Dry-Rubbed Pulled Pork (Slow Cooker Recipe)
The best dry-rubbed pulled pork! This slow cooker recipe makes tender, flavorful pork that is so easy to make. Just coat it with the dry rub, let the crockpot do the work, and you’ll have a delicious, easy weeknight dinner.
Pulled Pork without BBQ Sauce
One of the best parks about this pulled pork is it is prepared without a BBQ sauce. That way you can repurpose it in sandwiches, enchiladas, nachos, and many more leftover pulled pork meals. It is a great “hands off” food. It cooks all day long, and the tender meat easily shreds with 2 forks.
I have prepared this recipe for birthday parties, potlucks, church meals, family gatherings, and for our family to eat throughout the week. This pulled pork recipe is always a hit!
What type of meat for pulled pork?
This pulled pork recipe calls for pork shoulder. To start with, it has several names. You may see it labeled one of these at your grocery store: Pork shoulder butt roast, Boston butt, blade roast, and pork butt. For a little pig anatomy lesson, pork shoulder is the top portion of the front leg of the hog. The name is a bit deceiving as it is not actually in the “butt” of a pig. Here is what my roast looked like when I purchased it from the store:
Should I use bone in or bone out pork shoulder?
Either one! I typically end up with a bone in because that is what my grocery store carries. Both end up with wonderful flavor!
Ingredients
- Pork Shoulder: Also called pork butt
- For the dry rub:
- Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Chili Powder
- Smoked Paprika
- Optional: Juice of 1 orange.
How is pork shoulder best cooked?
Pork shoulder has a lot of fat and connective tissue, making it perfect to slow cook. The slow cooking allows the meat to break down and makes it so easy to pull apart. It is a perfect cut of meat for pulled pork!
How long to cook the meat?
This recipe calls for 8 lbs. of meat. This recipe truly makes a lot of meat! For 8 lbs. of meat, I cook it for 8-9 hours on high heat. Make sure your slow cooker is large enough for this recipe. You will need at least an 8-quart slow cooker.
If you want to speed up cooking time a bit, cut your meat in half prior to placing it in the slow cooker. You will know the meat is done cooking when it reaches 190 degrees internally and can easily be pulled apart with 2 forks.
8 lbs. of pork shoulder: high for 8-9 hours
4 lbs. of pork shoulder: low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours
How to serve the pulled pork
- It goes great simply on a sandwich or slider buns.
- Throw it on top of a salad or baked potato.
- Top it with your favorite BBQ sauce.
- Serve it with a side of coleslaw, baked beans, or potato salad.
- You can top it on a Pizza or even throw it on Nachos.
How to make dry-rubbed slow cooker pulled pork
- I prefer to start with trimming the excess fat off the pork shoulder. This is optional, but when you are shredding the pork at the end it will save you some time from pulling off large excess pieces of fat.
- Move meat into a separate bowl to pull apart with 2 forks. It is a large piece of meat and should easily fall apart into large pieces as you move it into a separate bowl
- Shred meat with 2 forks. You can spoon some of the excess liquid from the slow cooker over it if you like. Enjoy!
- Combine all spices into a small bowl and mix together.
- Season all sides of the pork shoulder generously and place into slow cooker. Squeeze the juice from the orange on top. In case you were wondering – no, you do not need any liquid in here. The pulled pork will release a lot naturally while cooking!
Cook on high for 8-9 hours. Move to a separate container and shred with 2 forks.
Equipment needed
- 8 quart slow cooker
- Small bowl for spices
- Large bowl to shred pork shoulder in after cooking
Storage and reheating
The leftovers store well in the fridge up to 5 days. You can reheat on stovetop with some oil, BBQ sauce, or butter in a skillet.
Freezing leftover pulled pork
You can freeze leftover pulled pork for up to 3 months. I place the leftover meat in gallon sized freezer Ziploc bags. When ready to eat, I move it to the fridge overnight to thaw out. You can reheat on stovetop with some oil or butter in a skillet.
Dry-Rubbed Pulled Pork (Slow Cooker Recipe)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 lb. pork shoulder (aka pork butt)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon chili Powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- Juice of 1 orange
Instructions
- Remove pork shoulder from packaging and trim large pieces of excess fat (the trimming of the fat is optional).
- Combine all spices into a bowl, mix together and then rub on all sides of the pork shoulder
- Place the pork shoulder into slow cooker and squeeze juice of 1 orange over top. You do not need any additional liquid!
- Cook on high for 8-9 hours*
- Remove from crockpot and place into large bowl to shred with 2 forks. This is a large cut of meat and I typically remove it in segments to shred. If you did not trim off fat originally, I have a 2nd bowl to discard large pieces of fat.
- You can spoon over some of the excess liquid onto the meat.
- Serve on a sandwich with your favorite BBQ sauce. Or on top of a baked potato or salad.
Glad to have this for the next party! It went great the first time!
I’ve made this recipe countless times for different events – game day watch parties, birthday parties, and a simple gathering of friends. Always a hit!