It’s spring, it’s baseball season…sun’s out, guns out, my friends! And this spring season, my family is spending equal parts at home/work/school, on the baseball fields, and on the back porch grilling and smoking our favorite foods (or at least it feels like it!). We LOVE to grill and smoke and today, I want to share with you the perfect recipe for baseball season grilling: Barbecue Baked Potatoes with Smoked Pork Shoulder…on the grill! How do you smoke meat on the grill, you ask? We’ll show you today. To start, the first thing you need is to out and pick up a bag of charcoal. We’ve been grilling with charcoal for as long as I can remember, and we prefer the taste of a charcoal grill over gas ANY DAY!
My husband is from Texas, so he would say that smoking meat and grilling out is in his blood…and charcoal is just one grilling preference that will never change. I’m so excited to be sharing with you how we turned our charcoal grill into a smoker to create these delicious BBQ Baked Potatoes with Smoked Pork Shoulder! It definitely is a process to smoke the meat, but it’s SO worth it in the end. All your family will LOVE the time and effort you put into smoking the delicious pork to fall-off-the-bone tenderness!
Once you’ve added your wood chips, then you place a pan of water on the other side of the grill and add the lit Kingsford Charcoals so that it can start the smoking process. We applied a delicious rub to our pork shoulder (recipe below) and then placed directly onto the grill, fatty side up.
You’ll want to check your grill every hour or so to ensure that you still have lit charcoal. The longer you smoke the meat, the more tender, juicy, and delicious it will be!! One thing we’ve QUICKLY learned from years of smoking is that the first time the meat “looks” done when smoking isn’t usually the time to take it off. The longer you leave it on will give it a great smoky flavor, crispy outside, and deliciously juicy and tender inside!!
After 9-11 hours of smoking, we add our foil wrapped baked potatoes and leave them on the grill for another hour or so—just in time for evening game time when they need to be ready! Pull them off, shred your pork, and then get to the fun part…adding the delicious toppings!
Top your potatoes with butter, sour cream, cheese, avocados, jalapenos, and of COURSE…delicious and precariously smoked (fall off the bone) pork shoulder!
These baked potatoes are SO good, so filling and so full of flavor…they truly are the perfect game day dinner!!
Don’t be afraid to try new things on your grill this summer…try smoking meat if you’ve never done it. Try stepping outside your grilling comfort zone to try new things that your friends and family may like on the grill!
You’ll also enjoy…
Barbecue Baked Potato with Smoked Pork Shoulder
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 7 lb pork shoulder
- 4 large baking potatoes
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sour cream
- 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- cilantro
- Kingsford® Original Charcoal
- Kingsford® Wood Chips with Hickory
Instructions
- Grab full recipes and more like it at: www.kingsford.com/MLB. In a small bowl, combine the spices. Rub on all sides of the pork and set aside.
- To prepare the grill for smoking, use the snake method. Lay out unlit Kingsford Charcoal briquets in a single row around the edge of your grill, then add a second and third layer of briquets above them. Add Kingsford® Wood Chips along the line of coals. Place a foil pan with hot water in the center of the snake. Light about eight briquets in a chimney. When ready, pile all of the lit coals at the head of the charcoal snake. The coals will burn down slowly as the meat cooks.
- Place the pork shoulder fat side up on the rack, cover with the lid, and bring the temperature up to a constant 250 degrees Fahrenheit, using the vents to regulate the temperature. If your grill doesn’t have a temperature gauge, use a digital thermometer. Check the temperature of the grill every hour, adding more charcoal and wood chips as needed to maintain temperature.
- Smoke for 8-9 hours or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches about 205 degrees Fahrenheit. Carefully remove from the grill and let rest for at least 15 minutes before shredding into large chunks.
- To cook the potatoes, remove the wood chips and prepare the charcoal fire for indirect cooking, situating the coals on one side of the grill. Preheat to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash the potatoes and wrap each one in foil. Place over indirect heat, away from the coals, and close the lid. Cook until the potatoes soften, about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Transfer the potatoes to a cutting board. Cut a slit in the top of each one and divide the butter, sour cream, jalapenos, cheese, and avocados between them. Top each with about 3/4 cup of pulled pork and garnish with cilantro.
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