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This Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder Makes the Juiciest Pulled Pork Ever: My kids really love pulled pork, but I can’t always make them smoked pulled pork – so I designed this Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder to bring perfect tender, juicy pulled pork with a crispy crust, right from the oven.
When I don’t have time to fire up the smoker or the weather is bad, this recipe is my go-to! The flavor and crunch is so delicious, this has become my favorite way to make pulled pork – and you won’t believe how easy it is!
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
Table of contents
How to Make Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder
There’s nothing better than pulled pork that’s juicy and fall-apart tender — except when it also has crispy edges. This crispy baked pork shoulder is my go-to oven method for making incredible pulled pork without a smoker or grill.
It’s deeply flavorful, easy to prep, and perfect for everything from cozy fall dinners to summer sandwiches when you don’t want to fire up the grill. If you’ve ever wondered how to get pulled pork that’s both tender and crispy, this is the recipe you’ve been looking for!
Baked Pulled Pork With Crispy Crust Ingredients:
To make this pork shoulder, you will need:
- Pork shoulder – Rich, marbled cut that becomes tender and juicy when slow-cooked, perfect for shredding and crisping in the oven.
- Celtic sea salt or kosher salt – Enhances natural flavors and helps create a flavorful crust.
- Fresh cracked black pepper – Adds sharp, earthy heat and texture to balance the pork’s richness.
- Garlic powder (optional) – Brings savory depth and a mild roasted flavor.
- Adobo seasoning (optional) – A bold, herby blend that adds smoky, tangy, and slightly citrusy notes.
- Smoked paprika (optional) – Adds a hint of sweetness and deep smoky flavor, enhancing the outer crust.
Steps to Bake Crispy Pulled Pork:
While this recipe takes a long time – about 8 hours – there is very, very little active prep or work – and just a few super-simple steps.
Prep
With the oven rack in the middle of the oven, preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet or roasting pan with foil. Set a wire cooling rack or roasting rack over foil lined baking sheet or roasting pan.
Season & Sear
Season pork liberally with salt, pepper, and optional spices or pork rub.
Put pork in oven and cook until crust starts to crisp and brown, about 40 minutes at 450.
Reduce temp to 250.
Slow & Low Roast
Roast at 250 (or low) until you can easily pull meat by gently twisting with a fork when inserted into pork shoulder, about 8 hours.
Crisp
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (or as high as oven will go). Let oven fully preheat. Add pork to oven and let skin puff and get crispy – rotate every five minutes to make sure you get an even blister around the pork shoulder, for about 20 minutes.
Rest & Shred
When pork is crunchy around all sides, after about 20 minutes, remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
Pick/shred/pull pork meat and serve immediately.
Tips and Tricks for Perfect Crunchy Pork Shoulder
Pork shoulder vs pork butt. Pork shoulder and pork butt don’t actually come from the rear end of the pig, but are from the leg and shoulder area. Butt is really the “shoulder” area of the pig, and pork shoulder comes from a little lower down the leg. Neither come from the rear of the hog – and refer to the front legs, which is kind of confusing! Normally, we call for pork butt for pulled pork, since there is more delicious marbling – but for this recipe, we specifically call for pork shoulder, so the fat and skin can crisp and give us that amazing crispy crunch!
How to prep pork shoulder. To start, you’ll prep your pork shoulder – trim excess fat, and pat dry any liquid to help aid in seasoning generously.
How long to bake pork shoulder. You will bake for approximately 8 hours, until pork is tender and shreds with light pressure from a fork.
How long to crisp pork skin for crunchy crust. Finally, you’ll crisp the pork at 500 degrees for 20-30 minutes to get an amazing out of this world crispy, salty crunchy skin!
Dry the pork shoulder thoroughly before seasoning — surface moisture kills crispiness.
Use a wire rack inside the roasting pan so hot air circulates around the pork.
Don’t shred everything immediately — leave some large chunks intact for crisped edges.
Crisp at End: Finish under the broiler for 3–5 minutes after shredding for extra texture.
Let pork rest: Let the pork rest at least 20 minutes before pulling to keep it juicy.
Toss in Juices: Toss shredded pork with a little of its own pan juices, not water or broth.
Make it Extra Crispy: Spread pulled pork on a sheet pan and re-crisp before serving for sandwiches or tacos.
What Pork to Use: Pork shoulder (aka Boston butt) works best because of its fat content + connective tissue.
How to serve pork shoulder. To serve this crunchy baked pork shoulder, I usually just treat it as pulled pork – shredding it and serving with buns, sauce, coleslaw, and other toppings for guests to make pulled pork sandwiches. If you’re making this crispy pork shoulder for a party and serving pulled pork sandwiches, I’m listing some of my favorite pulled pork sandwich ideas below:
- Korean BBQ pulled pork sandwiches – toss pulled pork with Korean BBQ sauce and top with kimchi or favorite asian slaw.
- Green Chili Pulled Pork – combine pork with green chili enchilada sauce and top with Monterey jack cheese, shredded lettuce, and jalapeños for a spicy pulled pork sandwich.
- Pulled pork hash browns – combine hash browns, a diced onion and diced bell pepper, and pulled pork and pan fry for a delicious pork breakfast skillet. Top with a fried egg for even more flavor!
- Pulled pork mac and cheese – top creamy and delicious mac and cheese with shredded pulled pork!
- Pulled pork tacos – add pulled pork, hot sauce, salsa, beans, and cheese for meaty pulled pork tacos.
Crispy Baked Pulled Pork FAQ’s
Pork shoulder is done cooking at 145 degrees when read by a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat.
Since we’re cooking this shoulder for a long time to break down connective tissue, we’re not going off temperature for this recipe.
This pork shoulder takes 8+ hours to cook to tender – which either means waking up early, eating late – or pre-cooking for some of the time.
We’ve made this pork numerous times by roasting 5-6 hours one day, and then finishing off a few hours the day we serve it – and its always delicious!
For this crispy skin pulled pork recipe we are using pork shoulder to get a great crispy crunch from the additional fat and skin, unlike other pulled pork recipes which call for pork butt.
Either will work – but for the most crunch, opt for pork shoulder.
If using a pork butt, watch cooking time, as the butt is smaller and may cook faster.
Pork shoulder is the best cut because it has enough fat and connective tissue to become tender while still crisping beautifully in the oven.
Yes. This method was designed to get crispy crust outside, and tender, juicy shredded meat inside. We will cook uncovered in the oven, with a high heat sear to start off, and then finish with a quick broil at the end for extra crispy skin.
No. This crispy baked pork shoulder delivers smoky, pulled pork texture entirely in the oven — no grill or smoker required.
Yes. Pulled pork reheats extremely well. Reheat on a sheet pan to restore crispy edges before serving.
What to Serve With Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder
For another knockout game day pork shoulder recipe, please check out my green chile pork carnitas. They are so delicious in tacos, and are also low carb and keto!
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The Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pork shoulder, 8-10 pounds
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp adobo seasonings
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- With the oven rack in the middle of the oven, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet or roasting pan with foil.
- Set a wire cooling rack or roasting rack over foil lined baking sheet or roasting pan.
- Season pork liberally with salt, pepper, garlic powder, adobo seasonings, and paprika.
- Place seasoned pork on rack and place in oven.
- When crispy crust has formed, about 30-40 minutes, reduce temp to 250.
- Roast until you can easily pull meat by gently twisting with a fork when inserted into pork shoulder, about 7 more hours.
- Remove pork from oven and tent with foil.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
- Let oven fully preheat.
- Add pork to oven and let skin puff and get crispy – rotate every five minutes to make sure you get an even blister around the pork shoulder.
- When pork is crunchy around all sides, after about 20 minutes, remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Pick/shred/pull pork meat and serve immediately.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to six days in the refrigerator, or up to four months in the freezer.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Why would you put 2hours cool time when it’s really 8hours?
Thats an oversight, thanks for pointing it out I fixed it!
That picture is HORRIBLE! I thought it was cancerous skin when I was flipping through.
Apparently you’ve never made pulled pork with the skin on and the skin is the best part!
Wow! Looks scrumptiously delicious. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
Made this for the family and it was a hit!
This pork shoulder recipe looks incredible! I need to try this out sometime. Thanks for sharing!