Easy Crock Pot Pulled Pork Sliders with Coleslaw

Though I am not a vegetarian, I really don't cook a lot of meat.  If we do eat meat (or chicken, or seafood) it is often grilled by hubby.  And when I do cook meat, I stay away from large cuts. They kind of freak me out.  Especially ones with bones.  The first and only time I cooked a whole chicken I was jumpy about handling the raw and flesh and bones of this headless bird.  Creepy. I felt similar the first time I worked with a whole rack of ribs.  When I reached to grab the ribs from the package they came in, I literally pulled my hand back like it was on fire because the squishy meat with bones protruding out gave me the heebie jeebies. I am a wimp and I made Hubby take over.  I enjoy eating meat, just not working with it.

So I wasn't all that thrilled to buy my very first pork shoulder for our Father's Day celebration.  But my dad definitely likes meat and I wanted to do something that would be easy.  I had bookmarked Easy Crock pot Pulled Pork from My Baking Addiction a few weeks back and it fit the bill perfectly.  Off we went to Costco to buy a huge hunk of pork.  The smallest size they had was 9.8 pounds (twice the size called for in the recipe).  Hello.  The one redeeming quality it had was that it was boneless. 

Easy is in the name of the recipe and it really is easy.  Especially if you aren't weirded out by dealing with a large slab of meat.  You make a simple rub and give the meat a nice coating.  Slice up some onions, make a vinegar based sauce and cook on low heat for up to 12 hours.  Easy, easy, easy. 

The pulled pork was delicious and was a big hit with the boys on Dad's Day.  It's even more delicious served on a sweet Hawaiian roll with a little barbecue sauce and topped with coleslaw or pickles.  Yum. 

Easy.  Delicious. What more could you ask for? 


Easy Crock Pot Pulled Pork Sliders
adapted from Easy Crock Pot Pulled Pork from My Baking Addiction

1 large Vidalia (sweet) onion, sliced thin
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 4-6 boneless port butt or pork shoulder
3/4 cup cider vinegar
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

24 Kings Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls
Barbecue sauce
Coleslaw or thinly sliced red onions

Place onions in the bottom of crock pot.  Rinse pork in cold water and pat dry.  Make a rub for the pork by combining brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Rub evenly over all sides of the pork and place in the crock pot on top of the onions.  Whisk together vinegar, Worcestershire, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.  Drizzle 1/3 of the vinegar mixture over the pork and refrigerate the remaining mixture.  Cover crock pot and cook on low for 10-12 hours. 

During the last 30 minutes of cooking drizzle 1/3 of the vinegar mixture over the pork.  When pork is done, remove the meat into a large bowl or 9x13 baking dish.  Using 2 forks, shred the pork and remove and discard large pieces of fat.  The meat should be incredibly tender.  Skim off remaining onions and add to the meat.  Once meat is shredded drizzle 1/4 - 1/2 cup liquid over to keep meat extra moist.  You can serve the pork with the remaining vinegar mixture or your favorite barbecue sauce. 

Assemble sliders.  Cut rolls in half and top with pork, barbecue sauce, coleslaw and or red onions. 

Click here to get the coleslaw recipe.