Hot & Fast Pulled Pork Recipe on the Gateway Drum

February 03, 2023

Sometimes the simple route is the best one to take. That’s what I decided to do with this hot and fast pulled pork recipe. I chose a few ingredients to make the pulled pork moist and absolutely delicious. If you’ve been looking for a 5-ingredient pulled pork recipe, you’ve come to the right place!

Making My Hot and Fast Pulled Pork Recipe

I love good pulled pork, either by itself, on a sandwich, or even wrapped up in a taco. Sometimes I cook it low and slow, but not today. Because, I know, there’s not always 8, 10, or 12 hours of cooking time available. This recipe is simple and fast, but still tender and mouthwatering. Let’s get started. 

The Ingredients

• Boston Butt. I opted for this brand because I’ve used it before and it makes some great pulled pork. 
• Yellow mustard. I’ve used yellow mustard as a binder for many years, and it’s going to add a little zing to this dish. 
• Heath Riles BBQ Hot BBQ Rub. Pulled pork needs a little heat to it, without getting it too spicy. My best-selling Hot BBQ Rub, with its blend of paprika, garlic powder, and other spices, fills the bill nicely. 
• Heath Riles BBQ Honey Rub. Savory, sweet heat adds a depth of flavor to every pork dish. It’s great on chicken and beef, too, but that’s another story. 
• Heath Riles BBQ Tangy BBQ Vinegar Sauce. Peppery, sweet, and tangy notes make sure this sauce always adds another level of flavor to any pork dish. 

The Equipment Setup

My Gateway Drum cranked up to 275 degrees F with some Royal Oak Charcoal was my choice for cooking this recipe. 

The Process for Making Hot and Fast Pulled Pork

I shot a video while I was making this recipe. If you’d like to follow along with it, head over to my Youtube channel and watch it. 

• Get the Boston Butt ready. I unpackaged this big boy and used a paper towel to dry it off good. Turning it over, I saw there was a pretty thick layer of fat on the bottom. Since I’m cooking it on my Gateway Drum, I decided to leave most of the fat as protection while it cooked. I scored the fat with my knife, using a criss-cross pattern with lines about one inch apart. 
• Add the binder. With a few squirts of yellow mustard, I covered the pork butt with a thin layer using my hands, making sure to get the sides. This will be the binder that helps hold the spices on as the meat cooks. 
• Season it up. My Hot BBQ Rub was up first. I sprinkled a generous layer all over the pork butt, patting it in as I went. Then I went over it again with my Honey Rub to give it some savory sweetness. My goal is for this pulled pork to be dripping in flavors that compliment each other, without being too sweet or too hot. These two rubs work really well together to create a mouthwatering flavor. 
• Let the pork sweat. Wanting the spices to sink into the meat, I left the pork butt on the table for about 15 minutes to give it all time to mix together and sweat in. 
• Light the grill. Using Royal Oak Charcoal and Tumbleweed, I lit the fire. When it hit 250 degrees F, I added some hickory chunks, which will give the port butt a delicious smoky flavor. 
• Put the butt to the fire. Once the grill heated up, I placed the pork butt fat-side-down directly on the grate, closed the lid, and let it smoke for an hour. 
• Check it and spin it. Every 30-40 minutes, I checked the butt and spun the rack to make sure the meat cooked evenly. 
• Remove, sauce, and wrap the meat. After 3 ½ hours, when the internal temperature reached 130 degrees F, I took the pork butt off the grill and laid it on 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil. I poured my Tangy BBQ Vinegar Sauce all over the meat to add some moisture and extra taste. Some of it spilled onto the foil, which is okay. After pouring on about half a bottle, I wrapped it up starting long-side first. 
• Place it back on the grill. I put the wrapped pork back on the grill, adding a chef’s alarm that would alert me when the internal temp got to 200 degrees F. This will take another hour or so. 
• Remove the butt. After a total cook time of 5 hours, my butt was done. It was hitting an internal temp of 203 degrees F. 
• Let it rest. The butt rested, still foiled up, for about an hour. After that, I put it in a pan and unwrapped it. 
• Pull the pork. I laid the meat on my cutting board and, using my special forks, pulled through the meat, separating it into small pieces. I could see from how easy it was tearing apart that this pork was going to be super-tender, and it was very moist, too. I left it for a few minutes to let it cool some more, and then went back in and broke up some of the larger pieces. 

The Results

I took a bite and it was every bit as good as I thought it was going to be. The bark on the outside was perfectly cooked, and the seasonings really popped. The hickory wood did its job, because I could taste a delicious, smoky flavor that blended great with the hot and sweet seasonings I’d used. This recipe is a real winner, and simple to boot!

Serving Suggestions for Hot and Fast Pulled Pork

I usually plan on 4-8 ounces of meat per person, depending on if it’s going to be on a sandwich or eaten another way. A pork butt will serve a pretty big crowd of folks. 

Storing It

Put leftovers in a ziplock bag or airtight container and store them for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it. I vacuum-sealed this pulled pork, because I planned on using it later on to make pulled pork nachos and my soon-to-be-famous pulled pork pizzas. 

Equipment and Tools

Gateway Drum, Royal Oak Charcoal , Royal Oak Tumbleweeds , Hickory wood, ChefAlarm Thermapen Mk4, Black nitrile gloves, Large Knife, Stone + Wood Cutting Boards , Heavy-duty aluminum foil, Aluminum pan, Pulling forks

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