What Exactly is Pork Butt?
Pork butt isn’t actually the backend of the pig. That’s the ham. Pork butt is a squarish cut of meat that comes from the upper part of the pork shoulder of the pig and has lots of connective tissue and fat. It’s also known as Boston butt.
Now, pork shoulder (or picnic roast) is the lower, triangular portion of the shoulder and is more muscular.
Where things get confusing is many stores use the terms interchangeably. Luckily, both cuts work in this recipe, but opt for the butt when you can.
Why You’re Gonna Love This Recipe
My testers fell head over heels for this “excellent” oven-roasted pork butt. They loved how effortless, flavorful, and versatile it is. Plus it’s great for leftovers!
What You’ll Need to Make This
- Pork butt–Use a well-marbled cut of pork butt or Boston butt for best results. If your pork comes with the skin on, remove it before cooking.
- Spice blend—Our blend includes brown sugar, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, creating a sweet, warm, slightly spicy flavor profile.
- Diamond brand kosher salt—Since salt’s weight varies from brand to brand, please weigh your salt and use 9 grams for this recipe. If you don’t have a scale and aren’t using Diamond brand, use 2 teaspoons to avoid oversalting.
How to Make a Pork Butt Roast in the Oven
- Stir together the salt, sugar, paprika, pepper flakes, cumin, and black pepper in a small bowl.
- Rub the pork all over with the spice mixture. It should be coated on all sides.
- Wrap the pork in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
- Roast the pork, fatty side up, on a roasting pan until the internal temperature reaches 190° to 195°F. Let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Use two forks to shred the pork. Serve alone or with your favorite BBQ sauce, if desired.
Common Questions
When buying a pork butt (Boston butt pork roast), look for one around eight to ten pounds. You can find them trimmed down to five or six pounds, but they usually trim off a lot of fat to make that weight, and fat isn’t a bad thing, especially when roasting it.
Also, try to get the butt with the bone. The bone gives the meat much more flavor as it cooks. It also conducts and retains heat exceptionally well, allowing the meat to cook at such a low temperature.
Absolutely. This pork recipe is almost impossible to pull off without a meat thermometer. You can’t judge the pork by sight or feel. I prefer a digital probe thermometer that can be left in the pork as it roasts.
When you insert the thermometer, stick it into the thickest part of the pork butt, and make sure it’s not touching the bone, or you’ll get a false reading.
Serving Suggestions
This Boston butt recipe is stupendously magnificent on its own, butt (get it?!), consider:
- Dousing it with a vinegary barbecue sauce.
- Heaping it upon homemade buns for pulled pork sandwiches.
- Dolloping a tablespoon or three of creamy coleslaw beneath the top bun.
Storage
The pulled pork stores well in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. If you’re freezing it for later, divvy it into 1-pound servings and freeze it in storage bags for up to 3 months. Reheat in a 300°F oven until warmed through.
Helpful Tips
- Letting the pork sit overnight after rubbing it with the spice mixture is optional but I highly recommend it.
- Make sure to let the pork butt rest before shredding it. It will be hot!
- This recipe is suitable for gluten-free and dairy-free diets.
Write a Review
If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
I made this recipe a month ago, and my whole family loved it! Now that my nephew’s in town, and because we all had it on our minds, I decided to make it again. I almost cried when I thought I lost the recipe! Thank you so much for sharing!
Melissa
Roast Pork Butt
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Diamond kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
- One (6 1/2- to 8-pound) bone-in skinless pork butt (Boston butt), or pork shoulder or two 3 1/2- to 4-pound pork butts
- Your favorite grocery store or homemade BBQ sauce, (optional)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the salt, sugar, paprika, pepper flakes, cumin, and black pepper.
- Rub the pork butt all over with the spice mixture. The pork butt should be completely coated on all sides. If you have time, tightly wrap the pork in plastic wrap, place it on a plate, and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors mingle.
- Crank the oven temperature to 250°F (121°C). Place a roasting rack in a large pan.
- Place the pork butt, fat side up, on the rack. Roast the pork, uncovered, until the internal temperature reaches 190° to 195°F (88° to 91°C). By this point, the exterior should be crispy and dry. This is similar to what’s referred to as “bark” when smoking on a grill. This can take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours, depending on your oven and the size of your pork butt.
- Remove the pork from the oven and let the roast rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
☞ TESTER TIP: If you’re craving super-moist meat for pulled pork, remove the pan from the oven, tightly wrap the pork butt in a couple of layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes to soften the exterior.
- Shred the roast pork butt with a couple of forks, evenly mixing the crisp, dry edges with the insanely moist, tender pork inside.You may want to slather the pulled pork with barbecue sauce to impart flavor and sauciness, but I urge you to try it naked first.
Notes
- Rest--Letting the pork sit overnight after rubbing it with the spice mixture is optional but highly recommended.
- Cool–Make sure to let the pork butt sit before shredding it. It will be hot.
- Storage–The pulled pork will store well in the fridge for up to 4 days. If you’re freezing it for later, divvy it into 1-pound servings and freeze it in storage bags. Reheat in a 300°F oven until warmed through.
- Dietary–This recipe is suitable for gluten-free and dairy-free diets.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Great Pork Butt Recipes
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
The pork roast recipe is excellent. I rubbed it on and then refrigerated the pork shoulder overnight so the flavors would meld.
The hands-on time is minimal—about 15 minutes to assemble the spice mixture and rub it all over the pork butt. I used about 1/2 the stated amount of red pepper flakes because I thought 1 tablespoon would give too much heat for my taste. I used a bone-in pork shoulder roast that was four pounds, and it took 6 hours in a convection oven set to 225°F.
I served the pork with the classic coleslaw recipe and a bit of barbecue sauce on a soft roll. The pork definitely needs some kind of sauce.
Sometimes we either don’t have access to a smoker or can’t commit 6 or 8 hours to low and slow cooking on a grill. And while slow cookers can make WONDERFUL slow cooker pulled pork, one thing will be missing, and for me, that’s an essential part of pulled pork—the BARK!
When you rub a piece of pork with a spice rub and cook it, low and slow, on a smoker, grill, or in an oven, after several hours, the rub mixes with the hot fat and juices and eventually gets a hard crust called a BARK.
For my money, this is the VERY best part of ANY barbecue! Anyone who loves meat must LOVE a crisp, spice-rubbed exterior.) This bark can be achieved in your oven, and–as long as you have a clock and a thermometer–you can create a nice crust on your pork butt with this recipe. The rub mentioned here is great, but if you have your favorite rub on hand, by all means, use it.
From here, shred the roast pork butt by any means necessary (two forks work nicely) and top it with your favorite sauce, coleslaw, or, as I do, both.
Thia is my all time favorite pork butt recipe. My 12 pound butt took about 17 hours to reach the perfect temp. In a couple of hours it will be served on top of rice with a dollop of both tazeki and a vinegary bbq sauce, alongside a chopped brocolli salad and corn on the cob.
I think the recipients of today’s meals will be quite satisfied.
It looks fantastic, tc. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!
I am about to put my pork butt in the oven as instructed. I know you won’t be able to answer in time, but for next time: Do you put the Butt in the pan in the oven immediately out of the refrigerator or do you let it come to room temp? It seems like it would make a difference. As it is, I’m going for it pretty much right out of the frig!
Kathy, either way is fine. Given the long slow cooking process, the amount of time saved by bringing your roast up to room temperature is going to be fairly minimal in comparison to the overall cooking time. Do let us know how it turns out!
Well, the pork butt came out incredibly delicious. I think my husband was a little put out because we usually smoke a butt his way and they are most always a wonderful success. Your recipe is the best! It was a little four pounder and I was surprised at how long it took to reach the desired temperature of 190 – 8 hours! But there are perhaps explanations: Our oven cooks hot, so I put temp to 225 and I put butt in oven only 1/2 hour from refrigerator. Maybe 225 was too low. We brought butt to 180, took it out and wrapped it as you directed and cooked another hour. It was perfect bark and flavor and juicy. Made a sweet vinegar & oil cole slaw for over top in between buns. Did not need BBQ sauce because the meat was so tasty. Yum yum! Sorry we did not take a picture and you don’t want to see it now! lol
Hah! Kathy, this sounds incredible, and I would’ve loved a picture, both of the pork butt and your husband’s expression! (Kidding.) I love that this sounds like it’s going to be a keeper for you…
Why wrap it in foil?
Good question, Elizabeth. Once the pork butt has developed it’s bark, wrapping it in foil will help to keep the interior meat moist and tender. For a smaller roast, you may not have to have it covered for very long (and for some of our readers, the bark finished developing at the same time the pork reached its finished temperature, so covering was not required at all), however, if you have a larger pork butt, this step is important to ensure juicy, tender meat.
Amazing, amazing recipe!! This was my first time making this kind of roast and I got a 7.5 pound pork butt on a whim when it was on sale. I followed the recipe but doubled the rub and let it sit for 24h. I started at 250 and 8hrs later, it was still at 155 and still looking a little wet. I think my oven runs cold at that temp but we just moved in to a new apartment so Iām still learning it. At around 1am, it was at 170 and I guesstimated that around 4am it might get to 190 so I set an alarm to check it at that time…and of course I slept through that alarm (dāoh!). Miraculously, I did hear the thermometer beep at 200 (around 6am) so I completely missed the foil step (having overslept!) but the bark was beautiful. I pulled it from the oven, put foil on top of it and trusted thyself and went back to bed to catch at least another hour of sleep. By the time I removed the foil, it was fall off the bone tender inside and an unbelievable bark on the outside. I thought I ruined it by missing the foil step but it turned out to be ok as the inside was perfect. There was also some pinkness inside, especially near the bone but I read that that was ok. Anyways, my only regret was not buying more of the pork butt when it was on sale but I will be trying this again!
Wonderful, Diane! We’re so pleased to hear this, and your pork butt looks perfect. Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know.