How to Smoke a Pork Crown Roast

Special holidays deserve only the best dishes, and this Smoked Pork Crown Roast will be the showcase of all of your Christmas, New Year, and Easter gatherings. The best part of learning how to make this is finding out it is so simple to do that you will pull this recipe out time and time again.

Pork crown is a magnificent-looking cut of meat. With a little TLC it becomes a show stopper when it comes to impressing family and friends for the holidays. You want that cut of meat where everyone wants leftovers.

It takes 60-90 minutes per pound to smoke this baby so this is definitely not a fast cooking recipe, but you can relax with a cold one in your hand during this time.

You just need to monitor the internal temperature as it smokes (definitely use a meat thermometer!) and brush on the glaze for the last 15-30 minutes of cooking. You’ll be surprised how easy this is to make!

Ingredients

Pork Crown

Pork Crown | This is a simple rib section of the loin that is uncut. If they were to be cut into portions, they would be pork rib chops. This cut is generally tied by the butcher so you can form into a circle or oval prior to cooking.

The best part of this cut is that it is one of the best tasting and most tender cuts. Unless it is the holidays, you will have to reach out to your butcher to ask for this cut ahead of time, as they don’t stock this on the meat shelves otherwise.

Honey Mustard Glaze

This glaze is a wonderful sticky sauce that makes the outside crisp up beautifully. We like to double the batch so each person has a little ramekin for dipping. The three ingredients (Honey, Dijon Mustard, and Brown Sugar) are simple staples that most of us have in the house.

🔥 Instructions

Pork Crown

Step One: If your butcher DID NOT already tie the pork, this is the time to do this. Take pieces of butcher’s twine and tie pieces between each rib. You can see this in photo two above. There is a piece of butchers twine on each rib plus the one that is holding it all together in a circle.

Step Two: Heat grill up to 250 degrees and add smoking chips of your choice. We used apple.

Step Three: With a sharp knife, make 1-2 inch slits into each meaty area between each rib bone to help make the circular shape of the crown. We used eight ribs which made ours more oval in shape. Look at photo two for reference.

Note: Our butcher said we needed about 16 rib sections to form a full crown, so we scored each rib to allow us to form the full crown using fewer rib sections.

Step Four: Take TWO pieces of twine and tie it around the entire pork to shape it into a circular or oval shape. We used two pieces of twine to make sure it stayed in the shape we wanted.

Step Four: Combine seasoning and spices (swap out these spices for the pulled pork rub for a completely different taste!) into a bowl and stir. Sprinkle all over the roast. See photo 3.

Step Five: Place the roast on the grill and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 125-135. Cook for the temperature, not the time. See photo 4.

Step Six: Once the roast is up to 125-135 degrees, turn up the heat to 425-450 and brush on the glaze and cook for 15-30 minutes or until the temperature reaches 145° degrees. Check it in a couple places and remember to not check the temperature next to one of the ribs. See photo 5.

Step Seven: Remove from the grill and allow to rest under a tent of foil for 15-30 minutes.

PRO TIP: If you see a slight smoke ring on the exterior of your meat, that pink meat is safe to eat as long as your internal temperature is 145° F.

Honey Mustard Glaze

Step One: Combine the honey, brown sugar and dijon mustard into a bowl and stir to combine. When it is called for in the recipe, start brushing on the crown.

Step Two: Reserve some of the glaze for dipping sauce later!

❗ Expert Tips

If you don’t want the bones to turn dark brown/black, cover them with foil or Chop Frills which are the curly toppers. They can be found in kitchen stores and Amazon.

If you want to make it small like ours but it won’t turn into a circle, don’t worry. That is purely cosmetic. Form it into a semicircle so it will stand up by itself on the grill and tie it with butchers twine.

Always use a temperature gauge when cooking pork. Don’t skip this step as overcooking pork leads it to become dry quickly and undercooking can cause problems.

If you can’t tie the butcher’s twine very well, you can use a Meat Trussing Needle to help you.

Switch out the glaze for others that you have tried and are family favorites. Simply use the recipe as the guide to how to smoke the crown when adding your own glaze or sauce. A family classic for us has always been a garlic and herb combination. We would insert cloves of garlic into the crown and rub with a herb mixture.

Pork is very mild so this recipe is going to shine when you double the sauce recipe.

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