Easy slow cooker BBQ pulled pork

Name: Easy slow cooker BBQ pulled pork
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 h
Yield: 12 - 20
Ingredients: 3.5-4.5kg/ 5-7lb pork butt / pork shoulder; 1 cup beer; 3 tbsp brown sugar; 1 tbsp paprika powder; 1 tbsp garlic powder; 2 tsp onion powder; 2 tsp mustard powder; 1 tsp cumin powder; 1 tbsp salt; 1 tsp black pepper; 1 cup apple cider vinegar; 3 cups tomato ketchup; 1 cup water; 3 tbsp molasses; 2/3 cup brown sugar; 4 tsp mustard powder; 3 tsp garlic powder; 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 2 tsp salt; 2 tsp black pepper; 2 tsp tabasco

User Reviews

5.0

306 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
10 hrs
Servings
12 - 20
Calories
41601 kcal
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
American, International

Easy slow cooker BBQ pulled pork

Kai Walton

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Recipe video above. This may well be the juiciest, most flavourful pulled pork you ever have in your life! Homemade BBQ Sauce totally makes it. And there's no denying that using a slow cooker yields the juiciest pulled pork with very little effort. BIG BATCH recipe, 100% perfect for freezing, ideal for entertaining!Love this recipe? One day, try my ultimate Pulled Pork recipe.

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Ingredients

Servings

3.5-4.5kg/ 5-7lb pork butt / pork shoulder , bone in, fat cap on (Note 1)
1 cup beer , apple cider or apple juice (Note 2)

RUB:

3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp paprika powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

BBQ Sauce:

1 cup apple cider vinegar (Note 3)
3 cups tomato ketchup (or Aussie tomato sauce)
1 cup water (or use remaining beer!)
3 tbsp molasses , orginal (not blackstrap, Note 4)
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 tsp mustard powder
3 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp tabasco or cayenne pepper (optional, for spiciness)

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Instructions

Mix the Rub together, then rub all over the pork.
Place in a slow cooker, pour over beer. Slow cook on low for 10 hours. Pork should be tender enough to easily shred.

Browning in oven (optional, recommended):

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
Transfer from slow cooker into a roasting pan (reserve liquid).
Scoop fat off surface of juices in slow cooker and drizzle over pork (about 1/3 cup), then roast pork for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, cut thick layer of fat off top and discard. Spoon over 1/4 cup fat from slow cooker juices, then roast 15 minutes.

Shredding:

Shred pork using 2 forks. Pour over BBQ sauce, toss gently.
Serve stuffed in sliders with Coleslaw, or make a Southern dinner plate with Coleslaw, Mac and Cheese, Corn bread, steamed corn & green beans tossed in butter, with Margaritas to quench your thirst!

Barbecue Sauce:

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until thickened.
Add 3/4 - 1 cup of juices from slow cooker until sauce is syrup consistency.
Adjust to taste: sweetness with brown sugar / honey, salt and sour with vinegar. Use per recipe.

Notes

Pork - Pork Butt (aka Boston Butt) or pork shoulder are the best for this recipe. They are nicely marbled with fat and need to be slow cooked in order to become tender enough to shred with little effort. Get bone in (pork butt almost always is, shoulder is sometimes not). Leave the thick layer of fat because it does all sorts of wonderful things to the meat as it slow cooks (it self bastes!).
If it's got skin, best to remove if you can (so spice can infuse better) BUT not the tend of the world if you don't.
Smaller pork - use recipe scaler if your pork is much less than 2.5kg/5lb.
Will also work well with pork scotch fillet roast (aka pork neck) - 8 hours slow cook on low. Recipe will also work for leaner cuts of pork like loin and tenderloin but will require shorter cook times and end result not as juicy (because the meat isn't fatty enough).
Liquid - Braising liquid for flavour infusion. Any beer other than dark beers like stout and Guinness. Hard or non alcoholic cider is also terrific (or pear cider). For non alcoholic, apple juice is my favourite. Emergency fallback: just use water!
Vinegar - white wine or champagne vinegar also works well here. Plain white vinegar can also be used but reduce by 1 tbsp as it is a bit sharper.
Molasses adds an extra richness to the Barbecue Sauce and also deepens the sauce colour to the dark brown we know and love about barbecue sauce!
Other cook methods:
Servings - This recipe makes a LOT! Partly because pork butts are BIG anyway, also because if you make this with a smaller piece, it cooks faster = less flavour.
A 3.5kg/7lb bone in pork shoulder will comfortably feed 12 people if making a plate with sides.
If making sliders with Coleslaw, it will easily make 20.
Storage - freezes brilliantly, even after tossing with sauce. Or keeps in fridge for 4 days. Best reheated in microwave to keep things juicy and moist!
Nutrition per serving, pork and sauce only. Calories are quite overstated. A lot of fat gets discarded with the slow cooker juices you don't use. But I have no way of calculating how much! So just know that the actual calories is less than shown below.
quite overstated.
Pressure cooker / instant pot - With a slightly smaller pork (2-2.5 kg/4-5lb), I make this in my pressure cooker, 1 hr 20 minutes on high.
Oven - 7 to 8 hours at 130C/270F, covered with double foil in a roasting pan with 2 cups of water (plus the beer per recipe). I rarely do this simply because of logistics - I don't like to leave the house or sleep with the oven on! But by roasting, you do get an amazing crust which I compensate for by roasting the pork briefly after slow cooker. Note: slow cooker yields juicier pork.

Nutrition Information

Show Details

Calories 416.01cal (21%) Carbohydrates 37.65g (13%) Protein 36.87g (74%) Fat 11.34g (17%) Saturated Fat 3.84g (19%) Cholesterol 113.4mg (38%) Sodium 1666.14mg (69%) Potassium 991.51mg (28%) Fiber 0.61g (2%) Sugar 31.94g (64%) Vitamin A 307.8IU (6%) Vitamin C 2.8mg (3%) Calcium 69.45mg (7%) Iron 3.34mg (19%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 12- 20

Amount Per Serving

Calories 41601 kcal

% Daily Value*

Calories	416.01cal	21%
Carbohydrates	37.65g	13%
Protein	36.87g	74%
Fat	11.34g	17%
Saturated Fat	3.84g	19%
Cholesterol	113.4mg	38%
Sodium	1666.14mg	69%
Potassium	991.51mg	21%
Fiber	0.61g	2%
Sugar	31.94g	64%
Vitamin A	307.8IU	6%
Vitamin C	2.8mg	3%
Calcium	69.45mg	7%
Iron	3.34mg	19%