I would never claim to be a professional meat smoker. I didn’t actually start smoking meats until about 5 years ago when my husband and I bought our first pellet grill. We went nuts and started smoking EVERYTHING! Through a lot of trial and error and online tutorials, I actually became pretty good at it. The one recipe that I haven’t messed with since the first time making it is this Dr. Pepper Smoked Pulled Pork!
It is a little sweet, a little spicy, and of course smokey! I remember questioning the ingredients when I first made it, but one bite was all it took and we were all obsessed!
What is in Dr. Pepper Smoked Pulled Pork?
The ingredients used to make this are so simple. Dr. Pepper, brown sugar and chipotle peppers in adobe sauce are the main ingredients. I use mustard as a binder (which you cannot taste at all!) and I use whatever BBQ rub I happen to have on hand. Although my favorite is Kinder’s BBQ Blend. I always use a bone-in pork butt. It does have a very high fat content, but that is where a lot of the flavor comes from. I do trim it before cooking, but not a lot. I won’t be able to provide many tips on smoking meat or the different methods you can use because I have only used a pellet grill. Our first one took a dive after about 2 years. I now use the Z-Grills 700 D-3 and I am so much happier with it than our previous one.
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To begin, trim off as much fat as you desire. A pork butt is naturally very fatty, so what you trim is going to be what is on the outside.
You can use whatever you like as a binder or none at all. I like to use just plain yellow mustard. Brush it all over the pork butt. After you have applied the binder, sprinkle on your favorite BBQ Rub. As mentioned above, I Used the Kinder’s BBQ Blend! Be sure to season it generously and get all sides of the pork butt.
Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees. Once it is ready, place the pork butt directly on the grates. Shut the lid and let it do its thing for 4-5 hours!
This is just the smoking phase, when all of that good smokey flavor is going to permeate through the meat!
Fill a plastic spray bottle with a small amount of Dr. Pepper and give it a good spritz every hour.
After 4 hours, it should have a nice caramel color to it. At this point, you need a large aluminum pan to transfer it into. Carefully remove from the grill and put into the pan.
Once you have taken it out of the grill, you are going to pour roughly 12 ounces of the Dr, Pepper on it and rub it down with as much brown sugar as you need to cover the top. Then you are going to blend up one can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and spread that all over the top as well.
Back to the smoker we go! And now is when you want to insert a meat thermometer. This is very important! Because no matter how many times you make one of these, you never know exactly how long it will take to cook! For whatever reason, these things sometimes like to hit a stall around 165 degrees. This has only happened to me twice, but you just have to ride it out.
The sweet spot we are looking for is 205 degrees! And we do not want to open the smoker or do anything else to the pork butt at this stage of smoking and that is why the thermometer is so important!
This grill has 2 built in temperature probes, which is extremely convenient! Put the thermometer in the very middle of the pork butt, cover tightly with foil and wait. Might as well grab a cold beer and sit back and relax for a while!
What sides go well with Dr. Pepper pulled pork?
Pretty much any! And that is not an exaggeration! But I can offer a few suggestions that you can find here!
Cowboy Baked Beans – a must have at any BBQ!
Twice Baked Potato Casserole – one of my personal faves!
Sunshine Broccoli Supreme – yes please!
Italian Pasta Salad – loaded with goodness!
4-Cheese Baked Mac & Cheese – one of my kids’ favorite
Corn Casserole – another of my kids’ favorites!
All right, we have been patient and our pork butt has finally reached the 205 degree mark! Woohoo! But now, you need to let it rest for an hour. Boo. But it is worth the wait I promise you!
Take the thermometer out and wrap it back up in the foil. Carefully transport it inside and let it rest with the foil on for about an hour. (If you are impatient like me, 45 minutes is good enough!)
You know you have done a good job when you can pull the bone out and it comes out perfectly clean! Now all that is left to do is shred it up! This is most easily done with 2 forks. Shred it right in the pan because you want it to swim in those yummy juices! And I know we have waited all day already, but letting it sit in those juices for about 20 more minutes is really going to make it even more flavorful!
And now it is time to eat!
If you do make this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating! I love hearing from you and it helps so much! Thank you!
And if you would like to order a copy of my new digital cookbook called “Dinner is Done!”, click here!
Dr. Pepper Smoked Pulled Pork with Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Smoker
Ingredients
- 8-10 lbs Bone-in Pork Butt
- 3/4-1 Cup Yellow Mustard
- 6-7 tbs BBQ Rub any flavor or brand
- 8-14 oz Dr. Pepper Cola
- 1-2 Cups Brown Sugar
- 7 oz Can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
- All measurements are approximate due to varying sizes of pork butts
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees.
- Trim most of the fat from the outside of the pork butt and brush with as much yellow mustard as needed to coat the entire thing. Then coat liberally with the BBQ Rub on all sides.
- Place directly on the grates of the smoker and close the lid.
- Fill a spray bottle with about a cup of Dr. Pepper and generously spray the pork butt with it every hour for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, transfer the meat to a large aluminum pan. Pour enough Dr. Pepper over it so that it comes up about an inch on the sides of the pan.
- Cover the top of the meat with brown sugar. Blend the chipotle peppers up and spread that over the top of the brown sugar.
- Insert a meat thermometer into the center of the pork butt and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Cook until the internal temp reaches 205 degrees.
- Remove from the grill and let rest 45 min – 1 hour.
- Shred and stir into the juices and enjoy!