Pork Butt Burnt Ends
These pork butt burnt ends are sticky, saucy, sweet morsels of meat that taste nothing like the pulled pork that you usually make from this cut of pork. If you love the classic brisket burnt ends, then try this version made from Boston butt!
Servings: 10 people
Ingredients
- 6 lb pork butt, bone removed *See notes
- ¼ cup yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup barbecue seasoning *We used 'Que That Rub and Seasoning.
For the Glaze
- ½ cup barbecue sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce, preferably vinegar-based *See notes
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- ½ stick butter
Instructions
- Heat your pellet grill or smoker to 225℉ with your choice of wood or pellets.
- Cut the pork butt into cubes about 1½" thick. *See notes for deboning and cutting instructions.
- Toss the pork cubes in a large mixing bowl with the yellow mustard and Worcestershire sauce until evenly coated. Then arrange on a large cooling rack, slightly spread out so that smoke can get to all sides of the pork. *I placed my cooling rack on top of a sheet tray that I lined with peach butcher paper to reduce clean-up, but you can place the cooling rack directly on the grill grates if you prefer. Evenly season the cubes of pork on all sides with about ¼ cup barbecue seasoning.
- Place the cooling rack of pork cubes on the grill, close the lid, and smoke at 225℉ for about 3 to 3½ hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches about 160℉. *I also used super smoke mode on my Traeger Woodridge Elite grill, and I flipped the pork pieces halfway through so that they smoked evenly.
- When the pork is almost to 160°F, make the barbecue sauce mixture in an aluminum foil pan. Add barbecue sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, hot sauce, and sriracha to the pan and mix together well. *Adjust sweetness or heat to taste, based on your chosen barbecue sauce. Toss the cubes of smoked pork in the pan with the sauce until they are well coated.
- Raise the grill temperature to 275°F. Arrange the glazed pork pieces into an even layer in the foil pan, and add the ½ stick butter, cut into thinly sliced medallions, across the top.
- Return the glazed pork to the smoker, and close the lid. Cook at 275℉ until the internal temperature of the pork reaches about 200-203℉, tossing the pork butt burnt ends every 30-40 minutes to evenly coat in the sauce. *For us, this took about an additional 2½ hours, but cooking times will vary. Always cook to the proper internal temperature, not to a specific time.
- When the pork butt burnt ends are tender to your liking, about 200-203℉ internal, transfer to a serving tray and allow to cool about 10-15 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- Boneless pork butt - Most pork butts that you find in the grocery store are bone-in. You can remove the large blade bone fairly easily yourself, or you can usually find boneless pork butts at big box membership stores like Costco or Sam's Club.
- Deboning the pork butt - Pat the pork butt dry with paper towels so it doesn't slide around on the cutting board. Find where the large blade bone is exposed, and use a 7-8″ filet or boning knife to cut down the sides of the bone with shallow strokes, pulling the meat back as you go. Slice the butt into long strips that are about 1.5″ thick. Then cut the strips into cubes.
- Hot sauce choices - I like to add two types of hot sauce for a more complex flavor profile – a vinegar-based hot sauce and sriracha. The combination of the two is perfect, because the sriracha is more of a creamy texture. Adjust the amount of hot sauce or omit completely, based on your desired spiciness.