Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
While most people think of pulling out their slow cookers only in the cold months, Tanya Rhodes, who lives in Florida, relies on it year-round for quick mid-week meals. Dinner cooks while she’s at work, without heating up her kitchen—so smart! One of her favorite meals is pulled pork sandwiches. I adapted her method into this recipe, and, let me tell you, it’s a must-try. The pork only takes about 15 minutes to prep, which Tanya does before leaving for work (you can also get a head start the night before), and the results are finger-licking awesome. You can pile the pork into buns with barbeque sauce and slaw for sandwiches, serve it as-is over rice or polenta, stuff it into tacos or on top of tostados… the options are endless but all delicious! -Nicki
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet onions , thinly sliced
- 5 garlic cloves , thinly sliced
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
- 1 4-5 pound boneless pork shoulder (a.k.a. pork butt)
- Barbeque sauce for serving , optional
- Sesame buns for serving , optional
- Coleslaw for serving , optional
Instructions
- Place the onions, garlic, chicken broth, vinegar and honey into a slow cooker. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper, paprika, dried thyme, cinnamon, cayenne and brown sugar (feel free to just wing the amounts). Rub the mixture all over the pork (this can be done the night before—cover and refrigerate the pork). Nestle the pork on top of the onions and liquid in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the pork is tender and shreds easily with a fork. Remove the meat and let cool slightly. In the meantime, ladle off the fat from the top of the braising liquid (there might be quite a lot). Once it’s cool enough to handle, shred the meat.
- At this point you have a few options. You can add the shredded meat back into all of the braising liquid, or you can remove some of the braising liquid first if you prefer a thicker style (I usually keep all of the braising liquid, as it’s delicious). Season well with salt and pepper. From here, you can serve the pulled pork as it is over rice or polenta, or in tacos or tostadas, or you can do as Tanya does and mix in ½-1 cup of your favorite barbeque sauce and serve it on buns that have been slathered with a bit more BBQ sauce, then topped with homemade coleslaw. Hello summer! Do Ahead: The pork can be rubbed with the spice mixture the night before and refrigerated. The finished pulled pork can be refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to a month.