Serves: 6-8

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Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 8-10 hours

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Ingredients

• 2 medium yellow onions, diced

• 4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced

• 1 cup chicken stock (I use Better than Bouillon) 

• 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 (4-1/2- to 5-pound) boneless or bone-in pork shoulder (also known as pork butt), twine or netting removed

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Cooking

1. Take pork shoulder out of the fridge and let it warm up on your kitchen counter.

2. Dice and slice your onions and garlic

3. Mix all spices (sugar, chili powder, salt, cumin, and cinnamon) into a dish

4. Coat your slow cooker with a non stick oil spray like Pam or Canola Oil

5. Layer the bottom of the cooker with onions and garlic and then pour the chicken stock over them.

6. Cut off excess fat from the pork shoulder.  No need to remove all, just any large pieces on the outside

7. Pat the pork shoulder dry, including and crevices.

8. Rub the pork shoulder with the spices all over.

9. Lay the pork shoulder on top of onions.

10. Cover and set the slow cooker to low and cook for 8-10 hours.  The longer, the better

11. Carefully remove the pork shoulder from the slow cooker.  The meat will be very tender and will fall apart easily.  I use 2 slotted spoons to carefully pull it out.  Place the pork shoulder in a large bowl.

12. Pull the pork apart using 2 forks.

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Suggested Serving

• Barbecue sauce: when done right, the pulled pork will not need any sauce, but for those that like their meat saucy, I like Sticky Fingers sauces.  Memphis Original, Carolina Classic, and Southern Heat are all great.  We tend to not mix the pork with sauce, just adding it when eating so we can use the pork in other dishes if desired.

• Buns: Sweet buns are best.  When we can find them, we use King Hawaiian hamburger buns, but potato based hamburger buns work great as well.

• Sides:

  • Oven roasted asparagus​ (450 for 30 mins, covered in olive oil, salt, and pepper)

  • Al-dente green beans with olive oil, salt, and pepper

  • Kale caesar salad

• Freezing: The pulled pork stores great in the freezer.  If freezing, do not add barbecue sauce, add it once thawed.  I have frozen it for over 2 months and it was still delicious.