Pork Butt Calculator
The art of gauging how much pulled pork to prepare per person can seem like a tricky balancing act, but fret not! A simple culinary rule of thumb can guide you: aim for around a third of a pound of smoked pork shoulder per guest. If your guests are anything like mine, their love for this succulent meat seems to eclipse their usual appetite!
When the time comes to orchestrate a party, my target is to whip up at least 0.4lbs of cooked pulled pork for every attendee. This may sound like a generous portion, but remember, the worst-case scenario here is a delightful one – having leftovers! Trust me, in my household, leftover pulled pork is as fleeting as a delicious dream.
Let’s dive into some number crunching to help you visualize the servings you’d get from a raw pork shoulder. Typically, we can expect about half of the weight to cook off during the smoking process. Therefore, a robust 10lb pork shoulder would eventually yield around 5lbs of delicious, smoky meat (bone included). Given our preferred serving size of 0.4lbs, this would translate into approximately 12.5 servings. Factor in the weight of the bone, and you’re looking at a solid 10 servings of mouthwatering pulled pork to charm your guests’ taste buds!
How much pulled pork do I need for my party?
We wanted to take the guess work out of how much pulled pork you need for your party, by creating this handy calculator. Simply input the number of guests you plan on hosting, and the calculator will output amount of pork shoulder you need to buy.
How many servings does my pork shoulder feed?
On the other hand, if you’ve already purchased your pork shoulder or Boston Butt, you may be wondering how many people it will feed. Enter the uncooked weight of the pork shoulder below, and find out how many servings.
What size pork shoulder should you buy?
Pork shoulders and Boston Butts some in a number of different sizes. We’ve seen ranges from 5lbs all the way up to 18lbs. When it comes to selecting the size, two factors are important, how long you have to smoke the pork shoulder, and how many guests we plan on hosting.
If speed is a priority, we’ll actually opt for cooking to smaller pork shoulders to help speed up the process. If we have more time, we prefer going with a larger cut and letting the process play out.