Pulled Pork (Crock Pot)

"I found this pulled pork recipe years ago, and it's a favorite at potlucks. Freezes well for easy quick meals."
 
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photo by limeandspoontt photo by limeandspoontt
photo by limeandspoontt
photo by DeliciousAsItLooks photo by DeliciousAsItLooks
photo by pamelabastianon photo by pamelabastianon
photo by The 500 Chef photo by The 500 Chef
photo by Marjorie Ram photo by Marjorie Ram
Ready In:
18hrs 30mins
Ingredients:
5
Serves:
10
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ingredients

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directions

  • Slice one onion and place in crock pot.
  • Put in the roast and cover with the other onion, sliced. Pour over the ginger ale. Cover and cook on LOW for about 12 hours. See Note2 below regarding amount of time needed!
  • Remove the meat, strain and save the onions, discard all liquid. With two forks, shred the meat, discarding any remaining fat, bones or skin. Most of the fat will have melted away.
  • Return the shredded meat and the onions to the crock pot, stir in the barbecue sauce. Continue to cook for another 4 to 6 hours on LOW.
  • Serve with hamburger buns or rolls and additional barbecue sauce. Any leftovers freeze very well.
  • TIP: freeze ready-made sandwiches - a scoop of meat on a bun, well-wrapped. These make a great quick meal or snack. To reheat, remove wrapping, wrap in a paper towel, and zap 1-2 minute in the microwave.
  • Note: Shoulder or butt are recommended because the meat shreds very well. Other cuts do not shred as readily. It is a fattier cut, but the fat melts away in the cooking and is poured away when you discard the liquid.
  • Note 2: I have an older, smaller crock pot. The above times work perfectly for me. But if you have a newer or bigger crock pot, you may need to revise times downward, esp. after the bbq sauce is added. I think you need at least a couple of hours for it all to meld, but that may be all you need. Update: I recently bought a bigger crockpot, I think 5 or 6 qts. I cooked a 6 lb pork shoulder in it for 8 hours and it was shreddable at that point. Shredded, added the sauce, and cooked for another hour or so to meld everything. So use your best judgment on timing!
  • Note3: You might want to turn your roast over after it's cooked a while, to ensure more even cooking. I think this may depend on the size and shape of your roast and the size of your slow cooker. Remember that each time you remove the lid you lose heat and be careful, as turning a large piece of meat is awkward.
  • Note4: my sister says this takes 2 hours in the Instapot. I don't have one, up to you to figure out the steps.

Questions & Replies

  1. Can I use sprite instead of ginger ale?
     
  2. Hi there! I'm just wondering if this freezes well? Thanks!
     
  3. Making this just now and read the recipe wrong. Added the BBQ sauce at the beginning. Should I rinse everything off and start over, or leave it as it is and see what happens?
     
  4. I am planning to make this for the first time. I got pork butt with bones. When would be the ideal time to take the bones out?
     
  5. Can I omit the bbq sauce in this recipe? I like to add. The sauce when I serve the pork.
     
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Reviews

  1. My family LOVED this recipe!!! This is one of the BEST bbq sandwiches I have ever ate. I followed the recipe to the tee without any changes to ingrediants (except I could only find a 8lb roast, so I had to cook on high for 12 hrs) and it came out perfect. I see alot of people post ratings with ALOT of changes to the ingrediants, but I feel like if they do that, then they are not rating THIS recipe. But thats just my opinion. Great recipe AS IS, might try some the suggestions, but my rating is for the original. ;)
     
  2. Wow, about 99% of the reviews are not for THIS recipe. I actually made this recipe as instructed and thought it was fantastic. I didn't add liquid smoke, apple cider or anything as a substitute for the three ingredients listed. If I had, I would have written a review for THAT recipe. Haha<br/><br/>Anyways, try this one! It's great!
     
  3. This is our favorite method for pulled pork. A nice variation uses 1 cup apple cider vinegar 1 cup apple juice/cider 1 tsp liquid smoke instead of the ginger ale. Easy as 3.1415926
     
  4. A keeper. Very easy to make. Lots of leftovers. Yum... I cooked it on high for 6 hours with a new crock pot by Crock Pot then another 2 hrs on low with the sauce. Meat fell off the bone and was easy to pull apart. We did not keep the onions because we do not like onions in this. We used the Sweet Baby Ray's bar-b-q sauce as stated because we had never tried it but it's too sweet for me so I might have to use Bandits' sauce next time. Very good. Thanks for sharing.
     
  5. GREAT recipe for entertaining!!! I made this for a family birthday party and it worked perfectly, it was a hit! I like that it's a crock pot recipe which allowed me to spend time with guests instead of standing around the kitchen. I have a newer crock pot so I cooked the pork butt roast on low for exactly 9 hours and then shredded the meat. I put the meat back in the pot on low for about an hour and then switched the crock pot to warm for a few hours until it was time to eat. I put the other ingredients in exactly as called for and it was perfectly tender, not dry at all. Thanks for a great recipe!
     
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Tweaks

  1. Used apple cider vinegar, apple juice and liquid smoke. Did not stir in any of the cooked onions and pulled all of the fat off the roast while shredding.
     
  2. This recipe is great! Having made it several times I wondered if I could get away with using Coke instead of Ginger Ale, since I normally have Coke in my pantry. It was just as good! Also, I make only half of the recipe and still have great leftovers. I cook for 9 hours on low without the sauce and 2 hours with. With half of the meat I could've added the sauce after 7 hours, and it would've been just as good.
     
  3. I thought I had reviewed this a long time ago!?! I make this recipe several times a year. Its great! Moist, tasty and freezes well! My husband loves using these sandwiches for lunch. I tried it one time with beer instead of ginger ale, and that was great too, but usually I use ginger ale.
     
  4. I only had 2lbs of pork roast in my freezer but used the whole can of ginger ale. Didn't have any onions so I just added some minced onion instead. I used Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet BBQ sauce. Husband said this was as good as any sandwich from a restaurant.
     
  5. Added 2 teaspoons of 'liquid smoke' only because I like a Smokey taste. However, it's not necessary, as it tastes great without, too
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

My screen name is a diminutive in Lithuanian for bread, so you won't be suprised to learn that I love to bake bread. In recent years I have been baking a lot of sourdough breads and have several starters sitting in my refrigerator. But I like to cook a lot of other things, as well, especially from various cultures. The cat wishes I would concentrate on meat and fish... I joined a few years ago but started posting recipes and participating in forums just recently - I wish I had done so earlier. Recipezaar is a great community! Right now I am a co-host for the Breads and Baking and the Eastern Europe forums - I hope to see you there!
 
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