Crockpot,  Meats

Crouton’s Crockpot Pulled Pork

I had some home-made pulled pork at a friend’s house last month and decided to try it myself. My goodness, even Ditalini liked it. I’ll definitely do this again.

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Crouton’s pulled pork (with cole slaw)

Crouton's Crockpot Pulled Pork

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients

  • 4 lbs pork shoulder or butt
  • 2 large onions
  • 8-10 oz ginger ale
  • 18 oz barbecue sauce

Directions

Slice the onions. Layer the bottom of a large crockpot or slow cooker with onion, add the pork shoulder or butt, then layer the remaining onion on top. Pour in the ginger ale. Set the crockpot to low, cover, and cook for 12 hours. When cooked, drain the contents of the crockpot into a sturdy colander. Discard the onions. Place the pork on a large cutting board, or better yet into a shallow casserole dish. Pull the pork with forks, discarding any large pieces of fat. Return the pulled pork to the crockpot, mix in the barbecue sauce, cover, and cook on low another 4-6 hours.

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Pulling the pork

Notes

This is dead easy, but you need to plan ahead. I put the pork in the crockpot at 9 PM, let it cook overnight, then took it out of the crockpot the next morning at 9 AM. After discarding the onion and fat, and pulling the pork, I put it in the refrigerator until about 2 PM that afternoon, when I added the barbecue sauce and began cooking it again. It was ready by 6 PM.

I bought a pork shoulder roast that was nearly 8 lbs, so I cut it in half and froze the unused part. I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory & Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce, but next time I’ll probably use my own barbecue sauce recipe, which is a bit spicier.

When it came time to move the cooked pork shoulder from the crock pot to the colander, I lifted it out of the crockpot with two large utility forks. These are for lifting whole cooked turkeys or large heavy roasts, and they also turned out to be the perfect tools for pulling the cooked pork shoulder apart, as shown above. Sturdy serving forks will work just as well, I think. You can also wait until the pork is cool and do it with your fingers.

You could probably chop up the cooked onion and mix it in with the pulled pork, but I decided not to and am happy with that decision. The pulled pork was melt-in-your-mouth tender and utterly delicious.

This recipe will easily feed six hungry people. Since there are only three of us in the deMenthe household, we have plenty of leftover pulled pork. Fortunately, I’m told it freezes well. What’ll I do with the remaining four pounds of pork shoulder? I’m thinking New Mexico Green Chili Stew!

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Amateur cook and barbecue fanatic.

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