5 Best Woods For Smoking Pork Butt
We just love smoking food! Don’t you? It creates a much more complex flavor profile and elevates the natural flavors of your meat.
As you may already know, pork is one of the best meats to smoke. It is easy to pair and will take on the flavors without effort.
So, which woods are the best for smoking pork butt? Anything that can stand up against the pork flavor will do just fine. Great wood types include apple, hickory, white oak, and more.
Hickory and applewood are our top 2 choices. They create a very unique strong flavor that makes the meat more savory. Other options include white oak, pecan wood, and peach.
In this jam-packed article, we take a look at the best way to pair wood with pork butt and exactly how you should use it. We have also included many pros to using each of these, and naturally also some unfortunate cons on them.
What Is Pork Butt?
It is important to understand what cut of meat you are working with and its characteristics.
This will help you more easily understand why certain cooking methods are used, how they work, and even what flavors to pair with the meat itself.
Pork butt, specifically, is an extremely flavor-packed cut. It is also sometimes called a pork roast cut or Boston butt and comes from the top shoulder part of the pig. We know, the name is quite misleading.
This cut is mostly used to create pulled pork. This is because it produced deliciously rich flaky pieces that are more suited for pulling that serving whole. But, if you want to serve it as a large piece, it is still possible.
Because of the size of this cut, you must use long and slow cooking techniques. This can include anything from roasting (at lower temperatures), braising, stewing, or pressure cooking.
It also helps if the cooking method has moisture included in the recipe, for example, a seasoned braising liquid. This not only adds a lot of flavors but helps prevent the meat from becoming tough and dry.
Naturally, pork is also an excellent meat to smoke with. Even though this is a dry cooking method, the crisp layer on the outside is what helps retain some moisture on the inside of the meat.
Simultaneously, the pork is softened nicely and cooked to perfection!
What Does Pork Butt Taste Like?
The final flavor of pork butt will mostly depend on the basting sauces and seasoning ingredients that you use during the cooking process. And of course, if you are smoking it, the type of wood (and its flavor) you use.
When preparing a relatively neutrally-flavored recipe for pork butt, you can expect a very succulent piece of meat with strong savory pork flavors.
This is further intensified if you smoke the meat. Smoking adds a wonderful earthy flavor as well. Not to mention certain woods add special hints of fruits and spices.
The high-fat content of a pork butt cut makes it very rich too. That is another reason slow cooking methods are preferred – to help “melt” away the fat to draw out some tasty meat juices.
Why Should You Smoke Pork Butt?
There are loads of benefits to smoking pork butt. And if you don’t want to read through all of them, all you have to know is that pork becomes more delicious once smoked – just look at bacon!
But, smoking provides some other very practical functions. This is a popular preserving technique that has been used for ages. You can either hot smoke or cold smoke food, both of which will help slightly elongate the shelf life of the cut.
Smoking is also a fantastic way to add some beautiful brown color to your meat. This makes it a lot more appealing. Think about having steamed chicken fillets versus roasted chicken fillets. The brown color on the meat alone will make you drool!
While a lot of smoking techniques are used to quickly add a bit of flavor and partially preserve the meat, some methods can completely cook it. This is usually done inside a smoker over low heat for hours on end.
The result is mind-blowing! You have perfectly cooked pork that has been elevated with woody flavors. Ultimately, it is a hand-free effortless cooking method that yields an amazing flavor profile.
Best Woods For Smoking Pork Butt
Below, we have created an in-depth list of our favorite smoking woods for pork butt.
You can have a look at which form of these woods will work best for your specific grill or smoker. But, we can guarantee that they will give you a delicious, rich, and savory flavor.
1. Hickory
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Hickory flavors go incredibly well with pork. You can have seen countless pork-flavored hickory products or cured meats.
This wood has a relatively strong flavor and will easily infuse into the meat. It sits perfectly between a milder wood like apple and a heavy one like mesquite.
The flavors you can expect to get from hickory are very savory and hearty. It will give your pork butt a more bacon-like undertone. Other than that, while being quite prominent, it will still allow the natural meaty flavors to peek through.
Hickory wood is also a great option to add for beautifully browned meats. It can give your pork a deep dark color in no time.
You may even need to add some foil before the cooking time has passed. The foil will help prevent the meat from darkening too much.
If you want to use hickory, use planks to only add a mild flavor. You can also use split logs or sticks for this purpose. If you are using a smoker or grill, rather use hickory wood chunks or chips instead.
2. Apple
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Applewood is relatively mild in flavor – by far milder than hickory wood.
It will give you a fruity and slightly sweet flavor profile when used for smoking a pork butt.
The milder flavor is what makes it elevates the natural pork flavors without overwhelming it at all.
You can still even use other flavoring ingredients with it and it is generally very easy to pair.
Another benefit of using apple wood for smoking is that it doesn’t easily burn, meaning it is impossible to create an overbearing smoky flavor.
The biggest downside to using this wood is that you need to constantly check the burning temperature. You should never exceed 230ºF (110ºC). The flavors could become very astringent.
3. White Oak
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Oak is generally a relatively good and safe wood type to use for smoking pork butt.
But, if you want an amazing flavor, go for white oak specifically.
White oak differs from red oak in that it doesn’t smoke as much which is perfect for very long cooking times.
The longer cooking times at a lower heat may create a much more tender succulent product at the end.
This smoking wood will give you a slightly sweet flavor that is underlined with notes of vanilla. It reminds a lot of people of Kentucky bourbon.
This wood is also very easy to blend with others, especially fruity options. This way you can further add flavors more mildly without having to prepare and add ingredients.
Unfortunately, white oak is a quick expensive wood type to use (at least some brands). And, some products burn very quickly, meaning you have to refill the chips a couple of times.
4. Pecan
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Pecan wood, in our opinion, is very underrated as a smoking wood in general. So, we just had to include it in our list.
And, when used to smoke a pork butt, its wonderful characteristics are further showcased!
This wood will give your meat a sweet and rich flavor with definitive notes of nuttiness.
It is a wood that produces very strong flavors, so you may want to pair it with something softer as well.
And, it may be hard to believe, but pecan wood pairs incredibly well with loads of other flavors. This means you can easily make most sauces without worrying about how it pairs with the smoky flavor.
The biggest downside to using pecan wood is that you have to use it in moderation. Otherwise, it will make the meat far too pungent to enjoy!
5. Peach
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Last, but certainly not least, we have another fruity wood that can be substituted with any other stone fruitwood you can find.
Peach specifically made the list because it tends to be the easiest to find in many different forms.
This smoking wood provides you with loads of sweet flavors and a strong stone-fruit undertone.
Unlike many other kinds of fruitwood, peach wood will give you a stronger flavor.
From our experience, peach wood doesn’t have many cons. It is easy to work with, doesn’t easily over-smoke, and lasts quite long.
The only reason it isn’t higher on the list is that the flavors of the above-mentioned options are simply better.
| Smoking Wood | Pros | Cons |
| Hickory | Pairs exceptionally well with pork; gives a strong smoky flavor to the meat; easy to find and very affordable | Can become overwhelming; creates a very dark color which may eventually burn |
| Apple | Delicious mild fruity flavor with a side of sweetness; doesn’t burn easily; can be used for longer smoking sessions; easy to find and very affordable | Shouldn’t heat the wood very high; may cause off-flavors in the meat |
| White Oak | Provides a very delicate flavor that won’t overpower your meat; perfect for slow long smoking periods and techniques; slightly sweet and vanilla-like flavor; easy to blend with other smoking woods | Can be expensive; burns quickly which means you need to replace it frequently; can be difficult to find as compared to red oak |
| Pecan | Gives meat a delicate rich nutty flavor; has a relatively strong flavor for those who like heavily smoked items; wood that easily pairs with flavors of accompanying ingredients | Can create a pungent flavor if you over-smoke the meat |
| Peach | Infuses meat quickly; provides strong fruit flavors (compared to other fruit woods); can be found in many forms for different smoking functions; delicious sweet fruity flavor | May be too mild for some people |
