American style pulled pork has become a very popular dish. With it's combination of tender, juicy meat and big flavours, information technology has the bonus of existence able to feed a oversupply with very little effort, so it's swell party nutrient.

My Easy BBQ Pulled Pork recipe is 1 that I've fabricated a number of times for friends and family, ever receiving keen comments. You can meet information technology in these Pulled Pork Tacos and I've used it on everything from pizza to a salad.

A plate and two forks with freshly shredded cooked pork

Simply pulled and set for the sauce!

What is pulled pork

Pulled pork is a cut of pork that is cooked very slowly over low oestrus until the meat can be pulled apart. I like to apply the pork shoulder – in the U.s., this cut is called the Boston barrel.

Slow cooking pork shoulder yields a wonderfully fall apart and melty kind of meat due to it'due south perfect ratios of meat to fat. I utilise a boneless slice of meat for convenience only some people swear by using a cut with the bone in for more than season.

You lot tin can melt the meat a number of ways – oven, dull cooker / crock pot or charcoal-broil for instance – but but be sure to cook information technology very slowly. Cooking pork shoulder likewise speedily will result in a very chewy dinner.

A frying pan filled with shredded pork with bbq sauce in the background

The flavours

The flavour in this recipe, aside from the meat itself, comes in two forms – a dry rub and a BBQ sauce. Both are made from scratch, using store cupboard ingredients and are uncomplicated to prepare.

The pulled pork dry rub

This rub is a combination of brown sugar, garlic, paprika, dried herbs, onion powder, table salt, cayenne, cumin, fennel seeds and pepper. These are all unproblematic ingredients to have on hand and I keep this in my spice rack at all times.

You tin can make a big batch of the spice rub, identify it in a labelled airtight container and accept it ready to become next time you experience the urge for a delicious slow cooked dinner.

The pulled pork BBQ sauce

The second flavouring is the BBQ sauce. This is made by combining some of the amazing cooking liquor with tomato sauce and paste, red wine vinegar, sugar, paprika, mustard powder and a little table salt. Information technology's thick, sweet and total of season and coats every strand of the meat.

The BBQ sauce is reduced in a saucepan until thick and then poured over the shredded pork for the last office of the cooking process.

A tray of 3 pulled pork tacos

How to cook pulled pork in slow cooker

For me, the pick is ever the slow cooker. My boring cooker is my best friend at times, gently cooking something all day long and filling the firm with it'south gorgeous aromas, while I relax or run errands. This pulled pork will take around 7-8 hours on the low setting. For very best results, I don't recommend cooking information technology on high.

Start by mixing together the spice rub ingredients and then massaging them well into the pork (photograph ane). At present heat a picayune oil in a big frying pan and simply brownish the meat all over.

Pork shoulder coated in a spice rub ready to cook.

Transfer it to the basin of a slow cooker with some carrot, celery and onion (photograph 2) and allow her cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Browned pork in a slow cooker dish ready to slow cook.

To make the pulled pork BBQ sauce

Stir some of the pork cooking liquor, together with the other sauce ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat. Allow it come to a simmer and cook for effectually 20 minutes, stirring every then often then that it doesn't burn on the bottom, until it'due south very thick.

One time the pork is cooked, shred it using 2 forks, pushing and pulling until you lot take a big bowl full of pulled meat. Render it to a frying pan with a practiced few spoonfuls of BBQ sauce and cook information technology on high until y'all start to get some caramelised bits. Serve it with the remaining sauce.

What to practise with pulled pork leftovers

One of the best parts of making pulled pork is there is often the opportunity for leftovers.

  • Freeze information technology in an airtight container for another dinner after
  • Plow it into tacos, burritos, hash or a pasta bake.
  • Wrap it upwards in these homemade 3 ingredient flatbreads.

There are endless opportunities.

Can pulled pork be frozen and can it exist reheated?

Yes, it can. You tin can freeze pulled pork in an closed container but make sure to split it up into dinner size portions first then you just need to reheat what you lot demand. Thaw it in the fridge overnight and reheat information technology in a pan with BBQ sauce (shop-bought is fine if you take none of your own prepared).

Substitutions

  • Spices – endeavour to use all the spices in the recipe for the best flavor simply if you lot don't take fennel seeds you tin can leave them out. Use whatever chilli powder you have if you don't have cayenne and while chocolate-brown sugar is all-time, yous can substitute regular white granulated saccharide.
  • This fashion of cooking is not reserved for pork. I've used this verbal same method, rub and sauce on beef. Information technology would likewise work well on chicken breasts and thighs, nonetheless beingness a less fatty meat, I would suggest calculation ½ cup of stock to the wearisome cooker prior to cooking and only cook it for 4-5 hours.

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A birdseye view of a frying pan filled with BBQ pulled pork

Other recipes you lot might like

  • Tiresome Cooker BBQ Brisket
  • Pulled Pork Tacos
  • Irksome Cooker Beef Stroganoff
  • Braised BBQ Beefiness Short Rib Tacos
  • Quick Pink Pickled Onions
  • Spicy Pulled Pork Empanadas

A pan filled with BBQ pulled pork with BBQ sauce in the corner.

Piece of cake BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe

Yield: 8 serves

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Total Fourth dimension: 8 hours 25 minutes

Tender, juicy pulled pork is one of the ultimate comfort foods. This Easy BBQ Pulled Pork recipe takes very little try with the assist of a boring cooker and y'all can be feeding a crowd a delicious meal.

FOR THE PULLED PORK

  • ane whole red onion, roughly chopped
  • two carrots, roughly chopped
  • two stalks celery, roughly chopped
  • one.eight kg 4lb boneless pork shoulder (notes)
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar (notes)
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 ane/2 tablespoons sweetness / mild paprika (notes)
  • 3 teaspoon dried herbs (thyme & oregano work well)
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • i 1/2 teaspoons cayenne powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • ane teaspoon footing black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons oil (notes)

FOR TH BBQ SAUCE

  • 2/3 cup of the liquid from slow cooker (or beef stock, notes)
  • 2/iii cup tomato sauce (ketchup)
  • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
  • i/4 loving cup dark-brown sugar, packed
  • 2 tablespoons tomato plant paste
  • two teaspoon paprika (sweet or smoked)
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard powder
  • ane/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • Salt to taste

  • Place the roughly cutting onion, carrots and celery into the base of operations of a tiresome cooker.

  • With a sharp knife and being careful to cut away from you lot, slice the peel off the pork (trying non to get any of the meat). Yous can discard this or roast information technology until crackled to serve with the pulled pork.

  • Mix together the dark-brown saccharide, garlic, and all the spices (paprika, dried herbs, onion powder, table salt, cayenne, ground cumin, fennel seeds & black pepper) in a small bowl, then massage them into the pork all over, making sure to become into all the nooks and crannies and employ information technology all up.

  • Rut the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat so add the pork, sealing each side before turning. This stride does non aim to melt the meat, but sear the outside to seal the juices into it. Then transfer the pork to the deadening cooker on superlative of the vegetables. Melt for 8 hours on low (bank check at 7 hours).

  • At effectually the 7 hour mark, bank check the pork for doneness – if it is already easily falling apart it is done and yous can put information technology on the warm setting while you organise the sauce.

  • In a large, heavy-based saucepan over low to medium oestrus combine all the sauce ingredients. Stir until the saccharide has dissolved so turn the heat up to medium. Bring the sauce to a simmer and melt stirring regularly for 15-20 minutes until reduced past a third and thickened.

  • Accept the pork out of the slow cooker and place it on a carving board. Use ii forks to push and pull at the meat to shred information technology.

  • Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil to frying pan over high heat. Add the shredded meat and around 1/3 cup of BBQ sauce (or more to your taste). Cook the meat, stirring and turning, until some pieces start to get crispy and browned.

  • Serve the pork with any remaining BBQ sauce, coleslaw and cornbread or in tacos.

  1. I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (= 4 teaspoons worldwide)
  2. If using beef stock in the sauce, add one/2 teaspoon onion pulverization and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder too. Plus one/4 teaspoon cayenne if you want it spicy
  3. If yous don't mind a little extra try, a piece of pork with the bone in will yield even more flavour - make sure to go a heavier piece (around two.1kg) to let for the bone.

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Calories: 394 kcal

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Grade

Cuisine: American

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A pan of just cooked BBQ pulled pork