Cold brew pork shoulder for the ultimate pulled pork

Win the day with our cold brew pork shoulder packed with coffee flavor and create the ultimate pulled pork dishes hands down.

In the Grillax Test Kitchen, we love to play around with flavors, and when it comes to pork we almost always find a way to infuse coffee flavors. This recipe uses steeped cold brew coffee to inject our pork shoulders before a slow and low smoke.

There are a lot of chefs out there who only put coffee on the outside of their pork to create a dark, intense bark. This works to an extent but can’t come close to how injection really sets the flavor for smoked pork shoulder.

Let’s Make Cold Brew Coffee

Here’s how it works: Grind the coffee coarsely, which you can do at home or wherever you buy the beans. Combine the grounds with filtered water, then let steep for a day, about 22-24 hours.

The coffee will slowly infuse into the water, creating a strong and highly concentrated cold brew. A quick two-step filtering process straining the grounds through a sieve and a coffee filter to pick up silt leaving a smooth, clean finish.

Cold-brewed coffee is incredibly smooth and almost sweet-tasting. The slow infusion pulls all the great coffee flavor from the roasted beans.

Whatever you have leftover brew make the ultimate iced coffee and add some half-and-half or flavored cream. Shazam, it’s good!

Cold Brew Injection

If you haven’t drunk all of the cold brew you have made it’s time to inject the pork shoulder. with a large liquid injection syringe, pull in the cold brew and inject the entire pork shoulder about an inch or two into the protein.

There is no need to let the pork sit as the cold brew injection is where it needs to be for the next 11-13 hours depending on the size of your pork shoulder.

A simple base rub of Heath Riles Garlic & Jalapeño Rub and a sweet bark rub of Key’s Southern Spice is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy for this ultimate pork shoulder recipe.

Serve it up

Some of favorite ways to serve up pulled pork are:

• Pork Sliders — A generous portion of pulled pork on a slider bun topped with bread & butter pickles and red onions.
• Pork Sammys — A two-handed sandwich with a heaping pile of pulled pork on Texas Toast topped with sweet cole slaw and a thick, bold sauce.
• Pulled Pork Salad — Think Cobb Salad but replace the chicken with pulled pork. Add some BBQ sauce to sweeten up the salad and create serious flavor against the blue cheese.
• Pulled Pork Pizza — Easy prep with this one. Drizzle BBQ sauce on the pre-baked pizza crust and sprinkle the pulled pork all around the crust. Add shredded pepper jack, pineapple, jalapeño and red onion to the top.
• Pulled Pork Biscuits — The best breakfast goodie ever! Add pulled pork to bottom half of a biscuit and drizzle with BBQ sauce and honey. Top the biscuit and chow down.

Reheating Pulled Pork

Here is a great way to get your pork tasting just as good as when it came off the smoker.

Back on the smoker we go

Place the pulled pork in a disposable aluminum pan and into a smoker at around 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Close the lid and smoke for about two hours, breaking apart and stirring the pork every half hour. Add BBQ sauce or rub back into your meat since it’s pulled.

Freezing Pulled Pork

Frozen pulled pork will last about six weeks in a refrigerator or about six months in a deep freezer.

• Add room-temperature pork to a freezer-safe bag.
• Shred the pork before freezing.
• Only add what you would eat in a serving. You don’t want to refreeze.
• Remove excess air in the bag.
• Write the date on the bags.

Happy Grilling!

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Cold Brew BBQ

The Grillax crew loves to play around with flavors, and when it comes to pork we almost always find a way to infuse coffee. This recipe uses steeped cold brew coffee to inject our pork shoulders before a slow and low smoke.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Style American, Southern

Keywords: coffee, cold brew, injection, java, pork shoulder, pulled pork, smoked

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 12 hours

Total Time 12 hours 20 minutes

Serves: 8 people

Calories 195 kcal

What’s In It?

• 5-8 pounds Bone-in pound pork shoulder
• 1 cup Califia Farms Cold brew coffee (or make your own) See steps above in the article
• 1/2 cup Heath Riles Garlic & Jalapeño Rub Base rub
• 1/2 cup Key's Southern Seasoning Bark rub

How to Make It

1. Heat smoker to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. Have enough fuel for 10-12 hours of smoke time.

   

2. Remove pork shoulder from wrapper and rinse with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels to remove all moisture.

3. Use a large culinary injection syringe to inject 1 cup Califia Farms Cold brew coffee (or make your own) into pork shoulder. Penetrate at least 1.5 to 2 inches. Be sure to inject in all sides.

   

4. Add 1/2 cup Heath Riles Garlic & Jalapeño Rub base to the pork shoulder. Pat into the meat.

5. Add 1/2 cup Key's Southern Seasoning bark rub to the pork shoulder. Pat into the meat.

   

6. Place pork shoulder fat side down away from direct flame.

   

7. Once internal temperature reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit, wrap in butcher paper.

8. Return to smoker and continue cooking until the shoulder reaches and internal temperature of 195-200 degrees.

9. Let cool down for an hour before pulling/shredding pork. The shoulder blade should pull out easily.