Smoked Pork Steaks Recipe

This easy-to-follow recipe uses your pellet smoker or charcoal grill to create deliciously tender, fall off the bone smoked BBQ pork steaks.

Classic BBQ recipes are considered classic for a reason. Slow smoked ribs, delicious and juicy smoked brisket, and of course, we cannot forget smoked pork butt for mouth-watering pulled pork!

While we all love these classics, we know good BBQ tends to take several hours (pulled pork usually takes well over 12+ hours depending on the size).

Pork butts also often yield several pounds of meat, which is wonderful if you’re entertaining and feeding a crowd.

However, if you’re looking to save money on a smaller cut of pork, smoke it in less time, and yield a normal amount of food (though who is actually complaining about leftovers), then this pork steak recipe is truly ideal.

Create delicious, tender pork with unbelievable flavor following the recipe below.

Use the outlined information in this article to help guide you through understanding the preparation and smoking process with ease.

Let’s dive in!

“School” Supplies:

• Cutting Board
• Paper Towels
• Aluminum Foil or Butcher Paper
• Digital Thermometer for Smoking
• Electric Smoker/ Pellet Grill or Charcoal Smoker

“Class” Notes:

Welcome to my virtual classroom! Use the guided notes below where I often answer commonly asked questions I get from readers and cooks just like you. 

This information is meant to help you have a stronger understanding of this recipe and the process so you can find success all on your own. 

Ready to begin cooking? Simply jump to the recipe below and begin. 

What is a pork steak?

While this cut appears to look similar to a smoked pork chop, it is not the same.

Pork shoulder steaks come from the larger pork shoulder/ Boston butt cut of a pig. This portion of meat comes from the upper front shoulder area (thus the name).

Typically you find pork shoulder to range from 10-16 lbs. on average, whereas a pork steak is cut is often 1-2 pounds depending on the thickness.

The steak comes from slicing the shoulder/ butt portion of the meat into steak-style cuts.

This helps the connective tissues break down faster than it does when smoking a whole butt.

You can often find thin pork steak at your local grocery store (this is especially common in the St. Louis area of the United States).

But if you want thick steaks (which I find are better for a low and slow smoke recipe like this) that you get them from butcher shops if you have access.

Pork steaks roughly 2 inches thick are my preferred choice because they can take on more of the smoke flavor and build a better bark on the outside.

Take note of this before purchasing ahead of time.

Preparation:

Pork steaks are easy to prep and take a lot less time than a full pork shoulder.

Pork steaks may come with a small piece of bone towards one portion of the middle and a slightly thicker ring of fat around the outside.

All of this should remain intact. If you by chance find any silver skin, remove it (this is probably unlikely because of the way it is cut but it can happen).

Here is the process I follow to prep my pork steaks:

1. Remove the pork steaks from the packaging and pat them dry with a paper towel to remove the moisture.
2. Trim any silver skin off if needed.
3. Use a light coating of binder and cover the entire steak (top, bottom, and sides). I used mustard but you can also use hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, avocado oil, or even a thinned-out BBQ sauce.
4. Choose a dry rub. You can use my all-purpose BBQ rub or Cajun dry rub recipe (or your favorite dry rub). I avoid rubs with too much brown sugar for a slow cook.
5. Coat the pork steak in a thin and even layer of rub all over.
6. Place on a baking sheet or plate and keep in the fridge (you do not want the steaks at room temperature when they go on the smoker, keep them cold).

The best way to get great flavor onto your pork steaks is to let the rub soak in for a few hours or overnight. Take the time to prep ahead if you can for the best results.

Smoking Time & Temperature:

Here are some general tips and techniques to follow for the smoking process-

• Smoke the pork steak using low temperatures over indirect heat between 225 – 250 F. to ensure that the pork steak gets enough smoke flavor, builds a bark, and can break down and become tender.
• I usually do not use a standard smoke probe thermometer for this but will check it several hours later to see when I have hit a stall and again to check for the final temperature.
• Start by allowing the pork to retain smoke flavor on your charcoal or electric smoker and spray it with diluted apple cider vinegar or apple juice every hour or so to set the bar and keep it moist.
• Alternatively, you can also fill a large foil pan with cold water and place it under the steak to create additional steam inside the grill to keep it moist as well.
• Flip the pork steak every hour for even cooking (it doesn’t contain a traditional fat cap and is less likely to dry out this way).

• Let the pork steak smoke until it hits an internal temperature of 175-180 F.
• Remove from the smoker and wrap tightly in foil with a few pads of butter. honey, and some BBQ sauce.
• Place it back onto the smoker and smoke until tender.

How do I know when my pork steak is done?

There are two main indicators to know when you have tender pork steaks; temperature and touch.

Connective tissue in pork steak starts to break down around 195 degrees F. but could truly not be tender until closer to 203 degrees F.

While you can track this with a meat thermometer using the probe to check for tenderness is another way to verify.

In the BBQ world, we often like to say we want the meat to feel like softened butter when we insert a thermometer probe. Check for that and you’re golden!

Remove the pork steaks and allow them to rest for 45-60 minutes to finish any carry-over cooking (though I’ll be honest I don’t always have patience when it comes to cooking these).

Serving:

My favorite ways to enjoy pork steak are to pull the meat and serve it like pulled pork and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce for the perfect main course.

You can use the pork on sandwiches, for nachos or tacos, or just as is on a BBQ platter.

Don’t forget to make small batch of cowboy candied jalapenos to pair with it too!