Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork

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Slow cooker BBQ pulled pork made with a 4–4¼ pound boneless pork shoulder. Expect about a 50% yield after cooking, or roughly 2 pounds of tender shredded pork, serving 6–8 depending on portions and sides.

Prep Time15

Cook Time9

cooling and shredding30

Total Time9 45

Course: Dinner, lunch, main

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 309kcal

Author: Sally Cameron

Equipment

6-quart slow cooker

Ingredients

Pulled Pork

2 pound pulled pork
2-3 teaspoons kosher salt
⅔ cup chicken broth
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 large white onion sliced into thick pieces for the crock bottom
½ cup low sugar bbq sauce like my homemade, recipe on site

Dry Rub for Pulled Pork (makes extra)

2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 ½ tablespoons granulated garlic powder or 2 ½ teaspoons fine garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar or gold brown monk fruit blend
2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon chipotle powder or ⅛ less for less heat

Instructions

Prep the pork

Remove any netting from the pork shoulder. Season with salt if your dry rub is salt-free, then coat the pork evenly with 2–3 tablespoons of dry rub.

Mix the braising broth

Whisk together the broth, vinegar, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and molasses until smooth.

Start the pork

Arrange the onion slices in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the seasoned pork shoulder on top, then pour the braising liquid over the pork. Cover and cook on LOW for about 9 hours. Timing will vary depending on the size of the pork shoulder and your slow cooker. Smaller ones cook a little faster.

How to know when it is done

Pork shoulder is done when a paring knife slides in easily and the meat shreds effortlessly with forks. Go by tenderness and shred-ability, not just timing.

Finishing pork

Remove the pork from the slow cooker and place in a large casserole dish or sheet pan. Discard the onions. Strain the cooking liquid, then defat it with a fat separator or refrigerate until the fat solidifies on top and can be removed, about 1 hour.

Pull the pork

Using gloved hands or forks, shred the pork, removing any large pieces of fat. Toss the pulled pork with BBQ sauce to taste, adding a little defatted cooking liquid as needed to keep the pork juicy.

Notes

Nutrition calculation note -

Nutrition is an estimate and will vary depending on pork yield, BBQ sauce, dry rub, and how much defatted cooking liquid is added back after shredding. Even calculating manually, it is just about impossible to get to accurate numbers, so the above numbers are the protein, and braising broth, and even all of the broth you do not consume. It also does not include BBQ sauce as most commercial brands are high in sugar. I use my homemade bbq sauce, which is low sugar.

Nutrition