Pulled Pork

I love barbecue pork sandwiches. And I love cooking a big pork roast in the crock pot and coming home to the aroma!

To be honest, I have had good results with this recipe, and also with simply pouring in store bought bbq sauce from a bottle! This recipe is handy if you don't have any bbq sauce, and it also doesn't leave an overly strong flavor, so you could easily use the pork in burritos or other recipes.

I used an 8 pound pork roast. That's big. I would recommend 5 pounds or smaller, unless you're feeding a crowd or you want a lot of leftovers. I will put half of this in the freezer for the future - I'm estimating this will make at least 20 sandwiches!

I experimented a bit in preparation - thinking that possibly rubbing the brown sugar and spices directly on the roast and letting it "marinate" overnight would heighten the flavor. I didn't notice a lot of difference, so I would encourage you to skip this step and just throw the ingredients right into the crock pot!



The night before I was going to make this, I chopped the onions and combined most of the liquid ingredients in order to save time the next morning.



The next morning, I placed the roast in the crock pot and added the liquid ingredients to the container that the roast had been in (so that I could "scrape up" the leftover brown sugar)! I added the diet coke and stirred it all together.



Then I poured it over the roast, and topped with onions.



Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8-12 hours. You want the meat to come apart easily, similar to the pot roast or beef stroganoff.



When the meat is done, very carefully remove it to a cookie sheet with edges (which will catch all the juices. Believe me, you don't want pork juice all over your floor.)



Keep your garbage can handy, and discard the bones and fat. Then shred the meat. Sometimes I let this cool for a while and shred it with my hands; I find that to be easier than the two forks method. Look at all this pork!



At this point, I would recommend adding barbecue sauce to the shredded pork if you're serving it for sandwiches. I choose not to thicken the sauce left in the crock because it's rather fatty. Eww.

Place on hamburger buns to serve, or use in burritos or other dishes. Freeze any leftovers if you like.

Use your crock pot! For more ideas go to Slow Cooking Thursday, Tasty Thursday and the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Pulled Pork

1 - 4 to 5 pound pork roast, whatever is cheapest
2 medium onions, chopped
1 - 12 oz can cola (diet is fine)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1 cup ketchup
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. chili pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced

Place roast in crock pot. Combine all liquid ingredients, sugar and spices, and pour over roast. Top with onions. Cover; cook on low for 10-12 hours or until meat comes apart easily. Remove meat from crock; discard bones and fat, and shred meat. Mix with bbq sauce and serve on hamburger buns, or use in burritos or casseroles.