Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork
Slow-cooked pulled pork is a simple and delicious source of protein. Its great straight out of the oven and just as good as leftovers.
Ingredients
- 8-10 pounds pork shoulder, leg, butt, or shanks
- 4 TBSP cooking oil bacon fat, avocado oil, grass-fed lard, etc.
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 yellow onion medium in size
- 4 carrots large in size
- 1 TBSP garlic powder
- 1 TBSP onion powder
- 1 TBSP cumin ground
- 1.5 tsp Himalayan sea salt
- 1.5 tsp pepper
- 1.5 tsp cinammon
- 1.5 tsp paprika
- 6 bay leaves
- 8 cups water or enough to reach halfway up the pork
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Take pork out of the fridge and let warm up on the counter for about 30 minutes.
- Trim any excess fat off of the outside of the pork. Peel and chop carrots. Rough chop garlic.
- Rub oil over the outside of the pork to help the seasonings stick. Cover in seasoning mixture. Pat into place.
- Cover the bottom of the pot with cooking oil.
- On medium heat, place seasoned pork in pot. Be cautious to keep flame low enough so oil doesn’t smoke. Brown on as many sides as possible.
- Add water to reach halfway up the pork along with the garlic, onion, and carrots.
- Turn up heat, bring to a boil, and then transfer to oven.
- Cook for 4 - 4.5 hrs checking every few hours to make sure the water level reduces only by about half. Add water as needed.
- When the pork is done, it should be very tender and easily fall away from the bones. Remove pork from liquid, leaving the liquid and vegetables in the pot.
- Pull the pork off the bone in large chunks, discard any undesired sinew, and return shredded pork to liquid. You do not need to completely shred the pork as it will continue to break apart in the liquid.
Notes
• Add cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes for spicier rub
• This whole recipe can be done in a crock-pot. You can skip the browning step or brown in a separate pan on the stove and transfer to the crock-pot.