Crock It! BBQ Pulled Pork

I have a friend who has two slow cookers and isn’t shy about making TWO pots of BBQ Pulled Pork at once: It’s that good!

I love a pulled pork sandwich and when I realized how easy it is to make in a slow cooker, I actually understood why one would want to make two batches at once. Until I found this recipe (originally printed in one of my Cooking Light cookbooks) my only visual reference of how to make “barbeque” was from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. So, without my outdoor pit and days of cooking, I found a way to make delicious BBQ Pulled Pork.

Ingredients:

• 1  (3-pound) boneless pork loin roast, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
• 1  cup  water
• 1  (18-ounce) bottle barbecue sauce
• 2  tablespoons  brown sugar
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  hot sauce
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

What’s Next:

1. Place roast and water in a 4-quart electric slow cooker.
2. Cover with lid; cook on high-heat setting 7 hours or until meat is tender.
3. Drain and discard cooking liquid.
4. Return pork to slow cooker; shred with 2 forks. Stir in barbecue sauce and next 4 ingredients (through pepper).
5. Reduce to low-heat setting; cover and cook 1 hour.

Notes from my experience:

• You don’t have to use a pork loin roast. Another option (suggested in several other pulled pork recipes) is to use a pork picnic or shoulder butt. These are less expensive cuts of meat and just require trimming some fat before cooking or while shredding.
• This recipe calls for removing the liquid before adding the BBQ sauce. I have never done that, but I don’t like my meat the least bit dry, so use your judgment and don’t be afraid to avoid the challenge of draining the liquid.
• Try this: Rather than use a bottled BBQ sauce, you can make your own by using the ingredients from the Crock it! Baked Beans recipe.

Want to know more about our Crock It! series, read all about it here.