective tissue, and the bark firming up blocks most moisture loss. Smokers and grillers don't need foil, and we don't.
🐖What is pork butt and why use it?
The best cut of meat to use for pulled pork is pork butt which has a large amount of connective tissue that, when melted, makes for the absolute best pull pork that is moist, tender, and flavorful.
Like many cuts of meat, there are several names for the same thing. Pork butt and Boston butt are the same cut. It is behind the neck and is part of a larger (primal) cut called the pork shoulder. The pork shoulder is divided into two smaller cuts, the pork butt (Boston butt) and the picnic shoulder.
The picnic shoulder is a thinner area below the pork butt. The picnic is frequently smoked to make the picnic ham. Large restaurants and BBQ experts will low and slow-cook the whole pork shoulder primal cut for masses of pulled pork.
📖 Recipe
Oven Pulled Pork Butt—Low and Slow
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Ingredients
- about 4 pounds Pork Butt - aka Boston Butt
- rub of your choice - good quality
- 2 tablespoons Wright's Liquid Smoke - optional but recommended
Suggested dry rub if you don't have one
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt - 2 tablespoons if using Morton
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Use a rub of your choice. If using my rub, mix ½ cup dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
- Place a 4-pound (give or take a little) bone-in (or boneless) pork butt on a large piece of plastic wrap if wrapping for later. Rub with about 2 tablespoons of liquid smoke (optional).
- Use about one cup of rub and coat the meat on all sides of the pork butt with a heavy coat. If you have time, wrap the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours, but overnight is fine. If you don't have time, apply the rub and pop it in the oven—which I usually do.
- When ready to cook, prepare a large-rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and a rack. Give it a heavy spray of PAM.
- Place meat on the rack and place it in a 250 ° oven (not convection). Don't bother to preheat. Fat cap up or down does not matter. You can shorten the time by increasing the oven's temperature to 275°, but I suggest 250°.
- Bake until internal temp of 200°-205°—about 8-9 hours. This will vary with the meat's thickness, bone-in vs. boneless, and the oven. You have some flex time to get your timing right in the next step.
- Remove from the oven directly onto a large sheet of heavy-duty foil. Wrap tight with the foil, then wrap with several towels. Place wrapped meat in a small cooler if available and rest for 1-2 hours until needed. It can stay warm for up to 4 hours if well-wrapped in a cooler. This can help you get your timing right for serving.
- Shred with forks. It will fall apart.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Cooking time can vary, but you can use the wrap time at the end to adjust the shredding time by a few hours.
- If you don't have a rack, you can elevate the meat on balls of rolled-up foil. Please do not leave it to cook in the muck.
- The liquid smoke is nice, but some will object, so skip it if you wish. If you use it, quality matters a lot. I use only Wright's™.
- My rub is provided for you, but use the rub of your choice.
- If you use my rub, the salt is calculated on Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. 1 teaspoon table salt = 1 ¼ teaspoon Morton kosher salt = 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- I find my rub still is good with half the salt if that is a concern for you.
- 195° is the absolute minimum internal temperature, but I much prefer 200° to 205° and 210° max.
- Good refrigerated for 4 days, but I prefer 2 days since the texture suffers. It will freeze well for 4 months.
- Bone-in or boneless does not matter. But bone-in may take a bit longer.
- Fat pad up or down does not matter.
- I frequently just wet it with the liquid smoke and apply the rub. And then directly into the oven. It is still great. Or use yellow mustard and then rub.
- DO NOT cover with anything like foil or a lid in the oven.
- Nutrition is hard to calculate. The fat drains, the rub forms bark, and also drains some. So many things are included in the nutrition numbers that may not be there.
Reheating
I like to reheat it on a sheet pan. I sprinkle with a bit of water on my hand (don't overdo it). Cover tightly with foil and into the oven at 250°-300° until hot. The time varies by how you shredded it and the amount on the tray. Usually, I take about 45 minutes or so in the oven. I know that is not very exact, but you get the idea. You can then turn the oven down (keep it covered) or transfer it to a crockpot on low to keep warm if serving. Never reheat or store with sauce applied -the acid will destroy the texture.Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's note: Originally Published November 2, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Rabyn says
This looks wonderful! I'm cooking a 4.5# roast and have it sitting in the fridge. I want to cook it Friday. My question is, can I put the rub on tonight (Wednesday) and cook it Friday or do I need to wait until Thursday night to put on the rub? Is there a tipping point of "the rub is on too long"? :-) Thanks!
DrDan says
Go ahead and do it.
DrDan
Nick says
Just a couple questions. I'm about to cook my first butt, my brother in law made a few in the oven and covered them with foil and no rack so it cooked in its fat. 250 for about 10-12 hours for an 8 pound. Bone slipped right out and was pretty good. So I wanted to do something different than he does and I found your recipe I like the rub you have and I like the liquid smoke idea because I love to grill and smoke. Just wanted to hear your take on why you keep it uncovered and let the juices drip off in a pan. Is this to simulate the grill effect? Lastly I'm curious about the wrap in foil and rest step after its cooked what exactly does that do? Thank you in advance for your response.
DrDan says
Hi Nick...
Here is my take on this. The best pulled pork is low and slow on the grill/smoker. Inclosing in foil will cause a steam oven. It will cook and anything is good with the right sauce but the "crust" is a large amount of the taste you are skipping. As for now rack... there is lots of fat here and I want my drained off and not cooked in it.
The foil wrap at the end is a recommendation from lots of smokers. Like all meats, you want to give it time to reabsorb moisture. In this case water and the melted connective tissue. So I try for a minimum of 30 minutes. But it also gives you a bigger time window for serving.
DrDan
Kevin says
When you were referencing your ingredients for your rub . When you say 3T is that teaspoon or tablespoon. T= tablespoon t=teaspoon right. Not being naive just need to know. Thank you for your previous timely response
DrDan says
Yep. T=tablespoon t=teaspoon It's the old way. It is covered in FAQs also.
DrDan
kevin raulerson says
i have a 9.9 pound Boston Butt and as well am trying to do this in my oven . Do you suggest fat up and how many hours for this . Thank you
DrDan says
Most of the experts don't care about fat up or fat down. I have done both and it seems the same to me. As for the size. The largest I have done is about 6 pounds although the principal is the same... cook to a final temp low and slow. So for a 9 pounder, I would think more like 10-12 hours but just my guess since my 5 pounders take 8-9 usually. I might wimp out and cut into two equal chucks, and cook them at the same time.
As always, you're cooking to a final temp and not by time. 190 is the lowest but I'm liking 200 better.
Dan
shari says
I made this a couple of months ago and it was amazing. I would like to cook another one Friday night. I am leaving Saturday morning and we will be having this for our meal Saturday evening. I feel it would be ok in the cooler during the travel time Saturday morning, but how would you recommend I reheat it for the meal that evening?
Thanks!
DrDan says
First realize it will not be as good as fresh pulled. DO NOT use a microwave. Some will do foil packets in the oven and others prefer a ziplock in boiling water. You may need to add some moisture and apple juice is commonly recommended. Google is your friend again here so do some Google for other ideas.
DrDan
Heather says
Hi, I have 2 fairly equal weight butts totaling 15lbs. Need to have ready by Saturday at 5pm. Question is should I cook them separately or can I do them together but separated into two pans? Biggest question, if together, how long should I plan for cooking at 225?
DrDan says
Well this will be a total guess. I never have done a 15 pounds at once. But my feelings are that you should be able to do them both in the same oven but separate as much as possible. I would cook at 250 with this much mass in the oven. I would expect a good 12 hours plus. Maybe even 15. You can always wrap well to keep it warm and shred just before serving. My 4-5 pounds is usually 8-10.
Back to the cooking temp question. You trying to get the internal temp in the 200 range. If you only have a 25 degree temperature gradient, the last part may take like forever.
You might want to do a little googling. The time on a gas grill or smoker at the same temp should be about the same as the oven time would be.
DrDan
Tom says
Fantastic. Tender, juicy, tasty. Pretty close to perfect in my estimation. Easy, too.
DrDan says
Thanks, This has become our "go to" recipe for casual gatherings since I still work full time so tending the grill is impossible frequently and this is almost the same.
DrDan
Jim Karasiewicz says
I have made this pulled pork twice and it is the best. Both times I used light brown sugar because that's what was in the pantry and it works great. I do feel that the 3 tablespoons of Kosher salt is a little too much so the second time I cut it back to just over 2 tablespoons and it was spot on. I don't remember what barbecue sauce I used the first time but the last time I used Sweet Baby Rays but I really don't think that it matters much. The yield is about 15 sandwiches per butt using a decent size sesame seed bun for anyone interested. I made 3 of them in the last batch for a party of 25 adults and I had plenty left over, well until I started breaking out the 1 quart ziplocks and then I watched my reserve deplete quickly as several wanted a carryout.
keely says
Hi, I'm wanting to try this recipe and have never made anything like this before. Is the liquid smoke a key ingredient or would it be good without it also? Once I put the meat in the oven does it need any foil over it? Thanks in advance!
DrDan says
Nothing is ever required in a recipe. I does add some of that "from the smoker" taste. Just a little.
Do not cover with foil or anything else. It should be open to the oven.
DrDan
Darlene Phillips says
Could I use a cast iron pan with a lid ? Or would this not be a great idea? Everything I have cooked on the stove or in the oven has come out great .....this is my first time cooking pulled pork and it is boneless does the bone out make a difference?
DrDan says
Hi Darlene, First the meat. Bone in vs boneless: either should be fine. Now the cast iron... I love cast iron and you could use it but I would leave the lid OFF. You are not steaming it and you want the "bark" to be crispy like it's grill based cousin. What does concern me is no rack. If you don't get this elevated it will be setting in the fat. So a rack of some time I think is needed.
Hope that helps.
DrDan
ParlenePhillips says
I am going to try this recipe my first time and I have purchased a boneless butt.
I was reading where someone said that their roasting pan would fit nicely in a cast iron skillet. I have a cast iron skillet with a lid would you suggest that I use this .Everyyhing I have cooked on top or in the oven in this skillet has come out tender . thanks in advance .This looks so good
Matt says
love your oven version of BBQ pork....have a question, would you brine the pork or inject it with marinade or apple juice? Or is that overkill for the oven version? Thank you. Look forward to using your other recipes.
DrDan says
Hi Matt... I probably would not brine this but injecting just like some like to do on the grill would be fine.
DrDan
Edna Haire says
Just came across ur web site cuz, I was lookin for an easy way to cook a pork roast and that it will apart & I found this recipe the easiest & I'm excited to try it for tomorrow. I'm a huge fan in cooking & learning how cook or make different stuff. Thank u for recipe & I'm hungry already. Lol...
DrDan says
Hi Matt
I did a 3 pound about 3 weeks ago and it took 9 hour. So definitely not half the time. It might be a little faster but not much. Remember ovens and meat vary so cook to a final temp and not by time alone.
DrDan
Matt says
Hey Dan I have two BB weighing 2.5 lbs a piece . Will the cooking time be cut in half ?
Jacqueline says
This was the first time I had ever made pulled pork. I searched for recipes online and this recipe was the first one I read. Followed your instructions and had to come back on this site to thank you! My son just told me this was the best food I've ever cooked, and he wished I had made it for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. Husband's on his way home from work now and he's going to love it! Thanks again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!