Holy deliciousness. Smoke Kulua-style smoked bone in pork shoulder on the Traeger pellet grill with caramelized pineapples – low and slow! This easy smoker recipe can feed a crowd. And it has a perfectly balanced salty and sweet taste that everyone loves! Let’s make it…
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How long does it take to smoke bone in pork?
Plan for about 12 hours smoke time for 3-4 LB pork, despite what the internet says!
This bone in pork shoulder smoked initially at 250 degrees. When the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees F, I recommend cranking the smoker up to 300 or 350 degrees F so the meat continues cooking steadily. More on that later…
Personally, I find that you can’t follow the “90 minute a pound rule” because large chunks of meat take a while to smoke.
There is also a “lag time” or “stalling time” which you’ll see further down in this post.
Basically, the temperature will be rising and rising, and it looks like your smoked pork is cooking just fine and steady, and then all of a sudden, it won’t get above a certain temperature. Dinner time will come, and you’ll have to find something else to eat if you haven’t raised the temperature of the smoker.
Or maybe that’s just a personal problem. But that’s happened, times that I’ve forgotten to raise the temp of the smoker. Yup, at times the food was barely ready for bedtime and we ate it the next day.
So plan for 12 hours, and remember that leftover smoked pork is so tasty if you’re looking for a next-day meal.
What can you use to spitz smoked bone in pork to keep it moist?
I have one main Pellet smoker pulled pork spritzing tip: use almost anything, just make sure you’re using something! You can spritz pulled pork with a mixture of water ⅔ parts to ⅓ parts anything like apple cider vinegar, beer, apple juice, fresh squeeze orange juice, bbq sauce. You really can’t go wrong.
Do you have to wrap smoked bone in pork shoulder to smoke it?
Some people debate whether or not there is a need to wrap food in the smoker with foil or butcher paper. To help with large pieces of pork in the smoker like this recipe, I do recommend wrapping it in butcher paper (wrapping in foil is better when you want to steam pork, like in this St. Louis smoked ribs recipe).
How do you handle the stall when smoking bone in pork?
Many people experience a lag time when smoking food and that’s why my recipe recommends not only wrapping it at a certain point, but also increasing the temperature of the smoker to help move the pork along. I’ve experienced smoking stalling issues with many large pieces of meat smoked slowly like smoked pulled pork shoulder and smoked brisket flat.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this tasty dish.
Initial smoked pork shoulder time (unwrapped)
- Pork shoulder, bone-in (pineapple smoked pork shoulder can also be made with pork labeled Boston Butt)
- BBQ seasoning (or any pork dry rub)
Spraying while smoking to keep it moist
- Vinegar apple cider (substitutions in recipe at bottom of the page)
- Water
Kulua-style pork flavoring while wrapped in butcher’s paper
- Pineapple
- Brown sugar
Have a boneless pork shoulder to cook? See this recipe for smoked pulled pork shoulder.
How to smoke bone in pork shoulder
Now I’ll walk you through it…
Detailed recipe steps
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 250 degrees F.
- Season bone in pork shoulder with BBQ rub, massaging it in all over.
- Smoke it. Also add a water pan to the smoker so it helps steam the bone in pork shoulder while it smokes. (I usually use a loaf pan or a small metal brownie pan and fill it with a couple inches of water. I set it to the side of the pork.)
- Spritz bone in pork while it smokes. Add apple cider vinegar and water to a spray bottle. Spritz the top and sides of smoking bone in pork while it cooks, about once an hour.
- Remove pork shoulder from the smoker once it reaches degrees 150 – 170 degrees F.
- Preheat the smoker to 300-350 degrees F (I recommend increasing the temperature of the smoker at this point so you don’t run into stalling issues as the pork finishes cooking. Higher temperature means it smokes faster, and I don’t think much moisture is lost between 300 degrees F and 350.)
- Wrap pork shoulder in butcher’s paper with pineapple and brown sugar. To do this, first spritz the butcher’s paper with some apple cider and water mixture. Then add 2 slices of pineapple, touching each other, to the center of the butcher’s paper. Add half the brown sugar on top of pineapple. Add bone in pork shoulder on top. Then top with remaining brown sugar, and finally, the top layer of pineapple rings. Wrap pork shoulder tightly, like a burrito.
- Continue smoking bone in pork shoulder until done. I like to put an internal read thermometer inside of the pork while it smokes so I know when it reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees F, which means it’s done cooking to pulled-pork-tender meat.
- Rest pork about 20 minutes, or until it’s cool enough to handle and shred with two forks or shredding tools. (Sometimes we’ll pop the pork, still in the butcher’s paper, in a Yeti or cooler to keep warm until serving).
Have leftovers? See how easy it is to make homemade BBQ pork egg rolls…
Smoked pineapple pulled pork sandwiches
Once you smoke a bone in pork shoulder, there are plenty of creative ways to enjoy it.
Make pulled pork pizza, pork tacos, breakfast tacos with scrambled eggs, or pile them in nice fluffy rolls to make pulled pork sandwiches.
So dice up all that smoked pineapple from this recipe and add it to smoker pulled bone-in pork sandwiches for all the Hawaii vibes. ☀️
Don’t miss this recipe for smoked peaches…
See how to make 5 minute grilled pineapple slices…
See how smoke pineapple…
Easy Smoked Pork Recipes To Try
- Smoked bacon wrapped pork tenderloin
- Pellet smoker St. Louis ribs
- Smoked meatloaf wrapped in bacon
- Smoked bacon
- Pulled pork shoulder smoked
- Traeger smoked ham
- Smoked pork belly
YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE
Pro tip: One of my go-to tricks for perfectly cooked food every time is using the right BBQ meat thermometers.
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– Jenna
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Smoked Bone In Pork Shoulder Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Video
Equipment
- Loaf pan
Ingredients
For initial smoked pork shoulder time (unwrapped)
- 3.5 LB pork shoulder bone-in
- ½ cup BBQ seasoning or any pork dry rub
For spraying while smoking to keep it moist
- 1 tbsp vinegar apple cider substitute __
- ½ cup water
For extra Kulua style pork flavoring while smoking wrapped in butchers paper
- 1 pineapple outside removed and cut 4 pieces / about 2” discs
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 250 degrees F.
- Season bone in pork shoulder with BBQ rub, massaging it in all over.
- Smoke it. Also add a water pan to the smoker so it helps steam the bone in pork shoulder while it smokes. (I usually use a loaf pan or a small metal brownie pan and fill it with a couple inches of water. I set it to the side of the pork.)
- Spritz bone in pork while it smokes. Add apple cider vinegar and water to a spray bottle. Spritz the top and sides of smoking bone in pork while it cooks, about once an hour.
- Remove pork shoulder from the smoker once it reaches degrees 150 – 170 degrees F.
- Preheat smoker to 300-350 degrees F. (I recommend increasing the temperature of the smoker at this point so you don’t run into stalling issues as the pork finishes cooking)
- Wrap pork shoulder in butcher's paper with pineapple and brown sugar. To do this, first spritz the butcher's paper with some apple cider and water mixture. Then add 2 slices of pineapple, touching each other, to the center of the butcher's paper. Add half the brown sugar on top of pineapple. Add bone in pork shoulder on top. Then top with remaining brown sugar, and finally, the top layer of pineapple rings. Wrap pork shoulder tightly, like a burrito.
- Continue smoking bone in pork shoulder until done. I like to put an internal read thermometer inside of the pork while it smokes so I know when it reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees F, which means it’s done cooking to pulled-pork-tender meat. Exactly how long to smoke a bone in pork shoulder will depend on the size and how many times the smoker is opened, releasing heat.
- Rest pork about 20 minutes, or until it’s cool enough to handle and shred with two forks or shredding tools. (Sometimes we’ll pop the pork, still in the butcher's paper, in a Yeti or cooler to keep warm until serving).
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