Sriracha Pulled Pork

I realize that the Sriracha mania might be leveling off, but I was a Sriracha fanatic before the shortage and will be till I’m fitted for a wooden suit. I had such great luck making Sriracha Ribs last year while partnering with World Harbor Marinades, I decided to do it again this year with pulled pork. But I didn’t just marinade the pork shoulder. No, I took Sriracha Pulled Pork to the next level.

Sriracha Pulled Pork Ingredients:

• Pork shoulder (also called a pork butt or a Boston butt)
• 1 bottle of World Harbors Sriracha Marinade and Dipping Sauce
• Salt
• Black and white pepper
• Sweet BBQ rub
• A meat injector

We’re not just going to give this pork shoulder a Sriracha bath, we’re going to inject it into the meat:

Basically, go every inch or so around the shoulder, top and bottom, the sides, everywhere:

After injecting it, put it in a resealable plastic bag and add some more of the World Harbors Sriracha Marinade to coat and put in the fridge for 4-24 hours.

How to Grill Sriracha Pulled Pork

When it’s time to grill, place the pork shoulder on a cutting board. Salt, pepper and coat one side with the sweet rub. Why only one side and why sweet? Well, if you rub one side then flip it over to rub the other, a bunch of the rub is going to stick to the cutting board. Place it rubbed side down on the grill and the rub the other side to get optimum bark. And why sweet? I try to get well balanced flavor profiles. I have the spicy and savory of the Sriracha, saltiness from the salt, and now I want some sweet to balance that out.

Here’s the pork shoulder on a 325 degree pellet grill with both sides rubbed and ready for some smoke:

Let’s back that butt up for a minute and talk about why pork shoulders are called butts or even Boston butts. Back in the days of wooden sailing ships, pork shoulders were packed in barrels of salt and stowed below deck for the sailors to eat while on their long journeys. The barrels were called butts and the pork inside took on the name. One of the main ports at the time was Boston so quite often those butts loaded with pork and salt were destined for Boston which is why they are still sometimes called Boston Butts. There’s your history lesson for the day.

Some of you are wondering about smoking a pork shoulder at 325F. For some, that’s at least a 100 degrees too high. It’s call the high heat method, but it’s actually more like medium heat but medium heat doesn’t sound as good. Using the high heat method this should only take 5-6 hours depending on the size of the pork shoulder. Try it. I rarely do 225 anymore. I get the same great flavor much quicker.

Here we are about halfway through the cook:

When smoking a pork shoulder, it’s vital that you have a thermometer. We’re going for 195-200 degrees internal. At some point when the pork shoulder hits 150-160 degrees you will enter the stall. The dreaded stall. The temp will climb pretty steady and then level off and maybe even go down a couple degrees. Many a pitmaster has been driven mad by the stall. What happens is all the fat and collagen inside the shoulder liquifies and is like throwing a bucket of water on the pork. Don’t sweat the stall and wait for it to hit 195-200. If you have starving people and it’s stuck in the stall, wrap it in foil, put it back on the grill and up the temp.

At about 5.5 hours my bark is beautiful and my Sriracha pork shoulder is ready to come off the grill:

But we don’t immediately start making that shoulder into our Sriracha pulled pork. Nope, I wrapped it in foil and put it inside my unlit kamado grill for about an hour. THEN I busted out the meat claws and made this glorious sammich! You could also put pulled pork in tacos or tamales, too. 

Pulled Pork Summary

The sweet rub really balanced out the spicy of the Sriracha making it full flavored rather than blistering hot. This was a definite hit and something fellow Sriracha lovers should take a stab at. Check out another unique pulled pork recipe here.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email:

World Harbor Marinades compensated me for this post

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Print Recipe

Sriracha Pulled Pork

Sriracha injected and marinated pork shoulder, slow smoked to make perfect pulled pork

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time5 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course: Entree, Finger Food, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Grilling, Pork, Sandwich

Keyword: Barbecue, Barbecue Pork, BBQ, BBQ Pork, Injected, Marinade, Marinate, Pellet Cooker, Pellet Grill, Pellet Smoker, Pork, Pork Butt, Pork Shoulder, Pulled Pork, Smoked Pork, Sriracha, Sriracha Pulled Pork

Servings: 8 People

Equipment

• meat injector

Ingredients

• pork butts/shoulders also called a pork butt or a Boston butt
• World Harbors Sriracha Marinade and Dipping Sauce
• salt
• black and white pepper
• your favorite sweet BBQ rub

Instructions

• Inject the pork shoulder every inch or so with the World Harbors Sriracha Marinade and Dipping Sauce
• Place the shoulder in a resealable plastic bag and pour enough marinade over the top to coat
• Remove from the bag and apply salt, black and white pepper and a sweet rub to one side
• Prepare the smoker for 325 and place the shoulder rubbed side down then salt, pepper and rub the other side
• When the pork shoulder reaches an internal temperature of 195-200, pull from the grill and wrap in foil
• Place it in an unlit oven or a microwave that is off for about an hour
• Then pull the pork with forks or meat claws

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

See Full Bio

BBQ Grilling

Related Posts

Pulled Pork: Back to the Basics

To Inject or not to Inject, that is the Question

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

How to Grill the Perfect Pork Chop

This article was initially published on: July 8, 2016