Southern Slow Cooker BBQ Pork
There are few things better than a tender succulent slow cooker BBQ pork sandwich smothered in sauce. Here’s how to make the best pork without standing over a grill all weekend.
All About Southern Style- Slow Cooker BBQ Pork:
This slow-cooker pork is the stuff tailgate dreams and cookouts are made of. Take a spice-encrusted pork shoulder, brown it in oil, nestle into a slow cooker with a blue ribbon-worthy sauce. Just let the slow cooker do all the rest. After 6-7 hours, chop up the meat, and throw it all in a bun with sweet pickle chips and more slatherin’ sauce. Serve with a tangy vinegar-based cabbage slaw for a perfect backyard picnic.
It’s a simple dish that I worked on to make it not intimidation at all for folks who are new to the BBQ. All you need a big slow cooker and you are in business.
Enjoy!
Ingredients in Southern Slow-Cooker BBQ Pork:
- 3-4 lb pork shoulder
- vegetable oil
- garlic cloves
- Lillie’s Carolina BBQ Sauce #40
- adobo sauce
- chiles in chipotle sauce
- brown mustard
- apple cider vinegar
- pure maple syrup
- spices- smoked paprika, cumin, garlic salt, kosher salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
- sandwich buns- sesame seed or onion work great with this recipe
- sweet pickle chips
Equipment needed for this Recipe:
- Slow Cooker- this is the one I use by Crock Pot
- extra large /gallon size zip top bag
- heavy bottomed pan- I prefer Cast Iron- here is the one I use by Lodge.
Love BBQ recipes? Here are some more great BBQ and grilling recipes you might like:
- Slow Roasted Pork Enchiladas
- Montana Burger
- Philipp’s Excellent Burgers
- Grilled Lemon Chicken
- Mac ‘n Cheese
How to make this BBQ Pork in a Slow Cooker:
Make a spice rub with a few spices and place in a plastic bag. Add the Pork Shoulder to the bag and let rest for 30 minutes. In the slow cooker add a mixture of maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, BBQ sauce, a chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, garlic and mustard.
Sear the pork on all sides in hot oil in a heavy pan then transfer to a slow cooker. This is an important step to help develop deep flavor to the pork. Place the seared pork into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Remove the pork from the slow cooker, tear or pull apart the meat- it should be very tender at this point. Bring the sauce to a simmer in a sauce pan on the stove to thicken. Serve the pork with the sauce, pickles on a large sesame see or onion bun.
Pro-tips for great BBQ:
- Read the recipe carefully.
- Gather all your equipment and ingredients.
- Be certain to sear and brown the pork- it provides so much smokey flavor to the dish.
- If you cannot find Lillie’s sauce at a retailer near you, try a vinegar-based BBQ sauce.
- Serve with bread and butter chips for a bit of sweetness and crush. I like to pile on coleslaw as well.
- Do not try and speed up this recipe and cook on high. The meat will not tenderize and fall apart. Low and slow is the way to go.
- Do not use “pancake syrup” instead of pure maple syrup. You can substitute honey or light brown sugar.
My favorite BBQ restaurants across the country:
- Montana- Ed McGrew’s in Whitefish
- Florida- Pig Floyd’s- Orlando
- Florida-4 River’s- locations around Central Florida
- Florida-Tampa BBQ- Al’s Finger Licking Good
- Florida- Sanford Angel’s Soul Food and BBQ
- Georgia- Gray- Old Clinton
- Georgia- Atlanta- Heirloom
- North Carolina- Old Timey BBQ, Cashiers Valley Smokehouse
- MS Kansas City- Joe’s
Common Questions:
Yes- just place. the pork shoulder in a deep aluminum pan, cover with the sauce and tightly cover with heavy duty foil. Cook at 300 degrees for 3-4 hours or until he internal temperature registers 195-205 degrees. Be VERY careful when removing it from the grill.
Any BBQ sauce with vinegar being one of the first three ingredients will work great.
So many cooks miss this crucial flavor developing step. Not only will the spices sear into the pork, but you will have great texture from the browning and deep smokey flavor. Take the 5-7 minutes to do this step.
Try a blade roast or a beef chuck roast. Both will work great. You will need to slice the beef. It will not shred like pork.
Southern Slow Cooker BBQ Pork
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb pork shoulder
for the spice rub:
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
for the slatherin’ sauce
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup brown mustard
- 1 small adobo chile in chipotle sauce, chopped
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce
- ½ cup Lillie’s Carolina BBQ sauce #40
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 6 large sandwich buns sesame or onion buns
- ½ cup sweet pickle chips
Instructions
- In a large gallon-size zip bag, combine all the spices in the rub. Add the pork to the bag shaking well to coat the meat. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the slatherin' sauce- maple syrup through garlic. Mix well. Pour into the bottom of a slow cooker or a crock pot. Set the temperature of the slow cooker to low.
- In a heavy pan over high heat, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat oil until just smoking. With heavy duty long tongs, add spice-coated pork and brown all sides taking care not to remove the spice rub. Place browned pork into the slow cooker nestled into the sauce and cook for at least 6-7 hours, covered, or until meat falls apart with pulled with a fork. Meat should be tender. Using tongs, turn the pork at least twice while cooking.
- Remove pork from slow cooker. Place the meat on a cutting board. Cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Chop or pull pork into bite-size pieces. Spoon 1/4 cup of the sauce from the slow cooker into the chopped pork. Pour the remaining sauce from the cooker into a serving dish. Serve chopped pork on sandwich buns with pickles and extra sauce for slatherin'. Serves 5-7
