Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork in BBQ Sauce

Pulled pork is one of those meals that looks like you’ve made much more effort than you actually have. Once the pork and BBQ sauce ingredients are in the slow cooker, there really isn’t much left for you to do until it’s time to pull the meat apart.

I’ve been making this version for years. It uses pork shoulder cooked slowly in a homemade BBQ-style sauce with passata, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic and mustard. After around eight hours on LOW, the pork should be tender enough to pull apart with a couple of forks.

I originally shared this recipe when I was following Slimming World, which is why you may have come across an older version of it described as Slimming World pulled pork. These days I simply think of it as an easy family dinner that happens to work brilliantly in the slow cooker.

It’s also one of those recipes where the leftovers are almost as useful as the original meal. You can have pulled pork in rolls, wraps, on jacket potatoes, with wedges or rice, or use it to make a completely different dinner the following day.

Why I like making pulled pork in the slow cooker

Pork shoulder really suits slow cooking because it benefits from having plenty of time to become tender. For this recipe, I cook it on LOW for around eight hours, so it’s ideal for getting started earlier in the day.

I also like that you don’t need a bottle of ready-made BBQ sauce for this version. The sauce is made from fairly ordinary ingredients, most of which I usually have in the cupboard anyway.

Then there’s the fact that everyone can eat it slightly differently. Put the pulled pork in the middle of the table with rolls, wraps, salad, wedges and a few other bits and everyone can make their own meal. That’s sometimes considerably easier than trying to find one dinner that everybody wants in exactly the same way!

Can I make this pulled pork in the oven?

Yes. I usually think of this as a slow cooker pulled pork recipe, but I’ve made it in the oven too, so you don’t need a slow cooker to try it.

Use the same ingredients and put the pork shoulder into a large ovenproof casserole dish with a lid. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour them over the pork.

Cook at 150°C for around 3½ hours, keeping the dish covered while the pork cooks.

If the sauce is thinner than you’d like towards the end, remove the lid for the final 30 minutes and increase the oven temperature to around 200°C so the sauce has a chance to reduce.

Once the pork is tender, remove it from the sauce and pull it apart before mixing it back through.

Ovens and pieces of meat vary, so use the cooking time as a guide and make sure the pork is properly cooked and tender before serving.

Can I make this pulled pork in the oven?

Yes. I usually think of this as a slow cooker pulled pork recipe, but I’ve made it in the oven too, so you don’t need a slow cooker to try it.

Use the same ingredients and put the pork shoulder into a large ovenproof casserole dish with a lid. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour them over the pork.

Cook at 150°C for around 3½ hours, keeping the dish covered while the pork cooks.

If the sauce is thinner than you’d like towards the end, remove the lid for the final 30 minutes and increase the oven temperature to around 200°C so the sauce has a chance to reduce.

Once the pork is tender, remove it from the sauce and pull it apart before mixing it back through.

Ovens and pieces of meat vary, so use the cooking time as a guide and make sure the pork is properly cooked and tender before serving.

What’s the easiest way to pull pork?

I usually keep it simple and use two forks. Take the cooked pork out of the slow cooker, put it onto a large plate or board and use the forks to pull the meat apart.

If it has cooked until properly tender, it shouldn’t need much persuasion. If you’re wrestling with it and wondering whether you accidentally bought indestructible pork, it probably needs a little longer!

You can buy meat-shredding claws if you make pulled pork regularly, but they’re certainly not essential. Two forks have served me perfectly well.

Once you’ve shredded the pork, put it back into the slow cooker and mix it through the BBQ sauce before serving.

The homemade BBQ sauce

The sauce in this recipe is deliberately simple. I use passata as the tomato base, then Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard powder and garlic to give it more flavour.

The original recipe also uses granulated sweetener. If you’re making it exactly as written, that’s absolutely fine, but this is one ingredient you can experiment with depending on your preferences. The sweetness is there to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and vinegar rather than simply making the pork taste sweet.

One thing I wouldn’t do is add lots of extra liquid. Very little moisture escapes from a slow cooker, and the pork itself will release some liquid as it cooks.

If you open the lid towards the end and think the BBQ sauce looks too thin, take the lid off and cook it on HIGH for around 30 minutes. Once you’ve shredded the pork and mixed it back through, the finished sauce may also seem thicker anyway.

What to serve with pulled pork

This is probably one of the most useful things about pulled pork – there isn’t really one correct way to serve it.

The obvious choice is a pulled pork roll. Add some salad or coleslaw and you’ve got a really easy dinner that doesn’t need much else.

I also like it with potato wedges or chips, particularly if you spoon some of the BBQ sauce over them.

Pulled pork is a great jacket potato filling too. Split the potato open, pile the pork on top and add whatever else you fancy. I’ve got lots more jacket potato filling ideas if you’ve got potatoes to use.

You could have it with rice and vegetables, use it in wraps, add it to loaded fries or even use leftovers as a pizza topping.

If you’re feeding several people, I quite like putting a few different sides on the table and letting everyone sort themselves out. It saves me trying to remember who doesn’t want coleslaw touching their chips!

What can I do with leftover pulled pork?

I wouldn’t be disappointed to discover I’d made too much of this because leftover pulled pork is incredibly useful.

You can make another version of the original meal with different sides, but you certainly don’t have to. Try it in a jacket potato, wrap or sandwich, add some to loaded wedges or use it as part of another meal.

If you’re deliberately batch cooking, divide the leftovers into sensible portions rather than storing everything together. That way you’re only reheating what you actually need.

Cool leftovers and get them into the fridge promptly, then follow current food-safety guidance for storing and reheating cooked pork. If you’re freezing it, label the container too. I always think I’ll remember what everything is, but an unidentified frozen brown dinner three months later can be surprisingly difficult to recognise!

Easy ways to change your pulled pork

You can easily make this recipe your own rather than feeling you need to make it exactly the same every time.

For a smokier BBQ flavour, try adding some smoked paprika.

If you like a bit of heat, add chilli powder or chilli flakes to the sauce.

You can add vegetables too. One reader told me she’d added frozen mixed peppers when she made the slow cooker version, which is such an easy idea that I’ve kept it in mind ever since.

If you don’t eat pork but like the idea of this sort of meal, my BBQ pulled jackfruit is a completely different recipe but gives you a meat-free option with similar BBQ flavours.

And if you’ve got people in the house who all like different levels of heat, I’d keep the main batch fairly family-friendly and put hot sauce on the table. It is much easier than discovering after eight hours that you’ve made dinner too spicy for half the family!

What about Slimming World pulled pork?

I originally created this pulled pork when I was following Slimming World, so if you’ve been reading Just Average Jen for a long time you might remember it being described as my unofficial Slimming World pulled pork.

Slimming World has changed over the years and products and allowances can change too, so I’d always recommend checking current information for the exact ingredients you’re using rather than relying on an old Syn value.

You don’t need to be following Slimming World or trying to lose weight to make it. These days it’s simply one of the many easy family recipes I’ve kept because we enjoy it.

More easy slow cooker recipes

If this is the sort of dinner you like, have a browse through all my healthy slow cooker recipes. There are chicken, beef, pork, turkey and vegetarian meals as well as a few things you might not expect to make in a slow cooker.

For colder days I’ve also collected together my favourite autumn slow cooker recipes, including chilli, curries, stews and casseroles.

If you like the BBQ flavours but want a meat-free option, try my BBQ pulled jackfruit too.

And if you’re trying to keep the food shop under control, you’ll find plenty more ideas in my budget meals collection.

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