This slow cooker shredded pork recipe is easy to make in the clay pot or instant pot! It’s a great recipe for a crowd and is sure to become a staple dish in your home like you have in mine!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you buy something I recommend
.
I love a good shredded pork sandwich and lately I’ve noticed how versatile shredded pork is. I’m super excited to show you two ways to use this recipe, in this post I show you how to make the traditional Kansas City-style barbecued shredded pork sandwich. Click to get the recipe for shredded pork tacos with cilantro and lime aioli, they are amazing!
EXPERT TIP: One of the tricks to infuse flavor into roast pork is to cut small indentations in the roast and then stick garlic chips on it.
This recipe makes a ton, making it ideal for family gatherings or just to have plenty of leftovers. Enjoy!
Does the shredded pork in the slow cooker need liquid?
No. When making shredded pork in the slow cooker, I add a small amount of extra liquid for flavor, but it’s not a necessity. Because there’s a good amount of fat and water in shoulder roasts, you don’t have to add extra liquid when making shredded pork. I add 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce to add flavor, but technically you could put it without any liquid and it would still cook well.
Can you put raw pork in a slow cooker?
yes! For this recipe we will place a pork shoulder or butt roast in the raw slow cooker for 5-6 hours over low heat or 3-4 hours at the top. A slow cooker at low temperature is usually around 190 degrees, which means it’s hot enough to cook food without it being contaminated.
What is the best cut of meat for
shredded pork?
Shredded pork or shredded pork is typically made with a “Boston butt roast” that comes from the animal’s shoulder. Pork shoulder has the ideal amount of fat and connective tissues that creates tender and juicy shredded pork. You can use with bone or boneless to make shredded pork.
You can use any of these cuts of pork to make shredded pork:
- Shoulder
- Butt
- Blade Roast Picnic
- Roast
- Tenderloin
- Glass Loin Roasted Ingredients
Roast Boston
Roast
Roast Pork Pork Tenderloin
Pork
for Kansas City
BBQ Style Pulled Pork Live
in Kansas City for 12 years taught us that we love our barbecue. This recipe is delicious and a great method for minimal working barbecue, however, if you want a real KC barbecue, you will have to smoke your pork. You’ll need these ingredients to make this recipe:
- Pork roast- As mentioned above, you can use almost any pork roast. Traditional shoulder cuts like a Boston butt, picnic roast, or blade roast are best. We used a 4 pound roast for
- Worcestershire Sauce: This spicy sweet sauce infuses the pork with extra flavor as it cooks
- Garlic cloves: A key ingredient in this shredded pork recipe. I use a method where you cut indentations in the roast and put the garlic slices into the roast. Hello taste!
- : I like a sweet BBQ crumbled pork, so the massage we do in this recipe is a brown sugar base. Mmm
- Paprika- Another flavor-infusing paprika that makes this pork the best! If you’ve smoked paprika by hand, use it instead!
- To finish the rubbing you will add salt and pepper, use a kosher or sea salt of good quality to get the best results
- Sauce- We are kind of a BBQ sauce connoisseur and we have 5 different BBQ sauces in our fridge, it’s inevitable when you live in Kansas City. I love local salsas, however, my favorite national brand sauce is KC Masterpiece Kansas City Classic sauce. I’m not a fan of any of their other sauces, but this one did well. The Sweet Baby Ray honey BBQ is a close second in our house.
this recipe
.
Brown sugar
!
Salt and pepper-
. BBQ
How to Make Pulled Pork
It’s easy to make shredded pork at home in your Crockpot or Instant Pot. To make the perfect shredded pork that tastes delicious and pulls away, you’ll want to follow a few steps.
- Season the roast pork with a rub. In this recipe you will make your own massage with brown sugar, paprika and salt and pepper. It is simple but effective for making delicious shredded pork.
- Add garlic chips to the roast pork by cutting the slits.
- Cook for the time suitable for your roasting and cooking device. In this recipe I give you instructions on how long to cook a 4-pound pork roast in an instant pot and slow cooker. You can cook under or too much pork roasts, read about that below.
You can make shredded pork in a slow cooker, instant cooker, oven or smoker. This recipe has instructions for slow cooker and instant cooker.
I love my instant pot! It’s been a lot of fun to turn slow cooker recipes into Instant Pot versions. I love being able to cook something in 2 hours instead of 6-8 and get the same results! It’s amazing! Check it out HERE.
How long to cook shredded pork on the barbecue?
How long you cook your roast pork to make shredded pork depends entirely on the weight of your roast and the device you’re using for cooking.
Pork is only safe to eat once it has reached an internal temperature of 145 °, for average cooking a temperature of 160 ° should be reached. To easily pull pork you need to reach an internal temperature of 195 ° to 205 °
.
A good meat thermometer is a lifesaver. I love my Amazon Thermopro.
The table above is an estimate for cooking shredded pork, the real test is temperature. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, you’ll know it’s made when you put a fork in it and it separates easily.
However, don’t be fooled, sometimes the top layer will be ready to pull and then when you try to separate further towards the center, it is still difficult. I hate it when this happens! What again returns to the thermometer, if you test the temperature you will know for sure if it is ready or not.
If you are not ready, try cooking a little more: in the slow cooker, give it 30 more minutes, in the instant pot try another 10.
Can crumbled pork be overcooked?
yes. Pork goes through these phases: hard-tender-hard. Although, you would really have to cook it for a long time to get it back to the overcooked hard stage. One of the main problems when overcooked is that the fat breaks down and then evaporates leaving meat dry. Meat can also become soft or have a grainy texture if overcooked.
Can pork be taken out after it cools?
No. It is very difficult to get pork out when it has been in the fridge. If you don’t have time to pull it when you’re done cooking, my best suggestion is to wrap it in aluminum foil, place it in the fridge, and then when you’re ready to pull it, slowly heat it in the oven to 200° for 30 minutes to an hour.
Can you freeze shredded pork?
Yes! If you’re not cooking for a crowd, you may have more meat than you can eat in a week after cooking this recipe. The best way to freeze shredded pork is to first crush it and then put a portion in an airtight container such as a ziplock bag or plastic food storage container. Do not put sauce, save the sauce for when you take it out of the freezer. Frozen shredded pork will be good for up
to 4-6 months, according to the USDA
Shredded pork will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator according to the USDA, but I’m here to tell you that I’ve eaten it from my fridge 6-7 days after cooking. What can I say, I live on the edge. 😉
What to eat with
shredded pork?
Crockpot Shredded pork is probably the most versatile cooked meat to have in your refrigerator. In this recipe I recommend spreading it in a good barbecue sauce and eating it on a hamburger bun. Chances are, you have leftover pork in your refrigerator, so here are some of my favorite recipes for using leftover shredded pork.
I
hope you enjoy this shredded cooker pork as much as I do! It is a basic recipe in our house. When you make this recipe let me know! I love to see when you do projects from the blog. Leave a comment or tag me on instagram @handmadeintheheartland or facebook!
If you come from google stories, thank you for joining us!
