Smoked Kansas City-Style Pulled Pork

Kansas City-Style Smoked Pulled Pork

This Kansas City-style smoked pulled pork has a deeply flavorful bark, a smoky flavor all the way through, and is so tender and juicy that it will shred with just your hands. The best part? It’s low maintenance and besides watching your smoker, you can set it and forget it until it’s done!

Smoked Kansas City-Style Pulled Pork with sauce

Alright everyone, let’s talk smoked pulled pork! When you first buy a smoker it’s the first thing everyone recommends you make (because it’s a cheap cut of meat and it’s pretty hard to screw up), but honestly it’s pretty intimidating at first and most people (hi, me included) messed it up at least a little the first time.

It can be hard to find reliable information with cooking styles like barbecue that are steeped in tradition and old wive’s tales – everyone you talk to will give you different advice and everyone is adamant that their way is the only way. Then to make it worse, they tell you things like “smoke it until it’s done” (not HELPFUL!). So when you finally do find exact instructions somewhere, it’s all so overwhelming that you’re temped to just throw in the towel before you even start. BUT smoking meat is NOT hard if you have the right information to do it, and luckily for you, I’ve sifted through thousands (okay, hundreds [alright, fine, tens]) of recipes, essays, and manifestos about smoking pork and this blog post is what I’ve learned and what I’ve been able to put to use.

If you want perfect succulent pork, but you just don’t know where to start – start here. I will cover everything I can think of to help you on your way to barbecue nirvana.

I have a Traeger, but no matter what you have, the basic cooking instructions and recipe will be the same for any smoker. You’ll just need to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for preparing your wood and starting up your smoker. The amount of “babysitting” you’ll need to do during cooking will vary greatly with the type of smoker you own. Traegers are very set-it-and-forget-it, an old school offset smoker isn’t, so use your best judgement.

Kansas City-Style Smoked Pulled Pork on the Traeger

Smoking Temperature

Barbecue diehards will tell you to smoke at 225 degrees F or not to bother. Here’s the thing, that takes 100,000 years and depending on your smoker’s ability to hold heat and accurately measure temperature that could be way too low if you’re planning on eating the food sometime this week. You can smoke meat low and slow at any temperature below 275 degrees F and get the same results. I promise. I’ve tried it. Also, if you don’t believe me, then let me leave you with this: Aaron Franklin of renowned Franklin Barbecue in Austin, TX smokes all of his meat at 275 degrees F and recommends that you do, too, in his book.

Personally, I like to smoke pork shoulder at 250 degrees F because it significantly cuts down the cook time from the traditional 225 degrees F, but it’s still easy to manage and not a big deal if you forget to check the temperature for awhile. Whereas at 275FF, my pork finished SEVERAL HOURS before I planned for it to be done, and it’s a little harder to manage because you have to monitor it more aggressively.

I recommend you start with 250F, especially if you’re new to smoking meat and you haven’t quite figured your smoker out yet. It’s a good middle ground temperature which will deliver good results.

You might be tempted to turn the temp way up, which of course will get your pork “done” in record time, but meat only turns into barbecue at low and slow temperatures, so don’t do this because it won’t give you the results you want!

Kansas City-Style Smoked Pulled Pork whole smoked pork shoulder

Internal Temperature and “The Stall”

Every serious cook will preach the importance of internal temperatures when cooking meat. It’s not only important for food safety, but they’re the only truly reliable indicator of when meat is done but not overcooked. (If you struggle with steaks and chicken breasts, get an instant read thermometer and use it!)

The recommended temperature for pork to be safe/done is 145F, but with barbecue you don’t just want the meat to be cooked, you want the fat and collagen to render out so it’s fall-apart tender and juicy which means the internal temp needs to be MUCH higher. The “perfect” temperature for smoked pulled pork is 203F. I know that sounds counter-intuitive to someone who is used to cooking things like pork chops to 145F, but if you pull that pork shoulder off at 145F it’ll be so tough that it won’t even pull apart with hulk-level strength.

I recommend you get a probe thermometer that you can stick in the meat when you start cooking with a cable that hooks up to an electronic gauge outside of the smoker so that you can watch your pork’s temperature without opening and closing the lid and letting your heat out. But any instant read thermometer will work just fine!

Old school pitmasters will tell you to test the meat’s doneness by seeing how easily you can pull the bone out or trying to shred it to see if it’s done, but the easiest and most reliable way is to just monitor the temperature.

HOWEVER, there’s a phenomena known as The Stall (dun, dun, duunnn) that is unique to meat cooked low and slow. You’ll see the temperature slowly rising at first, and then when you get to about 165F it will just stop moving (or it might even start dropping! The HORROR!) and it’ll seem like something is wrong. DON’T PANIC.

Listen, I was told about the stall when I bought my smoker and I didn’t believe it. It didn’t make any logical sense to me why it would happen. And when it did happen I freaked out thinking I was doing something wrong and messed with the pork and tried wrapping it in foil (more on that later) and all of this other stuff because it just didn’t make sense.

But actually, it’s science and it does happen. It’s because of evaporative cooling. At this point, the meat is losing moisture at the same rate or faster than it’s gaining heat. Basically, the meat is sweating. As the moisture that’s being pushed out reaches the surface of the meat, it evaporates which causes the temperature to cool down. Once every single last drop of moisture is gone, the temperature will start rising again and you’ll be on your way to perfectly smoked pulled pork.

Can you speed up the stall? Yeesss, but I don’t think it’s worth it. First of all, we’re already smoking at 250 degrees F, which will get you through it faster than if you were smoking at 225F. The most common way to speed up the stall is with what’s called “the Texas crutch”, which means taking the meat off when it hits the stall, wrapping it tightly in foil and then putting it back on. But when you wrap the meat in foil you’re essentially just letting it braise in it’s own juices instead of cook in the smoke, which means you’re taking it from a dry environment to a wet environment and that’s not going to do your bark any favors. Not to mention that it’s just a waste of wood because no more smoke is going to get to your meat. IF YOU MUST, don’t use foil, use pink butcher paper to help retain some of the bark. But please don’t do it at all. Just let your meat do it’s thing. You don’t need to wrap it, and by the time you open the smoker, take the meat out, wrap it up, and then open the smoker AGAIN to put the meat back on, the temperatures will have dropped so much that you’ll be setting yourself behind anyway. It truly doesn’t help that much anyway.

Just remember, it’s done when it’s done. It takes about 13 hours for a 7-9 lb pork shoulder, but so many things can affect this (weight of the meat, temperature of the meat when you put it on, temperature outside, etc.) you can’t speed it up and every smoker will give you a different result. Just track the temperature and be patient!

Kansas City-Style Smoked Pulled Pork

Ingredients, Injecting, and Basting

My favorite barbecue rub is a Kansas City style rub – sweet, a little spicy, and with garlic and onion powder. I think it’s got the deepest flavor, but it’s all about personal preference. You can use a different rub, and the instructions for cooking will still be identical! I make my own rubs because most pre-made rubs aren’t gluten free, but you can use a pre-made one too (although, these usually have MSG and other stuff you don’t need in them). It does take a large quantity of spices to make a rub, and it always looks like it’s way too much, but it really absorbs into the meat, so I assure you it’ll be the right amount!

Some people will inject their meat with a marinade (but this isn’t competition barbecue so I don’t), or baste it during the cooking (I think this hurts the bark and is unnecessary), but you can experiment with both of those things if you like!

Some people also use what’s called a “slather” under their spice rub to help it stick (usually yellow mustard). I’ve done it with and without and honestly I didn’t notice much difference in the end, so I go without because there’s less clean-up.

Smoked KC-Style Pulled Pork, shredded close up

Lastly, I just want to talk for one second about the smoke ring. That’s the pinkish-red color right under the bark of the meat. Some people will tell you that it indicates how far the smoke penetrated the meat, however, that’s not true. It shows how far the smoke penetrated the meat before the meat hit a certain internal temperature. Smoke is still flavoring your meat after that, there’s just no visual evidence. The colder your meat is to start, the bigger your smoke ring will be. But again, amazingly smoky meat can exist without a smoke ring, and in fact it’s not allowed to be used as a judging criteria for competition barbecue anymore.

Kansas City-Style Smoked Pulled Pork

Alright! I think I’ve covered just about everything there is to cover! If you have any additional questions, let me know in the comments or drop me an email or DM me on Instagram and I will try to help!

Here’s the recipe:

Smoked KC-Style Pulled Pork, shredded close up
5 from 21 votes
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Smoked Kansas City-Style Pulled Pork

Smoked KC-Style Pulled Pork has a deep flavorful crust and perfectly smoky flavor, and it’s so tender that it falls apart with just your hands.

Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Barbecue
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 13 hours
Total Time 13 hours 20 minutes
Author Sizzling Mess

Ingredients

  • 7-9 lb bone-in pork shoulder roast
  • Enough pecan or hickory wood chunks/chips/pellets for 13 hours of burn time

Dry Rub

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 tablespoon paprika
  • 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

Instructions

  1. Prepare your smoker for 13 hours of smoke time and preheat to 250 degrees F.

  2. In a small bowl, combine all of the dry rub ingredients. Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels, then apply the dry rub to all sides making sure to cover every inch and rub it in gently so it all sticks to the pork.

  3. Place your pork into your pre-heated smoker (and if you have one, insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the meat away from the bone so you can monitor temperature without opening the smoker), and then don’t open the lid of the smoker again to check the internal temperature until at least 6 hours have passed, then you can start checking every two hours, until the 10 hour mark, then start checking hourly if you please.

  4. Pork is done when an instant read or probe thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the meat away from the bone reads 203 degrees F. This takes about 13 hours. Meat should shred easily with your hands or with two forks. (For explanations about the internal temperature and the dreaded “stall” and everything else to get you started, please read the main post.)

Recipe Notes

You can prepare the pork for smoking ahead of time (and I recommend it because you will likely need to get up very early to put the pork on) by following the instructions through the application of the spice rub and then covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating until ready to smoke.

To reheat leftovers, add a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, water, chicken broth, or apple juice to the pork and reheat in a low oven or in the microwave.


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Comments

41 responses to “Kansas City-Style Smoked Pulled Pork”

  1. Micky Avatar

    5 stars
    Wow – this looks fantastic. We just got my dad a smoker for Father’s Day, so I’m going to share this recipe with him!

  2. mydeliciousmeals Avatar

    This looks absolutely delicious. I see so many recipes of smoked meats lately that it makes me think if I need to buy a smoking machine 🙂 Which one do you use? Thank you!

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      You definitely should get one! I have a Traeger Texas Elite 34 and I love it. I like pellet smokers because they are pretty hands off and deliver consistent results, and are most similar to offset smokers. Traeger does make smaller ones, but if you have any intentions to entertain, the 34 is the perfect size. They are pricey, but definitely worth it in my opinion.

  3. Sophia Inza Avatar

    This looks amazing! I need to get myself a smoker! It’s just so hot these days… maybe for the winter!

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      Smoking meats is an all year round activity with the right smoker! Set it and forget it smokers (like pellet smokers) are perfect because you spend minimal time outside and have delicious food without heating up the kitchen ;).

    2. Randy Avatar
      Randy

      5 stars
      Good advice. I’m learning after 1.5? 2? Idk years of pellet smoking to put the meat on and leave it alone. Lots of recipes tell you to start spritzing with magic unicorn juices and such after a few hours.

      DON’T DO IT! let that butt sit in the smoker. And don’t even look at it for the first 6 hours.

      I do my cook the day before the meal. I have all day to futz with it and get it done. Reheated meat has a little more smoke flavor than same day, at least at my house.

  4. Kelly Anthony Avatar
    Kelly Anthony

    5 stars
    Im super impressed with this pulled pork! Looks really delicious!

  5. Michelle Avatar

    5 stars
    Love the pictures of this pulled pork, I think I will try this, this weekend for my family!

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      Let me know how you like it! Tag the blog on Instagram @sizzlingmessblog so we can see your recipe photos!

  6. Stine Mari Avatar
    Stine Mari

    5 stars
    This sounds amazing! And you’ve got some great and thorough tips on how to make it, thank you.

  7. Constance Smith Avatar

    5 stars
    Oh my heavens, that looks insane!!! Now I’m wanting pulled pork for breakfast! There’s nothing wrong with that, right? 😉

  8. Gloria Avatar

    5 stars
    OMG…my mouth is watering. LOVE pulled pork. Hubby is the BBQ fanatic in our house. He would LOVE making this recipe. I will print it off and give it to him. I know this would be the hit of our next BBQ party for sure.

  9. Gabby | The Tolerant Table Avatar

    5 stars
    Pulled pork is hands down my favourite meat at the moment! Followed closely by brisket. We are very interested in getting our smoke on too so we’ve been looking at buying a smoker…. this will be the first thing on there! How good does it look?!

  10. Jere Cassidy Avatar

    5 stars
    This looks like the best-pulled pork. Thanks for the instruction, I don’t do pulled pork well so this is helpful.

  11. Kacie Morgan Avatar

    5 stars
    This looks so good. I’m on a keto diet at the moment and this looks almost keto-friendly, if it weren’t for the brown sugar (but I guess it’s only a small amount per portion)!

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      You could leave the brown sugar out! It would taste different but lots of barbecue ribs skip the sugar.

    2. Rocco Avatar
      Rocco

      Kacie, I too was on the keto diet and bbq is the only corner I would cut haha. There really isn’t enough sugar in the rub to give you problems as long as you keep your carb intake low enough to fit it in. I used to purposely keep my carbs under 10g for the day just so I could come home and eat some ribs.Like Sam said, you could skip the sugar but imo just eat it the way it tastes best and adjust your keto macros to allow for some good bbq

  12. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    5 stars
    This is such a helpful and informative post. I really want a smoker now, and some of that pulled pork.

  13. Jacqueline Debono Avatar

    5 stars
    Wow this is a feast! We don’t have a smoker but I really wish we did! Mouth-watering!

  14. Alexis Avatar
    Alexis

    5 stars
    Yummy! My husband and kiddos love pulled pork. When we get a smoker, I’ll be trying this recipe for sure.

  15. Armelle Dee Avatar

    I gave up on pork long time ago but I could never resist a good pull pork. This is mouthwatering, I am drooling here. I will definitely pin this recipe

  16. Sondria Avatar
    Sondria

    5 stars
    Omg the “stall” happened to me recently. Now I know why. My pork turned out tough as leather 😩. I’m definitely using your suggestions.

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      Oh man! The stall is rough. Let me know how it turns out or tag me in your photos on Instagram if you make this recipe :).

  17. April Avatar

    5 stars
    I think your pics are amazing! I love bbq but eat mostly brisket lol. I think my sister will love this recipe. She’s a big fan of pulled pork. I grew up eating it. My mom used to make it a lot during the summer. These days I don’t eat pork so I’m going to send your recipe to my sister. On another note I need a smoker! We just moved from Dc area to Kansas and it seems like everyone has a smoker!

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      It’s funny because I’m more of a beef person, and usually get brisket at a restaurant (if I’m not getting ribs which is my go-to), but my husband is the opposite and LOVES pork, so we usually get both! Haha.

  18. Mirlene Avatar

    5 stars
    I do no not eat pork; however, I would try this recipe with beef.

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      I am planning to do a brisket post eventually! (Once I get it right.) The basic principles of barbecue are the same for pork and beef, like the stall, but it’s not entirely the same because brisket is a much tougher cut of meat and much easier to dry out or mess up. So I wouldn’t recommend using the methods in this recipe for beef, BUT if you took thit sugar out of the rub, it would be a delicious brisket rub :).

  19. Stephanie Avatar

    5 stars
    Appreciate all the in-depth info on how to make this pork! Can’t wait to try it out – my hubby loves pork!

  20. […] Kansas City Style Smoked Pulled Pork […]

  21. […] Kansas City-style Smoked Pulled Pork {Sizzingly Mess} […]

  22. George Sevelle Avatar
    George Sevelle

    5 stars
    While I know that the traditional method is low and slow on the smoker, have you tried the very slow Sous Vide method. I’ve done Carolina pulled pork, pretty much the same as you do here just a different rub and finishing sauce, but I’ll Sous Vide the shoulder for 24 hours at 155, then add a bit more rub and toss it in the smoker to finish for 3 to 4 hours. I’ve done both ways and have found that Sous Vide guarantees a more juicy final product with still an abundance of that wonderful smokey flavor.

    1. Sizzling Mess Avatar
      Sizzling Mess

      That’s interesting! I haven’t tried it – I haven’t used a sous vide since I was in culinary school, but maybe I should get one for home!

      1. George Sevelle Avatar
        George Sevelle

        I’ve done Texas Brisket, Pastrami, and Corned beef this way as well. You will need a 15 inch vacuum sealer to bag a whole brisket. I’ll run the Briskets at 165 for 36 hours then 3 to 5 on the smoke. Everybody loves them. I’ll load up my smoker with 4 or 5 after the bath and let it go. Much easier than getting up at 4:30 a.m. to start the fire.

  23. Andrew Avatar
    Andrew

    Was looking for a comment from someone who actually tried the recipe. No such luck. I’ll reply to this after tomorrow with real feed back.

    1. Brett Spence Avatar
      Brett Spence

      Did the same…

      And?? How did it go?

  24. `Rob Robinson Avatar
    `Rob Robinson

    5 stars
    Not enough stars to truly tell exactly how good this recipe turned out. My friends and family agree…this is the recipe for everyone. Don’t take my word for it…try it yourself and you’ll understand just how good this really is! The only way to make this any better is to double the recipe and double the meat!!!

  25. Sean F Avatar
    Sean F

    5 stars
    Thank you so much for this article. I have been trying different methods for over a year now. Your idea of going to 250 and until 200 meat temp worked fantastic. It was the moistest pulled pork yet. It pulled each 9 lb portion in 4 minutes. Amazing. Thank you.

  26. Sgt Reuster Avatar
    Sgt Reuster

    Thanks for this, even though you’ve been gone a while. Wife is from KC and her bbq must be KC Style, so Sunday… it’s on like Donkey Kong

  27. Sgt Reuster Avatar
    Sgt Reuster

    So I went with a small shoulder, you know the ones with the netting holding them together, and assumed it would take half the time to smoke… well… I’m 11 hours in and finally getting close (196 degrees).
    Needless to say, I was not prepared for the length of time to smoke a smaller piece of meat, and… I’m starving so I hope it comes out well. Lol

  28. Leroy Hite Avatar

    5 stars
    I love this recipe and I love that it’s based in reason and not just tradition. I have no problem with tradition but I don’t like doing things the way we’ve always done them just because it’s the way we’ve always done them. Sizzling mess if you would like to try out some complementary smoking wood from Cutting Edge Firewood, please let me know. I’d love your feedback. (Check out our website)

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