Enter your guest count to see how much raw pork shoulder to buy, accounting for the meat lost to cooking shrinkage.
Pork shoulder loses a significant amount of weight during long, low cooking as fat renders and moisture evaporates — commonly around 40%. To get a target amount of cooked, pulled meat per guest, you need to buy more raw weight to account for that loss.
Source: Based on standard barbecue-catering guidance of about 1/3 lb cooked pulled pork per sandwich-style serving, with a typical 40% cooking shrinkage rate for pork shoulder.
Pork shoulder (pork butt) typically loses about 40% of its raw weight during a long smoke or braise, as fat renders out and moisture evaporates over many hours of cooking.
A common serving estimate is about 1/3 pound of cooked pulled pork per person for a sandwich-style serving, though hearty appetites or a meal with fewer sides may call for more.
Bone-in pork shoulder is generally preferred for pulled pork because the bone helps retain moisture and adds flavor during the long cook; this calculator's shrinkage estimate assumes a typical bone-in cut.
Not happy with our calculations or how it works? Let us know.
Have a suggestion for a calculator you don't see here? Let us know.
No calculators match your search.