How Much Pulled Pork Per Person

Pulled pork comes from fatty pork shoulder, which shrinks as it cooks but holds up a bit better than brisket. A practical guideline is to serve about 1/3 to 1/2 pound of cooked pulled pork per person, which means buying roughly 1/2 to 3/4 pound of raw bone-in shoulder each, since it yields a little over half its raw weight. This calculator factors that cook-down in so your shopping list matches the crowd.

If you are piling it onto buns as sandwiches, the lower end works well because the bread fills people up; for a meat-forward plate, aim higher. Pulled pork reheats and freezes nicely, so a small surplus is handy rather than wasteful. A useful tip is to weigh bone-in shoulder, then remember the bone is part of that raw weight. Enter your guest count to get the raw pork to buy for the right amount of finished meat.

BBQ Meat Per Person Calculator, reference

Tips

• These are raw weights to buy, smoked meats lose 30–50% during cooking.
• Brisket yields only about half its raw weight, so buy roughly double the cooked amount you want.
• Add sides and appetizers and you can scale the meat down a little.