Crockpot Pulled Pork

Hubby and I have made 3 or 4 pulled pork recipes in the last year or so. Each one was good but nothing amazing – we’ve had some that are too BBQ-saucey, tried the root beer based recipes, and a couple others. Until now. This pulled pork is going to be our recipe from here on out. It has great flavor and a little kick to it. It’s not overly BBQ-saucey either.

As an aside, Happy 250th Post to Me!

I rubbed the meat 2 days prior to cooking it and it cooked on low in the crockpot for about 10 hours. When we took it out to pull apart, it was very tender and flavorful. We were tempted to eat it then, but we stuck to the recipe and added the BBQ sauce and threw it back in for another 45 minutes or so.

Pulled Pork – from The Way The Cookie Crumbles – originally from Cooks Illustrated – serves 6

Printable RecipeSpice Rub:
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons table salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground white pepper – I used black pepper

1 (6-8 pound) bone-in pork shoulder
½ teaspoon liquid smoke (optional) – I omitted
2 cups barbecue sauce

Mix all spice rub ingredients in small bowl.

Massage spice rub into meat (I recommend doing this on a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet with sides). Wrap tightly in double layer of plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 3 hours. For stronger flavor, the roast can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. (I refrigerated ours for 2 days).

Unwrap roast and place it in slow cooker liner. Add liquid smoke, if using, and 1/4 cup water. Turn slow cooker to low and cook for 8-10 hours, until meat is fork-tender.

Transfer roast to cutting board (again, I used a large cookie sheet with sides. This helped to contain the mess); discard liquid in liner. Pull by tearing meat into thin shreds with two forks or your fingers. Discard fat.

Place shredded meat back in slow cooker liner; toss with 1 cup barbecue sauce, and heat on low for 30-60 minutes, until hot. Serve with additional barbecue sauce.

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17 Responses to “Crockpot Pulled Chicken”

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    1
    Megan — February 24, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    I am obsessed with your crockpot chicken tacos and am sure this is going to be another favorite crockpot chicken recipe in our house!

    P.S. I had a cake craving last night and jumped on your blog to look up cupcake recipes… you have 101 cupcake recipes?!!

    • beantownbaker — February 24th, 2011 @ 9:03 pm

      Yea… about those cupcakes. I went through a phase at the beginning of my blog. And I’ve been blogging 3.5 years, so that’s really only about 30/year…

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    Funandfearlessinbeantown — February 24, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    I think I would LOVE this recipe! Bret loves pulled chicken and I love slow cooker recipes!

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    CasualDish — February 24, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    Yum, my husband would totally love this!!

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    Evan @swEEts — February 24, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    Sounds delicious and perfect for leaving in the pot before work and coming home to wonderfully cooked chicken. Can’t wait to try it!

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    Christina — February 24, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    I love this kind of stuff. We had beef dip sandwiches last night. SO GOOD. I bet we’ve love this too!

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    Julie — February 24, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Sounds delicious, but I’m sure I’d have to just add one of those chiles 🙂

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    Kate W — February 24, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Yay! I love Pulled chicken sandwiches, I’m so glad you shared this recipe.

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    Katie — February 26, 2011 at 9:01 am

    Nothing bad about pulled chicken. Nothing. Love all the flavors that the chicken was simmering in. Bet this was awesome!

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    Lindsay — March 7, 2011 at 8:07 am

    This is the first time I’ve seen someone else use an Eating Well recipe! I like. 🙂 Also, this chicken looks fabulous and easy….nice work.

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    Kristen Llobrera — March 7, 2011 at 11:16 am

    These look awesome and so easy to make! I love spicy pulled chicken and I love anything that you can just throw in the crockpot. Can’t wait to try them!

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    Judith — March 8, 2011 at 12:10 am

    My husband and I made this last night for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing!

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    Nona — May 6, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    Has anyone tried freezing this? I dont eat meat, but I am thinking about making this for my husband but there is no way he could eat a whole pot to himself.

    • beantownbaker — May 7th, 2012 @ 10:10 am

      Like most crockpot meals, this meat freezes just fine. I like to portion it out into individual sized portions prior to freezing so you can just grab one and go.

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    Julia — November 27, 2013 at 8:01 am

    Hi! I made this last year and it was a huge hit. I want to make it again for a holiday pot luck, but when I looked at the recipe today, it seemed to have the directions listed twice, and no ingredient amounts. I was able to find the recipe at eating Well, but wanted to let you know that there may be something wrong here.

    • beantownbaker — December 1st, 2013 @ 6:46 pm

      Thanks for the update. I am fixing the post now. Glad this recipe was a success for you!

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    Nollywood — October 7, 2016 at 5:37 pm

    love Pulled chicken sandwiches,

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