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A pile of shredded Jamaican jerk pork shoulder on a plate with a beer, cilantro, and habanero peppers on the side.
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Jamaican Jerk Pork Shoulder

When you need to feed a crowd for your summer party, look no further than this Jamaican jerk pork shoulder! This succulent, ultra flavorful pork shoulder marinates in jerk spices overnight and then slowly roasts until it's melt-in-your-mouth tender. No summer gathering is complete without this tropical-inspired pork shoulder.
Course Main Dishes
Cuisine Jamaican
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 hours
Total Time 10 hours 30 minutes
Servings 10 servings
Calories 305kcal
Author Amanda McGrory-Dixon

Equipment

  • Food processor
  • Roasting pan with rack
  • Foil
  • Food thermometer

Ingredients

  • 4 habanero or scotch bonnet peppers sliced, leave in seeds and membrane
  • 1 onion roughly chopped
  • 6 green onions sliced
  • 1-inch knob of ginger peeled and sliced or grated
  • 3 garlic cloves sliced
  • 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon allspice
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder
  • 1 tablespoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg preferably freshly grated
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon cloves
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ¼ cup spiced rum
  • Juice of three limes
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pork shoulder, pork butt cut (see notes regarding size)

Instructions

Jerk Marinade

  • Toss the peppers, onion, green onions, ginger, garlic, sugar and spices into a food processor. Blend until everything roughly combines. As the machine runs, add soy sauce, rum, lime juice and olive oil. When you remove the lid from the food processor, it will smell intensely peppery. Don’t worry. This is normal. Reserve ½-1 cup of marinade, depending on the size of your pork.
  • Pierce 1-inch slits throughout the top of the pork butt. Turn over and repeat on the bottom. Pour the marinade over the pork and turn a few times to ensure it’s well-coated. Gently use your fingers to get some marinade into the slits. Refrigerate covered at least overnight or up to 24 hours.
  • If you have time, take the pork butt out of the refrigerator for an hour before cooking to help it come down in temperature. Proceed to your desired cooking method as listed below.

Oven-Roasted Method

  • Heat oven to 275 degrees F. Remove excess marinade from the pork. Cover a roasting pan with foil. Place on a roasting rack that's been well-coated with cooking spray. Using a wide-mouth meat injector, inject the reserved marinade throughout the pork. Insert a leave-in meat thermometer in the thickest part of the pork, ensuring it doesn't touch any bones.
  • Roast uncovered in the oven until the internal temperature of the meat hits 155-165 degrees F.
  • Remove the pork from the oven and wrap the roast in food-grade butcher paper or heavy duty aluminum foil. Reinsert the meat thermometer, place the pork on the roasting rack and back in the oven.
  • Continue to cook until the pork reaches a minimum internal temperature of 190 degrees F, though 200-205 degrees F is even better.
  • Remove the pork from the oven and leave it wrapped. Allow the meat to rest for at least 15 minutes or up to 30-45 minutes to let the juices redistribute throughout the pork. Again, if you have some extra time, that 30-35 minutes is even better. Shred with two forks and serve. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Method

  • Remove excess marinade from the pork. Using a wide-mouth meat injector, inject the reserved marinade throughout the pork. Add to the slow cooker with 1 cup water or chicken stock. Cook on low for eight hours.
  • The pork is ready it's fall-apart tender. Allow the meat to rest on warm for 15 minutes. Shred the pork with two forks and serve. Enjoy! 

Notes

  • There's enough marinade to make up to an 8-pound pork butt. For anything in the 6- to 8-pound range, reserve a cup of marinade for injecting. If you use a smaller pork butt in the 3- to 5-pound range, ½ cup of reserved marinade is fine.
  • As an alternative to an 8-pound roast, you can also cook two 4-pound pork butts. This is a good option if you want a lot of meat but don't want the additional cooking time. 
  • If using the slow cooker method, you'll want to keep your pork butt in the 4-pound range as most slow cookers are too small to handle an 8-pound pork roast.
  • Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.33pound | Calories: 305kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 86mg | Sodium: 290mg