How Long to Smoke a Pork Butt (and a Turkey)

Smoking is the slowest cooking there is, and the clock is the least honest tool in the yard. Two very different jobs share this page: a pork butt, which you take far past done until it pulls apart, and a turkey, which you take to safe and not a degree further. Get your probe thermometer out before you light anything. Here are the numbers.

How Long to Smoke a Pork Butt

Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours per pound at 107C (225F). A small 1.8 kg (4 lb) butt takes 6-8 hours; a full 3.6 kg (8 lb) one can run 12-16. Those are planning numbers, not promises. A pork butt is finished when the inside reads 90-96C (195-205F) and the probe slides into the thickest part like it is going into soft butter. That is far past the 63C (145F) at which pork is technically safe to eat — but safe is not pullable. The collagen that makes pulled pork soft and rich only breaks down at those high temperatures, over those long hours. If it probes tough at 195F, leave it be. If it is butter-tender at 197F, it is done, whatever the recipe said. Temperature and tenderness decide. The clock only estimates.

The Stall: When the Temperature Stops Climbing

Somewhere around 65-74C (150-165F) inside, your pork butt will simply stop cooking. The needle sits still for two, three, sometimes four hours. This is the stall, and every butt does it. Moisture evaporating off the surface cools the meat as fast as the smoker heats it — the same way sweat cools you. Do not turn the heat up in a panic, and do not keep lifting the lid to look. Wrap the butt tightly in butcher paper or foil and put it straight back on. The wrap stops the evaporation and the temperature starts climbing again. Paper lets a little steam out and keeps the bark firmer; foil is faster and gives a softer bark. Either works. Grandad swore by paper. Grandad also once smoked a butt for nineteen hours, so make of that what you will.

How Long Does It Take to Smoke a Turkey

Allow 30 to 40 minutes per pound at 107C (225F). A 5.5 kg (12 lb) bird takes 6-8 hours; a 6.4 kg (14 lb) bird more like 7-9. The turkey is done — properly, safely done — at 74C (165F) in the thickest part of the thigh, with the probe not touching bone. Check the breast too; it should also read 74C (165F). Unlike the pork butt, there is no pushing past done here. Turkey has no collagen worth melting, and every degree past 74C is a degree drier. Get it to temperature, get it off, let it rest before carving. And smoke it whole and empty — which brings us to the rules below.

Two Turkey Rules That Are Not Optional

First: never stuff a turkey you are smoking. Second: keep the bird under about 7 kg (16 lb). Both rules exist for the same reason — the danger zone. Between 4C and 60C (40-140F), bacteria multiply quickly, and a low 225F smoker moves meat through that zone slowly. A big bird spends too many hours warm-but-not-hot in the middle; stuffing, buried in the coldest part of the bird, is worse still, because it must also reach 74C (165F) and at smoking temperatures it may sit unsafe for hours while the meat around it looks lovely. Feeding a crowd? Smoke two smaller birds rather than one giant. They cook faster, they cook safer, and you get twice the crispy bits to fight over.

Trust the Thermometer, Not the Clock

Every number on this page bends with the weather, the wind, how often you open the lid, and the shape of the meat itself. The internal temperature does not bend. Push a probe thermometer into the thickest part — the centre of the butt away from the bone, the inner thigh of the turkey — and believe what it tells you over any chart, including this one. For the pork butt, pair the number with feel: 90-96C (195-205F) and probe-tender means done, whether that took 12 hours or 17. For the turkey, 74C (165F) is the line, full stop. When the times and the temperatures disagree, the temperature wins. It always wins.

Questions we get asked

How long does it take to smoke a pork butt at 225?

About 1.5 to 2 hours per pound at 107C (225F). A 3.6 kg (8 lb) butt takes roughly 12-16 hours. It is done when the internal temperature reads 90-96C (195-205F) and a probe slides in with no resistance — go by that, not the clock.

What temperature is pork butt done?

For pulled pork, 90-96C (195-205F) internal, and probe-tender. Pork is technically safe to eat at 63C (145F) with a 3-minute rest, but at that temperature the collagen has not broken down and it will not pull — it will carve. Keep going.

How long does it take to smoke a 12 pound turkey at 225?

A 5.5 kg (12 lb) unstuffed turkey takes about 6-8 hours at 107C (225F) — that is 30-40 minutes per pound. It is done at 74C (165F) in the thickest part of the thigh, with the probe not touching bone.

Can you smoke a stuffed turkey?

No. At a low smoker temperature the stuffing, buried in the coldest part of the bird, spends hours in the danger zone of 4-60C (40-140F) before it reaches a safe 74C (165F). Smoke the bird empty and bake the stuffing separately in the oven.

Should I wrap my pork butt in foil or butcher paper?

Either. Wrap when the stall hits, around 65-74C (150-165F) internal. Butcher paper breathes a little and keeps the bark firmer; foil pushes through the stall faster but softens the bark. Both get you to 90-96C (195-205F) in the end.

Is pork butt the same as pork shoulder?

Pork butt — Boston butt — is the upper part of the shoulder, nothing to do with the rear of the pig. It carries more marbling than the lower picnic shoulder, which is why it is the classic cut for pulled pork. Both smoke the same way: 1.5-2 hours per pound at 107C (225F) to 90-96C (195-205F).

Recipes that use it

• Old-Fashioned Coleslaw
• Grandma's Old-Fashioned Baked Beans
• Old-Fashioned Cornbread
• Old-Fashioned Cornbread Dressing