Smoked & Braised Pulled Chuck Roast
A 3.66–4 lb chuck eye roast with a mustard binder, coarse pepper and The Gospel, smoked at 225°F with tallow until the bark sets, then braised in broth at 275°F until it pulls apart.
Step aside, brisket. This pulled chuck roast is the most tender, flavorful beef I've ever cooked. My family keeps kosher, and a chuck roast from the kosher butcher let me make legit Texas-style BBQ for a few people without doing a whole brisket.
I'd done a chuck roast once before like a brisket, and it came out tasty but dry and tough as nails. This one was tied up nicely by the butcher, so I braised it and pulled it instead. Definitely the right call.
Why smoke and then braise?
The open smoke at 225°F is all about bark and flavor. I brush the roast with tallow every few hours so the surface stays moist. I keep the tallow in the smoker so it doesn't cool the meat and picks up some smoke. A pan of broth sits underneath the whole time catching drippings.
Once the bark is set, the roast goes into that pan with a little more tallow on top, gets wrapped tight, and the smoker goes up to 275°F. You're waiting for the probe to slide in like butter, around 205–210°F.
Don't skip the rest
Leave it wrapped and rest it in the smoker at 150°F. I went 3 hours the first time. Then pull it right in the pan juices.
Watch the cook
Beef
Smoked & Braised Pulled Chuck Roast
A 3.66–4 lb chuck eye roast with a mustard binder, coarse pepper and The Gospel, smoked at 225°F with tallow until the bark sets, then braised in broth at 275°F until it pulls apart.
Print- Prep
- 15 minutes, plus overnight
- Cook
- 7–9 hours
- Total
- About 10–12 hours with rest, plus overnight
- Yield
- 6–8 servings
- Method
- Smoke, then braise
- Wood
- Your choice
Ingredients
Instructions
- Coat the roast with mustard, then season with coarse black pepper and a generous coat of The Gospel. Refrigerate overnight.
- Set your smoker to 225°F. Pour the broth into an aluminum pan and set it on the rack below the roast to catch the drippings.
- Smoke for about 5–6 hours, brushing with tallow every couple of hours, until the bark is fully set.
- Move the roast into the pan of broth and drippings, add a little more tallow on top and wrap tightly with foil. Skip the rack in the pan so it gets a full braise.
- Raise the smoker to 250–275°F and cook for another 2–3 hours, until probe tender, about 205–210°F.
- Keep it wrapped and rest for at least 1–2 hours at about 150°F. Three hours is even better.
- Pull the meat apart right in the pan so it soaks up the juices. Serve.
Pitmaster Notes
- Keep the tallow in the smoker so it stays warm and doesn't cool the meat when you brush it.
- I tried it once with a rack in the pan and regretted it. Let the roast sit right in the broth.
- Probe tender matters more than any exact temperature. If the probe meets resistance, give it more time.
- Save extra pan juice for reheating leftovers so they don't dry out.
Product links are things I actually used. Some are affiliate links, and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Times and temps are my starting points. Every cooker and every cut runs a little different, so cook to temperature and feel, not the clock.
