Slow Cooker Pulled Pork is our favorite way to make shredded pork because the meat is so juicy and tender. The sweet and smoky barbecue flavor makes it perfect for pulled pork sandwiches.
This is an easy, crowd-pleasing crockpot recipe everyone will love. Watch the video tutorial and it will make your mouth water! P.S. You can even freeze leftover pork for another busy weeknight.
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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe:
My sister Svetlana is a natural cook; someone who throws lots of ingredients together and it turns out amazing. This is her recipe and as the story goes, she had planned to make a pot roast and purchased the wrong kind of meat! This crockpot bbq pork turned out to be the best kind of mistake and is now a family and reader favorite.
This pork is easy to prepare; just toss everything into the slow cooker and it does all of the work. You can use all of that free time for making some delicious sides to go along with your meal. We love serving this with our favorite coleslaw (pictured above). This would also be delicious with a side of our smashed potatoes or crispy baked potato wedges.
Ingredients for Pulled Pork:
Here are the things you will need to make pulled pork in a slow cooker: a large onion, 6-7 lbs of boneless Pork Shoulder Chuck Roast, and a simple homemade pork rub with salt, black pepper, and paprika.
For the marinade, you’ll need chicken broth, BBQ Sauce (use homemade Barbecue Sauce or Stubb’s Sticky Sweet storebought), liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, fresh garlic, and brown sugar. The liquid smoke is optional but does add great smoked pulled pork flavor.
How to Make Pulled Pork:
Shredded Pork in the crockpot doesn’t get any easier. There is no pre-cooking or searing required. Watch the video tutorial below.
1. Add diced onion to the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. To make the Pulled Pork Rub, combine 1 Tbsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, and 1 tsp paprika. Sprinkle seasonings over the meat and massage to rub the seasoning into the meat. Place meat in the slow cooker.
3. For the marinade, combine: 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup BBQ sauce, 1 Tbsp liquid smoke, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar and 3 pressed garlic cloves then stir to combine. Pour the marinade over the pork.
4. Cover and set the crockpot on low for 8 hours if using 2 smaller roasts or 8-10 hours for 1 large roast. Remove the meat to a large bowl and remove any fat. Shred with two forks. Pour some of the remaining sauce in the slow cooker over the pork, adding it to taste. Brush the shredded pork with more BBQ Sauce.
How to Serve Pulled Pork:
The great thing about crockpot cooking is it’s easy to take along and serve other places outside your home while still keeping things hot and fresh. Here are a few ideas of other ways to use this great crockpot recipe. Pulled pork leftovers are the best kind of leftovers!
- BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches on a soft potato bun is our favorite way to serve shredded pork.
- Pulled Pork Tacos are a fun twist to Taco Tuesday!
- Shredded Pork Nachos served with tortilla chips, cheese, and all the fixings are great for parties.
- Pork Wraps are delicious with some corn and black beans.
- Pork Salad is a smart and lighter meal option, adding pork for protein.
- Pulled Pork Sliders are so good in homemade dinner rolls.
More Easy Slow Cooker Recipes:
For those busy days, try some of our other crock-pot meals:
- BBQ Chicken – Great with coconut coleslaw.
- Bolognese Sauce – Prepped in the morning, ready when you come home.
- Crockpot Lasagna – Just as good as the classic recipe, but easier.
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili – A tasty twist on a traditional favorite.
- Shredded Chicken Tacos – A quick, fun dinner party idea.
- Shredded Beef Sandwiches – great for meal prep!
Watch How to Make Pulled Pork:
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Pulled Pork Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- 6 lbs boneless Pork Shoulder Chuck Roast, (or 2 smaller roasts totalling 6-7 lbs)
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup your favorite BBQ Sauce
- 1 Tbsp liquid smoke, optional but nice
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 large garlic cloves, pressed
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Chop 1 large onion and place it into the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Combine 1 Tbsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, and 1 tsp paprika and generously sprinkle the pork roast. Massage the roast to rub the seasoning into the meat. Place meat over the onions.
- For the marinade, combine: 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup BBQ sauce, 1 Tbsp liquid smoke, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 3 pressed garlic cloves. Stir to combine. Pour the marinade over the pork.
- Cover and set on low for 8 hours for 2 smaller roasts or 8-10 hours for a single large roast. It's ready when easily pulled apart with forks. Remove the meat to a large bowl and remove any fat. Shred with forks. Pour any drippings from the crockpot over the meat to taste then brush meat with warm barbecue sauce to serve.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Can be beef broth be used instead of chicken.. I bought the wrong broth..
Hi Debbie, that should work fine 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I want to make your pulled pork recipe but don’t have a slow cooker. What would the cooking time be in a conventional oven? Thanks so much.
Nancy 🇨🇦
Hi Nancy, I haven’t tested it that way so I really can’t guess. If you try it out, let me know how it goes!
Can the roast be frozen? Not always convenient to have one thawed already.
I have not tried using a frozen roast, so I can’t say for sure. You would definitely have to increase the cooking time. If you test it out, let me know how you like it!
Yes, frozen roast works great. I just did an 8lb. solid frozen pork shoulder roast and 1 1/2 times the recipe and put it in the crock pot on low. It was done in about 7 hours. I took it out, got rid of all the fat, shredded it with a fork and put it back in the crock pot with the juices. The family loved the flavor and the pork was so tender!
I need to make this for 12 people. If I get a bigger cut of meat and double the sauce will it turn out alright?
Hi Susie, yes that would be fine as long as it fits in your slow cooker. You may need to cook it longer in the crockpot if it’s a larger piece of meat.
I see you put in 2 pieces of pork in your crockpot, were the 6 pounds each or together? I bought my pork roast at Costco and it’s a 2 pack. They are around 6 pounds each. Should I put it in 1 crock pot or use 2?
Hi Lorie, my 2 pieces of meat were 6-7 lbs together. If you have a large enough crockpot and wanted to make a double batch, that would work to put both of them in, but as it is written, I would just use 1 piece if it is 6 lbs.
Making this for the second time already and we are loving it:) Thank you Natasha for such amazing recipes.
P.S. we love the coleslaw as well 🙂
You’re welcome Tatiana! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review! 🙂
I’m making this today with left over pork shoulder. So far it smells amazing. I’m making it in my stock pot. I also added a bit of turkey bacon 🙁
Yum! That sounds delish! Let me know how it turned out Elisa! 🙂
Does the pork need to be covered by liquid while cooking? The liquid only comes half way up my pork.
It’s perfectly ok for the liquid to come halfway up the meat. The steam from the crockpot will keep it moist on the surface. Enjoy!
Hi Natasha,
Happy 2017 to you and your family. May all your hopes, wishes and dreams come true! Do you have a vinegar based coleslaw recipe? I’d like to make your pulled pork recipe, but don’t like mayonaise based coleslaw. Thanks so much.
Nancy 🇨🇦
Hi Nancy, thank you and to you as well!! 🙂 I just have the mayo-based coleslaws and I do have some non-mayo cabbage salads that you could probably make work but they aren’t specifically coleslaws.
If I have a 8.5 pound pork shoulder, should I increase the cook time? Also, make extra sauce.
Hi Cassandra, I would increase the cook time maybe by 1 hour or so. Cook until it pulls apart easily with 2 forks. I think there would still be enough sauce in the recipe to cover a slightly larger roast but you can increase it by 25% or half and it wouldn’t hurt. 🙂
Hi Natasha!
I’m in hour 8 of this pulled pork, and my pork isn’t pulling. I followed the instructions exactly, and dinner is in an hour and a half! Any tips? Should I turn the slow cooker up a notch for a while and see if that works?
Thank you!
Hi Kelsey, that is unusual. Did you use a different cut of pork or a larger piece of pork than what is called for in the recipe?
Would it hurt to have it marinating overnight for am early AM start?
Hi Brad, I think that would work fine.
Hi Natasha,
Thank you for the great recipes! How long would you suggest I should cook the pork if I use about half the meat (3-4 pounds).
Hi Olga, Hi Amaris, it should still take about the same amount of time. You can check it at 6 and 7 hours and you’ll know it’s ready if it’s easy to pull the meat apart with forks.
I have a roaster oven, any idea what temp for a 6-8 hr cook?
Hi Mavery, I haven’t used a roaster oven so I’m not sure. A slow cooker low setting is about 200˚F from what I could find online but I’m not sure if it is an adequate temperature for your roaster oven. I wish I had a better answer for you.
Hey Natasha,
Do you have a coleslaw recipe to go along with the pulled pork? I plan on making this over the weekend?
Nicole, you must try this coconut coleslaw along with the pulled pork. Let me know how it turns out ?.
Hope you get this. I just made this and the sauce is watery. Any tips to thicken it up? It’s like a broth, not like a BBQ sauce.
Hi Anna, the sauce should be liquid when the pork is done cooking. The liquid gets absorbed by the pork when you put it back into the juice and it turns out just right 🙂
Could I use pork tenderloin instead of pork shoulder? If so, do I still use 6-7 pounds? This recipe looks great!
Hi Stephanie, I think that would work but start checking it at 4 hours on low because it is a thinner cut of meat and it doesn’t have as much fat so you don’t want to overcook it. P.S. have you tried our roasted pork tenderloin? It’s literally one of the top 3 recipes on my blog (out of about 700) and has excellent reviews. I hope you give it a try! ?
This is a phenomenal recipe! The liquid smoke really makes a difference and gave the bbq sauce a rich flavor. The only thing I would do differently was make another one half of the bbq/chicken broth recipe. I prefer my pulled pork with a little more sauce. I did make some after I took the fat off a day later and shredded and added to already cooked meat. I will definitely be making this wonderful recipe again!
Sue, thank you for such a nice review, I’m glad to hear that you like the recipe 😁.
So easy to make and so delicious!
I’m so glad you like the recipe! 🙂
I’m a horrible cook but due to a meat loving husband I been trying out your recipes n so far- this is hubs fav. Easy to make n it took 7.5hrs n hubs ate half of the pork lol deff making this again!!! Pulled apart perfectly and tasted great! Thx for the yummy recipes n easy to understand info/pix!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe and find the tutorials helpful – that’s so encouraging to hear! It’s tempting to just put up a picture of the final product (it would save me so much time!), but I would prefer to see a recipe that way so that’s why I share my recipes with photos 🙂
Made this today. Halved the recipe as my pork was 3.5 lbs. Cooked it about 7.5 hours. It was amazing. Family loved it and I’m looking forward to leftovers! Yummy.
Teresa, thank you for the great review, I’m glad you liked it 😀.