Traeger Pork Shoulder

Showing the smoke ring on a smoked pork shoulder.

A citrus marinade gets injected into the pork shoulder and gives the meat a delicious flavor.

Keeping a low temperature on the Traeger grill lets the pork shoulder develop a deep smoky flavor and delicious, dark bark on the crust. The pellet grill makes it easy to maintain a constant and accurate temperature.

If you hit a long stall, you can wrap the meat to speed up the smoking time and bring it out of the stall quicker. If you are patient and have the time, skip the wrap and let it come out of the stall on its own.

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Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 18

Additional Time: 1

Total Time: 19 20

Servings: servings

Calories: 63kcal

Author: Dahn Boquist

Ingredients

Injection Marinade

1 cup orange juice
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
3 to 5 dashes of Tabasco sauce

For the Pork Shoulder

1 bone-in pork shoulder 8 to 10 pounds
4 tablespoons yellow mustard
½ cup dry rub** see notes we used smoked chipotle mezcal

Instructions

Prep the Pork Shoulder

Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Trim the excess fat from the pork shoulder. Leave about 1/4 inch of fat on the pork (a thicker layer of fat will not render down).
Place the pork in a dish or rimmed baking sheet to contain the juices when you inject the marinade. Load a meat injector with the marinade and inject the pork shoulder in several places. Discard any of the marinade that leaks out.
Pat the pork dry with paper towels. Smear the mustard all over the surface of the meat then coat it with a dry rub.
Cover the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.

Smoke the Pork Shoulder

Preheat the Traeger to 225°F.
Place the pork shoulder directly on the grill rack, fatty side up. Place a meat probe thermometer in the meat and close the grill.
Smoke the pork shoulder until it reaches an internal temperature of 200°F to 205°F (this should take about 15 to 20 hours if you keep the Traeger set at 225°F).

Dealing with the Stall

Approximately four to six hours into the smoking time, the pork shoulder will hit a stall and it will look like the temperature stopped climbing. The stall is normal. Sometimes it lasts so long that you might start to think your grill or meat thermometer stopped working.
When the pork gets to the stall point, you can either wait it out, or push it out of the stall a bit faster by wrapping it in pink paper or aluminum foil.
Aluminum foil will insulate the meat and bring the temperature up quicker but it will block out most of the smoke flavor. Our choice is to use pink butcher's paper or simply wait it out. The paper will help insulate the meat and bring it out of the stall while still letting in some smoke flavor. Paper will also help keep a flavorful bark on the meat.
Patiently waiting out the stall will give the pork shoulder the most flavor and the best crusty bark coating.

Finishing the Pork Shoulder

When the pork shoulder reaches 200°F to 205°F, remove it from the smoker, cover it in aluminum foil, and let it rest for at least an hour. You can place it in an insulated cooler to keep it warm.
When you are ready to serve the pork, use a fork or a pork shredding tool like bear claws to pull the meat. If you find large chunks of cartilage or fat, toss them out.

Notes

You can use any storebought rub or make your own. Our tri-tip rub and our BBQ seasoning are easy to make. For this recipe, we used Spiceology Smoked Chipotle Mezcal.
If you want pulled pork (shredded meat), cook the pork shoulder to an internal temperature of 200°F to 205°F. If you want to slice the pork, you only need to cook it to an internal temperature of 175°F.
Base the finished pork shoulder on the internal temperature and not the estimated cook time. The cook time will vary but you can make a rough estimate based on the following:
For pulled pork (cooked to an internal temperature of 200°F) estimate 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours per pound.
For sliced pork (cooked to an internal temperature of 175°F) estimate 45 minutes to 1 hour per pound.
If you increase the temperature on the Traeger to 275°F, the pork shoulder should only take about 1-1/2 hours per pound to reach an internal temperature of 200°F.
The internal temperature will hit a stall somewhere between 145°F and 160°F. The length of time the meat stays in the ‘stall’ varies with every cook. Wrapping the meat in foil or butcher's paper will help push it through the stall and get the internal temperature to start rising again.
Wrapping the meat in foil will help increase the temperature faster. Wrapping the meat in paper will help the meat keep that crunchy bark layer. The paper wrap will also let the meat continue to infuse with smoke flavor.
If the pork finishes cooking before you are ready to serve it, an insulated cooler will keep it warm for several hours.