This easy pulled pork recipe cooked in the oven makes the BEST pulled-pork sandwiches. Plus, those burnt ends are to die for.
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00:00Hey everybody it's Brooke in the Delish Kitchen studios whipping up one of my all-time low and
00:05slow summertime favorites, tender savory sweet pulled pork. You don't need a smoker or a slow
00:11cooker to achieve the best pulled pork of your life. This all comes together in an oven. This
00:16is definitely something you want to keep in your back pocket and I'm gonna teach you guys how to
00:20make it perfect. To get started with our pulled pork we're gonna pull together a quick seasoning
00:24mix. Honestly seasoning mixes are my absolute favorite thing to use as long as I make them my
00:29self. This one has kosher salt, some brown sugar, a little smoked paprika, a little bit of cumin,
00:39some garlic powder, and a little bit of onion powder. One of my favorite seasoning mixes that
00:46we have is our Cajun seasoning. This one is probably my second favorite. Obviously we're
00:52using this for pulled pork but you can really use this for any barbecue style pork sort of
00:56thing that you're doing. This would be great on ribs, actually pork and chicken. This would be
01:01great for barbecue chicken wings or drumsticks as well. For this pulled pork we're going to be using
01:05one of my favorite cuts of pork actually, pork shoulder. And the reason I love this for pulled
01:11pork is because it has a lot of connective tissue. As it cooks down that connective tissue is going
01:17to melt and it's going to be just packed with flavor. So we're going to cut these into about
01:22two inch pieces. Some of these might be a little smaller like two to three inch pieces I would say.
01:26Breaking the pork down into these small pieces will also help for more even spice coverage.
01:31But before I do that I'm gonna trim away some of this excess fat. This piece of pork shoulder has
01:37a pretty thick fat cap on it and I don't want all of that in my pulled pork. I just want some of it.
01:41So I'm gonna trim that down just a tiny bit.
01:47Because this is definitely going to have enough fat and connective tissue already to keep everything
01:51nice and moist. For seasoning meat like this I like to do it in a big bowl just to kind of keep
01:56everything contained and so I don't get a bunch of seasoning caked up into my cutting board.
02:02Don't be shy here this is a lot of meat and you want everything to be nice and evenly covered and
02:07well flavored. So I'm just gonna dump all that in. It's gonna go in with my hands. Just make sure you
02:14lift from underneath where that seasoning is collecting at the bottom of the bowl to make
02:19sure everything is getting coated. I've got a dutch oven here over medium heat so I'm just
02:24gonna hit it with about two tablespoons of neutral oil. And you want to use neutral oil for something
02:30like this because I don't really want the flavor of olive oil in this. I want something I'm gonna
02:33kind of taste. So a couple tablespoons of neutral oil. I'm gonna let that warm up just a little tiny
02:39bit and then I'm gonna start browning this pork in batches. I've got quite a bit so the reason I
02:45want to do it in batches is so that it doesn't overcrowd the pan because during this step we're
02:49basically trying to create a crust on the outside of this pork. Getting a little bit of brown on the
02:55outside of the pork is going to build up that first layer of flavor on the outside and then
02:59when we have that long low and slow cook that's going to build up all the flavor on the inside.
03:04The brown sugar that I put in the seasoning on the outside of this pork is really doing its jobs
03:10and it's helping me get all those nice brown caramelized bits on the outside which is what
03:14we're looking for. These are ready to come on out. Alrighty I'm going to set those to the side
03:21while I work on my second batch. Don't be alarmed by those little burnt bits on the bottom of the
03:27pan. Those are just going to make that sauce that we make later for this pulled pork a lot more rich
03:31and a lot more complex so don't let that scare you. This second batch is done so I'm going to
03:36add my first batch back to the pot. Pulled pork is basically just a braise so like any good braise
03:43we're going to need some liquid and this liquid we're going to use is beer. Just going to pour that
03:51right over the pork. Beer's in the pot and our pork is ready to go in the oven because remember
04:01this is all about low and slow. We're going to cook this for about three hours and then we're
04:06going to check on it. This has had three hours in the oven. This is looking really good. A lot of
04:11that pork has had a chance to reduce in size. Fat's rendering and that beer's starting to evaporate.
04:17This needs about another hour and a half to two hours so I'm going to stick this back in the oven
04:22uncovered this time so that air in the oven can help start creating a crust on the outside of
04:27the pork. There are a few things prettier to me than well braised meat and this pork is no exception.
04:36We've got that nice crust on the outside now. This is finally ready to go and I feel like
04:40this is going to shred really really easily but this isn't like your regular old pulled pork
04:46recipe. We're not just going to shred this up and toss it in some regular old barbecue sauce.
04:50We're going to use these leftover pan drippings to make the most flavorful pulled pork sauce
04:55you've ever had in your life. Pulled pork is almost always dressed in some sort of tangy
05:00sweet savory barbecue sauce unless you're in the Carolinas somewhere they just don't put
05:04vinegar on it which is a choice. Instead of just using a bottled sauce we're going to take the
05:09drippings from that pork that we just braised and use that as the base of our barbecue sauce which
05:14is just so clever and I love it. I've got these drippings over medium high heat and to that I'm
05:21just going to add a little bit of ketchup, some Dijon mustard, you can also use regular old yellow
05:28mustard if that's what you have, a little bit of brown sugar, some apple cider vinegar, and some
05:33Worcestershire sauce. If you notice the things that I just added to these drippings are all
05:37things that are commonly found in most barbecue sauces, the ketchup, the vinegar, the brown sugar,
05:42so this is just basically like making your own homemade barbecue sauce. It's going to be just a
05:46little bit more interesting and a little bit more flavorful than something you might find on a shelf.
05:50I'm going to let this simmer for about five minutes just to let it thicken up so that it can really
05:54cling and coat that pork. This is getting nice and thick so I'm just going to take this off the heat
06:00and get ready to pull my pork in. All that's left to do now is add our pork to the sauce and shred
06:05it up into bite-sized pieces. Shredding the pork in the sauce is like such a cheat code
06:12because you immediately have the sauce evenly distributed throughout the pork.
06:16For the shredding obviously I'm just going to use two big serving forks. Aside from the crust,
06:21another sign of really well braised pork or meat in general that you're braising is how easily it
06:26shreds apart and this is shredding apart with hardly any effort so I'm literally like looking
06:32at it and it's falling apart. This is great. I've got a toasted potato bun, I've got some plain chips
06:38and of course I've got a dill pickle spear but honestly I really could never ever ever ever ever
06:45make a pulled pork sandwich without throwing a little coleslaw on it. This looks like a backyard
06:52on a plate and I'm really excited to give this a bite. This sandwich is like singing to me
06:59and the song is so sweet. This is what I want when I ask somebody like what are you having on the menu
07:05at your backyard barbecue? This is it. This is the only correct answer. The pork is so incredibly
07:10tender and that sauce since we use the pork drippings as the base for the sauce it is not
07:16boring. It's not boring old barbecue sauce. It's complex. It's got that little bit of like fat a
07:21lot a bit of fattiness but in the best way. A little bit of heat and like that tanginess from
07:26the vinegar. Oh this is 10 out of 10. Pulled pork is one of those things that people will be
07:31so impressed by if you make it but you and I know hardly any effort went into this. There's so much
07:37hands-off time the oven really does all the work for you. This is one of those recipes that's going
07:42to make people think you're an absolute wizard in the kitchen. If you want more genius recipes
07:47just like this one keep it right here at Delish Talk.