This recipe started with a bit of sticker shock at the grocery store. While making my shopping list, I noticed a two-pound lean pork roast cost barely half as much as a single pound of ground beef. A post-pandemic dilemma—right up there with paying fifteen bucks for a dozen eggs.
I’d never made pulled pork before, and honestly, I’d never been impressed by most versions I’d tried elsewhere. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and build something packed with flavor from the ground up. It’s a simple, no-fuss dish that simmers away in the crockpot and fills the kitchen with rich, savory aromas.
This isn’t a recipe for beginners. The measurements are loose—more a reflection of memory than precision—since I was eyeballing everything as I went, from the pork seasoning to the coleslaw dressing. Trust your palate, adjust to your liking, and make it your own.
2 lbs. lean boneless pork roast
1 Tbl. flake salt
2 tsp. black pepper
4 garlic cloves, inserted in slits in pork
plastic wrap
1 cup hickory bbq sauce
1/2 diced red onion
2 Tbl. dark brown sugar
1 tsp. liquid smoke
4 oz. canned green chilis
1 Tbl. cumin
1 Tbl. hoisin sauce
1 tsp. red chili flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
4 oz. apple sauce
COLESLAW
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 chopped cabbage head
2 Tbl. fresh cilantro
2 chopped green onion
1 Tbl. diced red bell pepper
1 Tbl. white sugar
1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
salt / pepper
6 brioche buns
Coat the pork roast with salt and pepper, insert garlic cloves making slits in port. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 12 hours.
Prepare the next seven ingredients. Place half the mix in the crock pot, place the pork in the crock pot and remaining mixture on top of the pork. Cook pork in crock pot on high heat covered until it begins to boil then lower to medium for three hours.
Prepare the coleslaw while pork is cooking, and keep chilled.
Remove cooked pork from crock pot and place all liquids in a sauce pan on the stove and cook down on medium heat until it becomes syrupy, approx. 15 minutes. Shred pork, pour thickened sauce (approx. 2 cups) and mix into pork.
Serve on brioche buns with cool coleslaw.
