Barbecued Pulled Pork

This easy Barbecued Pulled Pork recipe is slow roasted in the oven to fall-apart, melt-in-your-mouth, fork-tender perfection.

Seasoning is everything. A pork shoulder, or pork butt, is covered with a brown sugar and spice rub and roasted in a flavor-packed, tenderizing beer bath until it literally is falling apart. Choose to add sauce or go naked, it’s amazing either way!

Barbecued Pulled Pork is also a great make-ahead dish for parties and tailgating and a secret weapon on weeknight dinners. It can be used in countless meals like Pulled Pork Sandwiches with my favorite Pineapple Slaw, pork tacos, pork nachos, in pasta, on pizza, the list is endless!

Barbecued Pulled Pork is basically fool proof:

• Cover with a spicy brown sugar rub
• Place the pork in a baking pan surrounded by a bath of flavorful beer.
• Cover with foil and oven roast to fall apart perfection.
• Choose to sauce or not.

What cut of meat should I buy and use for barbecued pulled pork?

I always choose pork shoulder or pork butt. Even though it’s called a “butt,” it’s actually part of the shoulder meat. Choose bone-in or boneless, whichever you prefer, but for this recipe, I’ve specified a 4 pound boneless, half butt roast because it’s easy to source and a common size. Bone-in shoulders take a little longer to cook, but can make the meat more flavorful and succulent. Boneless cuts can be sliced into smaller chunks to shorten the cooking time.

How to make Barbecue Pulled Pork

Begin by prepping the pork roast. Seasoning makes all of the difference in pork, which can be a bit bland otherwise. I really like the spiced brown sugar rub that I use on a lot of my pork and chicken recipes like Sticky Asian Ribs, Smokey Brown Sugar Crusted Pork Tenderloin, and Sticky Asian Grilled Chicken Thighs, both because of the spice combination but also because it caramelizes in the most delightful way.

If your pork roast is in a net, remove it as it limits the rub coverage. Stir together the brown sugar and spices and rub all over the roast.

Place the roast in a 9×12 baking dish. Pour a 12 ounce beer along side of the roast but not over it so as to not wash off the rub. Then cover tightly with foil.

Is there another ingredient I can substitute for beer?

Beer produces the best results, but stock or broth may be substituted.

Roast in a 300 degree oven for about 3.5 hours.

When the meat easy pulls apart with a fork, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes or so.

Reserving a cup of the beer/pork broth, drain the remainder of the liquid. Use two forks to shred the meat. Add back in the liquid and any barbecue sauce that you desire. I add 1 cup to the pork in addition to the reserved beer broth, and have more available when serving.

To get caramelized (some call burnt ends), place the pan of shredded pork under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until the tips darken and brown.

What to serve with Barbecued Pulled Pork:

• Pineapple Coleslaw (pictured below)
• Sweet and Spicy Peach Jalapeno Pickles
• Pickled Cucumber and Red Onion Salad
• Grilled Street Corn Salad
• Asian Ramen Chop Salad
• Grilled Asparagus with Grilled Lemon

If you’ve tried Barbecued Pulled Pork or any other recipe on this website, please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how it came out in the comments below. I’d LOVE to hear from you!

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