Pork

Classic BBQ Pulled Pork

Tangy Carolina-style pulled pork that falls apart with a fork. You pick the sauce.

Prep 5 min LOW 8–9 hours HIGH 4–5 hours Serves 8

Classic BBQ Pulled Pork, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

Pulled pork is the most forgiving thing you can put in a slow cooker. A pork shoulder is full of fat and connective tissue, which means it's almost impossible to overcook — the longer it goes, the better it gets.

Our packet handles the rub: brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic, onion and a little chili, balanced the way a Carolina pit would do it. What it deliberately does not include is barbecue sauce.

That's on purpose. Barbecue sauce is one of the most personal things in American cooking. You already have a bottle you're loyal to, and we're not going to override it. Season with ours, sauce with yours.

Why you'll love it

Nearly impossible to mess up.

Pork shoulder is forgiving. Long cooks make it better, not worse.

Feeds eight, cheaply.

Shoulder is one of the least expensive cuts at the counter.

Your sauce, your call.

We season it. You finish it with whatever bottle you already love.

Leftovers go everywhere.

Sandwiches, nachos, mac and cheese, breakfast hash.

What's already in the packet

Brown sugar powderSmoked paprikaGarlicOnionPork bouillonChili powderBlack pepper

A proper Carolina-style rub. Sauce is yours to add at the end.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 8–9 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 4–5 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 195–205°F

Safe at 145°F, but it won't shred until about 195°F. This is the number that matters.

You'll Need

3–4 lbs Pork (pick one below)
1 cup Water or chicken broth
1 packet Cook SLO Classic BBQ Pulled Pork
1–1½ cups Your favorite BBQ sauce

Pick your pork

3–4 lbs

Pork shoulder (Boston butt)

3–4 lbs

Pork picnic roast

3 lbs

Boneless country ribs

Roasts and chops 145°F, ground pork and ham 160°F

Add vegetables

Sliced onion (fresh or frozen)Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)Whole garlic cloves

Sliced onion (fresh or frozen) and whole garlic cloves at the start, on the bottom; bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen) at the start.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Sliced onion (fresh or frozen)Whole garlic cloves	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, to soften into the sauce	Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)	These break down and give their flavour to the pot. Right for a gravy or a fajita, wrong if you want them to hold their shape.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: sliced onion (fresh or frozen), whole garlic cloves and bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Nothing needs adding later. Set it in the morning and leave.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Pasta and noodles

**Served over noodles.** Cook macaroni and cheese separately and spoon the glaze from the bottom of the pot over the top. **Do not add dry pasta to the pot for this recipe.** There is only half a cup of liquid — it makes a glaze, not a sauce, and there is nothing for pasta to cook in.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Coat the meat in a bag, not in the pot
Put the meat and the whole packet into a gallon zip bag, seal it, and shake until every surface is covered. It coats far more evenly than sprinkling from above, it takes ten seconds, and there is nothing to wash afterwards.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the pork in the crock pot, fat side up.
Fat side up means it bastes itself as it renders. Don't trim the fat cap.
2
Pour in 1 cup of water or broth.
One cup only. A pork shoulder will produce two or three cups of its own liquid.
3
Sprinkle the whole packet all over the pork.
Rub it in with your hands if you like. Get the sides too.
4
Put the lid on.
Eight to nine hours on LOW is genuinely worth it here.

After you shred — not before

Pick your sauce

Take the pork out and shred it with two forks.

Discard the big pieces of fat as you go. The meat should fall apart with almost no pressure.

Put it back in, add your BBQ sauce, and stir. Rest 10 minutes.

Sauce at the end. Added early, the sugar in it scorches over eight hours.

Stirring

Stir once at the halfway point and turn the pieces over

There is very little liquid here and a lot of sugar, so the bottom catches. Turning the meat also brings glaze back up onto the top, where it belongs.

Swaps and add-ins

Crisp it up.

Spread the sauced pork on a sheet pan and broil three minutes. Burnt-end texture at the edges.

Add a sliced onion underneath.

It disappears into the juices and sweetens the whole pot.

Skip the sauce entirely.

Carolina-style, served with just vinegar and slaw. Very traditional.

Use the drippings.

Skim the fat and add a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid back to the shredded meat before saucing.

Tips for success

LOW, not HIGH, if you can. Collagen needs time to break down. HIGH works but the texture is measurably better on LOW.
One cup of liquid, no more. Pork shoulder is mostly water. Add too much and you're boiling instead of braising.
Sauce at the end, always. Sugary barbecue sauce cooked for eight hours turns bitter and bakes onto the crock.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

A splash of apple cider vinegar.

This is the Carolina secret. Two tablespoons over the shredded pork cuts the fat and wakes everything up.

Crunchy coleslaw, on the sandwich.

Not beside it. On it. Texture and acid in one move.

Sliced pickles or pickled red onion.

Sharp, cold, and it stops the richness getting monotonous.

Serve it over

Sandwich buns with slawOver mac and cheeseOn nachosBaked potatoesCornbreadStraight off the fork

Tomorrow night

Pulled pork nachos.

Over chips with cheese, broiled, then jalapeños and sour cream.

BBQ pork mac and cheese.

Stirred into macaroni and cheese, baked until bubbling.

Breakfast hash.

Fried with potatoes and onion, topped with an egg.

Pork quesadillas.

With jack cheese and pickled onion in a hot pan.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months, and it freezes beautifully. Freeze it unsauced if you can.

Reheating

Low with a splash of broth or apple juice. It dries out faster than you'd expect.

Questions people ask

Recipe card