To quote my husband Ben, “This is insanely good pulled pork!” and I totally agree. I had shied away from pulled pork recipes in the past because most recipes utilize a slow-cooker. This recipe was made in a dutch-oven, and it only took a bit over two hours in the oven. I was expecting pulled pork to take a whole day to make, so it was a pleasant surprise. It’s very easy to make, even making the BBQ sauce from scratch. Just toss the BBQ sauce ingredients in the dutch-oven, place the pork in the sauce, bring to a simmer and throw in the oven! This will be great for parties because it hardly involves any active cooking time. And it goes so well with the red cabbage slaw. Yum!

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Pulled Pork

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

For the sauce

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspon garlic powder

For the Pork

• 6 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast skin and excessive fat trimmed, thus volume becomes about half

For the red cabbage slaw

• 6 cups shredded red cabbage
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 tablespoon whole grain dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving

• brioche burger buns halved and toasted
• sliced jalapeños optional

Instructions

Make the pulled pork

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Combine all of the ingredients for the sauce in a heavy bottom dutch oven.
  
• Mix together with a spoon.
  
• Place the pork in the pot with the sauce.
  
• Turn the pork over in the sauce to coat.
  
• Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring the sauce to a simmer.
• Cover the pot and transfer to the preheated oven. Cook for 2 hours undisturbed, then check every half hour and cook until fork tender. The total cooking time will be 2 to 4 hours.
• Shred the pork with two forks and toss in the sauce to coat evenly.

Make the slaw

• Combine the cabbage and carrots in a large bowl.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, garlic, oil, vinegar, lime juice, honey, celery seeds, salt and pepper.
• Pour the dressing mixture over the cabbage and carrots, toss to coat evenly and let sit for 30 minutes.

To serve

• Sandwich the slaw, pulled pork and jalapeño slices between the toasted brioche buns.