Adjust for your crowd
Enter how many of your guests are kids; each counts as half an adult.
Pulled pork chart: 10 to 200 people
tap a row for its own list ↓| Guests | Cooked | Raw to buy | Pork butts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 people | 4 lb | 8 lb | 1 |
| 20 people | 7 lb | 15 lb | 2 |
| 25 people | 9 lb | 19 lb | 3 |
| 30 people | 11 lb | 22 lb | 3 |
| 40 people | 15 lb | 30 lb | 4 |
| 50 people | 18 lb | 37 lb | 5 |
| 75 people | 28 lb | 55 lb | 7 |
| 100 people | 37 lb | 74 lb | 9 |
| 150 people | 55 lb | 110 lb | 13 |
| 200 people | 73 lb | 147 lb | 17 |
How many people does a 9-lb pork butt feed?
Feeds about 13 people with sides, or 9 if pulled pork is the main event.
Everything else for 20 people
How we got this number
- 120 guests × 1/3 lb cooked = 6.7 lb
- 2× 1.10 cushion = 7.3 lb cooked
- 3÷ 0.50 cooked yield = 14.7 lb raw → 2 pork butts
a bone-in butt pulls cleanly. Count the bone in the raw weight!
We count pork butts at 9 lb each, the top of the usual 7–9 lb range. If the ones at your store run smaller, buy by weight: about 15 lb in all.
Food safety: cook pork shoulder to at least 145°F and let it rest 3 minutes; for meat that pulls apart, most cooks go to about 195–205°F (USDA safe temperature chart), and don't leave it out more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F (USDA).
Sources for this rule: Smoking-Meat.com (Jeff Phillips); Old Farmer's Almanac party chart; USDA Food Buying Guide; Giant; Food Lion; Smoking-Meat.com.
How to smoke pulled pork (pork butt): the most-watched videos
Videos from YouTube, picked by us from the most-watched on the topic; view counts as of October 2026. We don't make these videos and aren't paid for them. Pressing play loads YouTube.
Pulled pork questions
How much pulled pork per person?
Plan on 1/3 lb of cooked pulled pork per person with sides, or 1/2 lb as the main event. Pulled pork loses about half its weight cooking, so that's 2/3 to 1 lb raw per person.
How much pulled pork for 100 people?
Buy about 74 lb of raw pork butt: 9 bone-in pork butts. It cooks down to about 37 lb pulled: 1/3 lb per guest with sides, plus a 10% cushion. Range: 58–92 lb depending on appetite.
How many people does a 9-lb pork butt feed?
Feeds about 13 people with sides, or 9 if pulled pork is the main event.
Should kids count as a full person?
Count each kid as half an adult. Add them in the Kids box and the shopping list updates.
Is pork butt the same as pork shoulder?
Pork butt (Boston butt) is the upper part of the shoulder and the usual cut for pulled pork. Picnic shoulder, the lower part, works too and is counted the same way by raw weight.