Slow Cooker

Slow-Cooker Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue

by:
June  4, 2019
4
5 Ratings
Photo by Morgan Ione Yeager
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 10 hours
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

Excerpted from Instant Pot Miracle 6 Ingredients or Less © 2018 by Ivy Manning. Photography © 2018 by Morgan Ione Yeager. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

This recipe gives you fork-tender pulled pork barbecue with just 10 minutes of effort. It gets a slightly smoky flavor from smoked paprika. You can substitute 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke for the smoked paprika, if you like. Serve the pork alongside collard greens, or put it on hamburger buns and top with coleslaw. —Food52

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Ingredients
  • 1 (4-pound) boneless pork shoulder or pork butt roast
  • 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon seasoning salt (such as Johnny’s Fine Foods)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 2 cups ketchup
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • Hamburger buns and coleslaw, for serving (optional)
Directions
  1. Trim any excess fat off the outside of the pork and cut the meat into four large pieces. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, seasoning salt, and paprika. Rub evenly all over the meat.
  2. Combine the ketchup, vinegar, and 1 cup water in a slow cooker. Add the meat and turn to coat in the sauce.
  3. Slow-cook on low for 10 to 11 hours.
  4. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and shred with two forks, discarding any large chunks of fat. Place in a serving bowl and cover with foil.
  5. Skim the liquid fat off the top of the sauce and discard. Ladle some of the sauce over the pork and serve with the remaining sauce on the side.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

6 Reviews

Home C. January 6, 2021
Bless this recipe creator's heart.
A few red flags from an NC resident.
1) ketchup and brown sugar don't go into NC style BBQ when you are making the meat. Only Apple Cider Vinegar and salt ( pepper if you must). The rest of the seasoning happens after...
2) do not do the crime of trimming the fat! The fat cap bastes the meat as it cooks. You got to put the whole thing in with fat cap up to keep the rest of the meat moist. Get rid of it after cooking...

voj September 2, 2021
Could you elaborate on how you're adding the ketchup and brown sugar after?
gandalf June 5, 2019
Which Carolina? Barbecue sauce in North Carolina is vinegar-based, not ketchup-based (at least in eastern North Carolina). You can find mustard-based barbecue sauce in South Carolina (e.g., at Maurice's).
Slimyy S. June 11, 2019
Maurice's is nasty. SC has vinegar based BBQ and it also has ketchup. Don't judge us by Maurice's mustard based.
Bianca M. December 31, 2019
I was about to make the same comment. This is absolutely not Carolina bbq. It’s someone’s bbq, but it ain’t north or south Carolina.
J August 29, 2020
Yeah, I'm not a Carolinian but I recoiled when I saw ketchup as an ingredient.