Crock Pot Pulled Pork
I’ll be the first to admit that crock pot and pulled pork do not belong in the same sentence. My husband makes the absolute best pulled pork I’ve ever had in my life and he does it on his Weber grill, no smoker, no fancy green egg, just oak or hickory wood chunks, charcoal and time. His secret is always his outstanding rub that he gets from Meathead Goldwyn who writes a blog called AmazingRibs.com He has a Memphis Dust Rub that is absolutely out of this world. I’ve adapted the recipe below for the slow cooker.
Originally I wanted to do a pulled pork recipe in the slow cooker that would provide me with good tasting meat for simple sandwiches and batches of Brunswick Stew. My husband is in the Navy and gone a lot. We live in Virginia and I’ll be honest the BBQ here just isn’t nearly as good as what we are spoiled with back home in Alabama. I knew that this crock pot variation would never hold a candle to one done on the grill and that wasn’t my intention. I simply wanted a good solid tasting pulled pork sandwich that I could do in the crock pot during the week. One that would still be flavorful and juicy, even if it didn’t have the smokey grill flavor. The secret to this is Meathead Goldwyn’s rub. One batch of his rub is good for about two to three of these pork butts, so be sure to keep the extra in an airtight container or zip lock baggie.
I used a 7 pound pulled pork picnic shoulder, and have also done this with a Boston butt (both with a bone still in). Unlike cooking on the grill you will want to remove almost all of the fat that you can from the shoulder. It doesn’t get good and crispy like it does on the grill, it just gets mushy and gross, so some trimming will be involved.
I have an All Clad 6.5 qt Slow Cooker that I’ve been in love with for the last ten years for many reasons but also because it’s big enough to hold this pork shoulder. Check out my Amazon link here: http://amzn.to/2CJJY4C
We love to serve this with Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce and Simple & Fresh Coleslaw on top. It makes a really good sandwich that even my husband found to be delicious, despite his reservations.
Trim the shoulder of all fat. I love to use Epicurean cutting boards when dealing with raw meat. They are self-healing, good for knives, and can be sanitized in the dishwasher. Check them out here: https://amzn.to/3fltmXq
Press the rub into the meat all over.
Put into the crock pot and set it for 10 hours.
After 10 hours, pull the meat out and set it into a baking dish then broil in the oven for 20 minutes.
Crock Pot Pulled Pork
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 6-8 lb pork shoulder (picnic or boston butt) trimmed of all fat
- Memphis Dust Rub (link in the post)
Instructions
- Trim all fat off of the pork shoulder.
- Put about 1 Cup of the Memphis Dust Rub into a separate bowl. Using your hands press and rub the mixture into the pork shoulder completely covering it. Whatever is left from that one cup of rub you must throw away since you used your hands that were touching raw meat.
- Place into the slow cooker, cover and set the slow cooker to 10 hours on low.
- Once the ten hours is up preheat your ovens broiler to 500 degrees. Make sure to reserve at least 1 cup of the cooking liquid from the crock pot.
- Roast about 10 minutes per two large flat sides (20 minutes total).
- Using two forks pull the pork and shred.
- Toss the shredded meat with 3 tbsp of rub and the 1 cup of reserved cooking liquid. Add in 1 tsp kosher salt. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Serve on sandwich rolls or simply topped with Coleslaw
- We prefer ours with a vinegar based Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce but you can use any type of BBQ sauce you prefer.
Serve this with these delicious recipes:
Simple and Fresh Coleslaw
Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce
