Slow Cooker
Slow-Cooked BBQ Pulled Pork
A spice-rubbed shoulder cooked all day until it falls apart.
This is the recipe to start before work. A big shoulder, a proper rub, and ten patient hours give you enough smoky pulled pork for sandwiches, tacos, and leftovers.
Ingredients
- For the rub:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- For the pork:
- 4–5 lb pork shoulder (Boston butt)
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
- Brioche buns and coleslaw, for serving
Method
- 1
Mix all the rub ingredients and massage them into every surface of the pork shoulder.
- 2
Scatter the sliced onion across the bottom of the slow cooker and set the pork on top.
- 3
Pour the broth, apple cider vinegar, and Worcestershire around the pork, not over the rub.
- 4
Cover and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours, until the meat shreds with almost no resistance.
- 5
Lift the pork out and shred it with two forks, discarding large fat pieces.
- 6
Skim the fat from the cooking liquid, then return the pork with the barbecue sauce and about 1 cup of the liquid.
- 7
Cook another 15–20 minutes on LOW so the sauce soaks in.
- 8
Pile onto brioche buns and top with coleslaw.
- 9
Flavor Table Tip: Resist the urge to cook it on HIGH — LOW is what breaks down the connective tissue.