Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

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5 from 1 vote

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Cooling15

Total Time5 30

Servings: Servings

Calories: 242kcal

Ingredients

Pork & Spice Rub

1 tbsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried thyme
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground allspice
5 lbs Boston pork butt boneless
1 tbsp olive oil

Slow Cooker Sauce

8 cloves garlic
7.5 oz can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce any stems removed
8 oz white onion about 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1½ tbsp brown sugar
1 cup chicken stock
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 ind cinnamon stick

Instructions

Pork & Spice Rub

In a small bowl, mix pepper, thyme, cumin, salt, and allspice together and set aside.
Clean any excess fat off of pork butt. Pork butt is a high fat cut of pork so you don't need to get it all, just large pockets of fat off the outside of the pork. Then cut pork into quarters and rub spice mix evenly into the pork pieces.
Heat olive oil in a medium sized fry pain and brown all sides of the meat, about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove pork and place in slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Sauce

Add garlic and onion into fry pan and cook in leftover oil from the pork. Let soften and brown slightly. Add brown sugar and let it coat the vegetables, cooking for an addition 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently so the sugar doesn't burn. De-glaze the pan with the chicken stock, gently scraping the sides to get any bits off the sides of the pan then turn off the heat.
Add vegetable mixture with broth into a blender and add chipotle peppers. Blend until a smooth sauce. Add sauce back into fry pan and heat until it starts gently simmering. Let simmer, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and pour over pork.
Add cinnamon stick to slow cooker and cook over high heat for 3½-4 hours, until pork is tender and falls apart easily. Transfer to a large plate or bowl to cool for about 15 minutes so you can easily handle the pork.
While the pork was cooking, it rendered fat into the sauce, leaving a layer of excess fat on the top of the sauce. Using a ladle, carefully remove as much as you can from the surface of the sauce until there is only about ⅛ inch left on the surface (this small amount adds flavor without the sauce becoming greasy). Shred pork and add back into the sauce. Add red wine vinegar and mix well. Enjoy!

Notes

I love making big batches of this when pork is on sale, then freeze it in individual portions with the sauce for quick and easy meals. The sauce keeps the pork moist and adds flavor to any dish you put it in. This holds well in the freezer for up to 3 months.

If you don't have any cinnamon sticks handy, you can add ½ tsp of cinnamon to the pork spice rub instead.

While I love using fresh herbs in the majority of my dishes, they are not slow cooker friendly. I would not recommend substituting fresh thyme for the dried.

Nutrition