This simple and delicious BBQ pulled pork is perfect to feed a crowd or to enjoy on a Tuesday! You’ll love it because it’s quick to throw together, can be prepped ahead of time, and is a crowd pleaser even for toddlers!
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a small commission. See my full disclosure here.
At our house we generally try to avoid seed-oils (if you want to know more about how we do that, check out this post). Practically, that means making all (or close to all) of our food from scratch. This shredded pulled park is a go-to at my house because it’s a healthy, seed-oil-free recipe that requires “put a frozen pizza in the oven” level effort.
Because it only has a few staple ingredients you probably already have on hand, and only takes a few minutes to throw together, it’s great on those busy days when you need something easy, or if you’re planning a get together and need to make something healthy that will feed a crowd. And since you can make it in the crock-pot, you can set it early and forget it until dinner, or make the pork as meal prep for the week and reheat it as you need.
Once you have the pulled pork cooked, you can use it to make BBQ sandwiches (always a classic), pulled pork fries, pulled pork tacos, pulled pork egg rolls–the possibilities are endless!
Ingredients
The ingredients are very straight forward. The only ingredient you must have is a large cut of pork (I prefer pork tenderloin because I hate dealing with hunks of fat, but you could also use a pork shoulder or pork butt). All the rest of these ingredients are what I use, but if you don’t have one or don’t like one, leave it out! The key to a great pulled pork is just lots of seasonings you enjoy so make sure to prioritize those! I use liquid smoke (I like to use Wright’s liquid smoke because it has the cleanest ingredients for a liquid smoke that I can find), brown sugar, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and mustard powder.
Instructions
Combine all the dry seasoning in a bowl. Place the pork in a crockpot and rub the seasoning mixture over all sides of the pork (note: you can sear the pork on all sides before placing it in the crockpot to add some extra flavor, but I usually don’t because I don’t want to wash the pan). Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 4-6 hours (cook time will also very depending on the size and cut of the pork). You’ll know it’s done when you can easily shred the pork with a fork. You can shred it with a fork, but my preferred method is to use a hand mixer on low. It only takes a few seconds and the pork is perfectly shredded.
Did you know you can also use a dutch oven as a slow cooker? If you want to do this, put all the ingredients in the dutch oven and place it into an oven preheated to 250. Bake for 2-3 hours.
Once the pork is cooked, shred it and serve as BBQ sandwiches, on fries, or as tacos!
Love,
this mama
The Best Crock-Pot BBQ Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork I prefer tenderloin, but you can also use a shoulder, or butt
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsps liquid smoke
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp pepper
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp mustard powder
Instructions
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.¼ cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp pepper, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp mustard powder
- Place the pork in a crock pot, and cover on all sides with the dry rub.3 lbs pork
- Pour in the liquid smoke.2 tsps liquid smoke
- Cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8-10 hours.
- Shred the pork (feel free to add more of any of the seasonings at this point to taste).
- Serve and enjoy!
Leave a Reply