Pork Butt Day is a thing at our house! Yes, we get excited and put in a lot of planning to ensure it is a perfect, fun day. In fact, we usually start planning a few days ahead. After all, it usually takes all day to smoke the pork butt on the grill. Not this time! This pulled pork recipe details how we roast the pork butt in the oven, which we've found to be much easier and less demanding on our time.

So we have all the ingredients in the house: pork shoulder, the seasoning (really important!), cabbage and carrots for the coleslaw, vinegar, brown sugar, and pepper flakes for the NC BBQ sauce, and really good buns for the sandwich. Our favorite pulled pork sandwiches are made with NC BBQ vinegar-based sauce, and making nachos with pulled pork is a whole new level of appetizer.

Pork Butt Day!

As I mentioned, smoking a pork butt on a charcoal grill is time-consuming and usually takes all day. In fact, it starts the night before! We season the pork butt the night before so all those spices can mingle with the meat. The wood chips are soaked overnight to give the meat a smoky flavor.

I sort of messed up this year when it came to planning for the big day. I forgot to buy wood chips and extra charcoal. Plus, the morning we were going to grill, it was raining like cats and dogs outside!!

Oven versus Grill - not a hard decision

So we were not going to let a little rain or lack of charcoal set us back, and we were not going to miss out on pork butt day! I mean, when you are puckered for one of these zingy sandwiches, it's all you can think about, and nothing is going to take its place. It's actually hard to sleep the night before because of all the anticipation of all the great meals we were going to have 😆. Soooooo we decided to cook the pork butt in the house in a low-temperature oven.

The aroma of the pork butt filled the house. It's almost as good as a turkey on Thanksgiving day!

Slow-cooking the pork butt in the oven makes the pork fall-apart tender, and the best part is we didn't need to spend all day watching the grill to make sure the fire didn't go out, or it didn't get too hot. Now, we can enjoy this fantastic treat more often without the time-consuming process of smoking the pork butt on the grill.

Pork Butt seasoning - for great Pulled Pork

We discovered the combination of paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, celery seed, black pepper, cumin, dry mustard, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper is what truly brings out the flavor in the pork butt. Don't get me wrong, the smoky flavor is great from the grill. But it takes a lot of time and attention to keep the grill temperature perfect for 8 to 10 hours.

This pulled pork recipe is for cooking in the oven. It is a lot simpler! All you need to do is mix the spices, rub the spices on the pork, place it in a large baking dish, cover it, and refrigerate it overnight. Then take the pork butt out of the fridge. Add ½ cup of water to the dish. Cover it with aluminum foil, and place it in a 285-degree oven.

I have to admit that grilling can be a fun family activity since you spend most of the day outdoors. However, for me, making pork butt in the oven is a better option.

I understand that traditionalists may argue that pork butt must be cooked on the grill, but based on my experience, I prefer to save the grill for other fun foods like steaks, Portobello mushrooms, or even our Thanksgiving turkey.

Steps to make this Pork Butt recipe:

Get ready to cook a mouth-watering dish with this easy pork butt recipe. Start by cutting off most of the fat from the meat. We used kitchen scissors, but a knife will also work. Once this is done, mix all the spices - paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, celery seed, black pepper, cumin, dry mustard, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper. For cooking indoors and to get that smoky taste, we added a little extra paprika.

Using a knife, make small slits in the pork and rub the spice mix generously all over the pork and get it down into those cuts and all those nooks and crannies. This will help infuse the meat with all the delicious flavors. Then, place the pork in an oven-safe dish/baking dish, cover it, and put it in the refrigerator overnight. This will help the spices get into the meat.

The pork butt can go in the oven right after the spice mix is put on, but we have found letting it sit overnight really gives that great flavor we want for pulled pork sandwiches.

For our pulled pork sandwiches, we prefer a North Carolina BBQ sauce. It's a vinegar-based sauce with a nice spice and a few calories. We prepare coleslaw with cabbage and carrots and use Litehouse coleslaw sauce, which perfectly complements the BBQ sauce. As soon as the pork is ready, we heat the buns in the microwave for 20 seconds. Then top them with pulled pork, NC BBQ sauce, and coleslaw, making a delicious dinner.

NC BBQ Sauce Recipe

1 Cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar-free ketchup
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (more, less, or none, depending on how spicy you want the sauce)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

TIPS:

I highly recommend getting a good pair of kitchen shears. They work great and are a lot easier to use than a knife. Especially when trying to remove skin/fat from a pork butt, trying to cut chicken wings, or spatchcock a chicken.
If you don't want to deal with the fat, you could ask the butcher to remove it for you. That is, if you are lucky enough to have a butcher who will do that for you.
Make some Nachos with the pulled pork. Just place corn chips on a baking sheet and top with some pulled pork and cheddar cheese. Place in a 350-degree oven and bake until the cheese is melted.

Looking for more recipe options? We have a few suggestions you might enjoy!

Pulled Chicken - Juicy, tender, pulled chicken loaded with flavor. This is a great alternative to pulled pork!
BBQ Chicken Pizza - Tangy, Spicy BBQ Chicken Pizza. This pizza is loaded with flavors that will excite your taste buds. Also, it's a great way to use leftover BBQ Chicken!
Pan-Fried Garlic Pork Chops - This pan-fried garlic pork chop recipe has to be one of the tastiest, easiest, and juiciest ways to cook pork chops in your oven.
Easy Nachos - Easy recipes to use leftover chicken
Cheesy Stuffed Pork Chops - This Easy Cheesy Stuffed Pork Chop recipe will be your new favorite one-pan dinner. Creamy cheese, ham, and herbs fill a perfectly seared pork chop.