This is my no wrap, low and slow, tried and true…Never Fail…method for cooking a pork butt on a pellet grill. This technique will smoke a pork butt as good as any pit out there; but you have to put in the work. You can’t rush pork perfection!
The problem most people have with producing good BBQ on a pellet grill is they don’t give them self enough time to let the magic happen. It takes a low and slow approach to develop bark and smokey flavor when using wood pellets.
It’s true pellets don’t produce as much smoke as wood or even charcoal, but by slowing down the cook time you force the pellets to work more which does produce good clean blue smoke which is exactly what you want.
You can season the pork butt how ever you like that part is completely up to you. I like to use a combo of a good Salt, Black Pepper, & Garlic base layer followed with a more traditional BBQ Rub on top. This layering effect gives the pork butt a ton of flavor and builds a beautiful bark on the outside. The salt and sugars also aid in creating the smoke ring that folks say you can’t do on a pellet grill. (I’ve never had a problem getting a smoke ring on a pellet grill)
Let the seasonings work on the outside of the pork butt for a couple hours before putting it on the pit. You can rest it in the refrigerator on a wire cooling rack as long as 8 hours before cooking.
When you’re ready to fire up the pit, set it for 200 degrees for first part of the cook. This slows down the amount of pellets dropped in the fire pot and allows the pellets to actually smoke instead of rapidly burning.
It will take 12-14 hours for a 8-10lb pork butt to fully cook at low temps. About 8 hours in ramp the temp up to 220 and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 190°F. At this point the butt is fully rendered and a thermometer probe will slide in with little to no resistance.
And that’s all there is to it. If you follow this method the bone will come out clean, there will be little to no fat to remove from the butt and the bark will be some of the best you’ve ever tried. This process does take time but I promise it’s worth the wait.
