Pulled pork done right is some of the best bites of meat you’ll ever have. There are so many reasons why you should make this recipe. Let me name a few:
1) Pulled pork has endless uses like on a sandwich, in pasta, on pizza, in tacos, in soup
2) This pulled pork is the best you’ll ever have and is so good, you just need a fork and nothing else. No sauce. No bread. No nothin’.
3) Easter is almost here, and if you’re celebrating, who really wants a big glazed ham anyway?! Pork butt it up.
4) Pork butt is cheappp (my 4 lb. roast was 12 bucks)!
5) Pulled pork stores and freezes well. Lifesaving leftovers.
6) Throw this baby in the oven for hours without barely any attention. Slow roasting is practically work-free!
Gotta love a good pork booty.
NOTE: This recipe calls for a dutch oven. If you do not have a dutch oven, you can use a slow cooker (Crock Pot) however timing may vary slightly!
My STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO below will help guide you through the recipe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipe videos every week!
Makes: 4-pound pork butt, after roasting, feeds 4 hungry people
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: ~7 hours
Total time: 7 hours and 30 minutes
The Ingredients
~4-pound boneless pork butt (Boston Butt)*
6-8 peeled garlic cloves, any large cloves cut in half
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
*You can use a 5-6 pound bone-in pork butt if needed, but cooking time may vary slightly!
The Steps
This recipe calls for a dutch oven. If you do not have a dutch oven, you can use a slow cooker (Crock Pot) however timing may vary slightly!
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
For Italian dry rub: combine rosemary, thyme and fennel seeds in a bowl. Set aside.
To prepare meat: Turn your pork butt onto a working surface so that the fattiest side is facing up. Use a sharp knife to make small, inch-deep incisions throughout the fatty layer of the pork butt, pushing a garlic clove into each slit. Make sure garlic cloves are as buried as possible in the fat. See my step-by-step video below for help!
Sprinkle and press down dry rub onto pork butt so as much sticks to the meat as possible.
To brown meat: Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in dutch oven to medium heat (or a separate skillet if you’re using a slow cooker). Place pork butt, fatty-side up, in the dutch oven or skillet, sprinkling other side with salt and pepper. Brown pork butt on side #1 for 4-5 minutes until light golden. Flip pork butt so that the fatty side is face down and brown this side for 4-5 minutes until light golden, sprinkling the other side with salt and pepper.
Dutch oven method (recommended): Place cover on dutch oven, and place in oven for about 7 hours. At 4 hours, flip pork and baste with juices. At 6 hours and 40 minutes, check temperature of thickest part of the pork. Internal temperature should reach 195-210 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep roasting pork, checking every 10-15 minutes, until pork has reach that temperature! Pork should reach this temperature anywhere from 6 hours 40 minutes to 7 hours and 15 minutes.
Slow cooker method: If you’re using a slow cooker (crock pot), remove pork from searing skillet and place in slow cooker on LOW (which is approximately 200 degrees!), fat-side down. Roast for about 7 hours. At 4 hours, flip pork and baste with juices. At 6 hours and 40 minutes, check temperature of thickest part of the pork. Internal temperature should reach 195-210 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep roasting pork, checking every 10-15 minutes, until pork has reach that temperature! Pork should reach this temperature anywhere from 6 hours 40 minutes to 7 hours and 15 minutes.
To serve: use a ladle to remove 90% of the juice from the bottom of your dutch oven or slow cooker. Use two forks to pull apart pork into desired chunks and shreds.
To store: keeps well in refrigerator for up to 4 days. Heat in a closed foil package at 250 degrees until hot, about 30 minutes. Re-fluff with extra juice (fat removed from top of saved juices). Freezes well!
The Steps With Video
My STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO below will help guide you through the recipe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipe videos every week!
I am hosting a family gathering for around 20-30 people. How many pounds would you recommend?
Author
A 4-pound pork butt will serve about 8 people with side dishes. For 25 people you’d have to make a lot of pork butt…I’d imagine you’d have to use a roughly 13 pound pork butt. I have not cooked a pork butt that big so the cooking times within this recipe will differ. I’d use it as a guide, but obviously a 13 pound pork butt will cook a lot slower than a 4-pounder!
I hope this helps…good luck!
Grace
Wow…I made this and I surprised myself with how absolutely delicious it was!!! Thank you for sharing.
Author
Hi Erica! So glad you loved the recipe. It is one of my favorites!
Grace