Slow Cooker Asian-Style Pulled Pork
by This Slow Cooker Asian-Style Pulled Pork is fall-apart tender and loaded with sweet, savory and spicy flavor from homemade gochujang BBQ sauce. Serve it over rice with crisp vegetables or pile it onto buns for an easy hands-off dinner.
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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork With A Bold Asian BBQ Sauce
I’ve always been a little more nervous developing slow cooker recipes than stovetop recipes. On the stove, if I overdo the liquid by a smidge, I can usually just cook it down. Once the lid goes on the slow cooker, I’m basically committed.
This Asian-style pulled pork keeps things much simpler. Pork shoulder gets cut into a few large pieces, seasoned and cooked with just enough Asian BBQ Sauce to flavor the meat without drowning it. Once the pork is tender enough to shred, it gets tossed with more sauce so the gochujang, garlic, ginger and sesame flavors stay prominent.
The result is tender, saucy pork that works just as well in a hamburger bun as it does piled over cooked rice with crunchy vegetables.
Why You Will Love This Asian-Style Pulled Pork
- The sauce does double duty. Some cooks with the pork, then more gets tossed with the shredded meat so the finished pork still has plenty of bold BBQ flavor.
- Pork shoulder is made for low-and-slow cooking. Its marbling and connective tissue gradually break down until the meat pulls apart with almost no effort.
- It’s especially good for rice bowls. The rich pork and spicy-sweet sauce are even better with rice, cool cucumber, shredded carrots and green onion.
Asian Pulled Pork Ingredients
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- boneless pork shoulder or pork butt – this is the cut you want for Asian style pulled pork. It has enough fat and connective tissue to stay moist through the long cook and become tender enough to shred.
- kosher salt and black pepper – season the pork itself before the sauce goes on so you’re not relying entirely on the BBQ sauce for seasoning.
- Asian BBQ Sauce – my homemade sauce combines gochujang, honey, ketchup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Using it both before and after slow cooking gives the pork much more pronounced flavor than relying entirely on the sauce that cooks with the meat.
How To Make Slow Cooker Asian-Style Pulled Pork
- CUT AND SEASON. Cut the pork shoulder into 3 or 4 large chunks, removing any butcher’s twine if necessary. Season all sides with salt and pepper.
- SAUCE. Put the pork into the slow cooker and pour 1/2 cup Asian BBQ Sauce over it. Turn the pieces until they’re coated.
- SLOW COOK. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the pork is fork-tender and pulls apart easily.
- SHRED. Transfer the pork to a large bowl and use two forks to pull it into shreds, discarding any large pieces of fat.
- FINISH. Toss the shredded pork with the remaining Asian BBQ Sauce. If you’d like it even saucier, add a little of the flavorful juices from the slow cooker until it reaches the consistency you want.
Home Chef Tips For Slow Cooker Asian Pulled Pork
- Use pork shoulder or pork butt, not pork loin. Pork loin is much leaner and won’t give you the same rich, juicy, shreddable texture after a long cook.
- If the pork fights you when you try to shred it, keep cooking. At the 8-hour mark, tough pork shoulder usually needs more time, not less. Properly cooked pork shoulder should pull apart very easily.
- Don’t dump in all of the cooking liquid automatically. Pork shoulder releases quite a bit of its own liquid. Sauce the shredded pork first, then add cooking liquid a little at a time only if it needs more moisture.
- Don’t skip the second round of BBQ sauce. The sauce that cooks for eight hours mixes with all the liquid released by the pork. Adding fresh sauce to the shredded meat finishes it with lots of flavor.
Make Asian Pulled Pork Rice Bowls
My favorite way to turn this Asian shredded pork into a complete meal is a rice bowl. Start with cooked jasmine or basmati rice, then add the slow cooker pulled pork, Asian Cucumber Salad, carrot ribbons (just use a veggie peeler to do this), cilantro, thinly sliced green onions, sesame seeds and lime wedges. If I want an extra drizzle of sauce, I’ll make a double batch of the barbecue sauce.
The cool, crunchy vegetables are a particularly good counterpoint to the rich pork and spicy-sweet sauce. For an even simpler dinner, skip the bowl setup entirely and pile the pork onto hamburger buns for sandwiches.
Make Ahead, Storage And Reheating
- Make Ahead: Make the pork up to a day in advance, then refrigerate and reheat before serving.
- Refrigerate: Transfer leftover pork to a storage container and refrigerate uncovered until fully chilled, then cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Reheat: Warm the pork gently in a covered skillet over medium-low heat or microwave individual portions at 50% power. Stir in a spoonful of cooking liquid, water or additional BBQ sauce if it seems dry.
- Freeze: Freeze completely cooled pulled pork in an airtight freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Asian-Style Pulled Pork FAQs
Pork shoulder, also sold as pork butt or Boston butt, is the best choice. Its fat and connective tissue break down during slow cooking, resulting in juicy meat that shreds easily.
You don’t need to add broth or water to this recipe. The Asian BBQ Sauce provides some moisture to start, and pork shoulder releases plenty of its own liquid as it cooks.
It probably needs more time. Pork shoulder becomes easy to shred only after its connective tissue has broken down sufficiently. If it still feels tough when you pull at it with two forks, continue slow cooking until it separates easily.
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Slow Cooker Asian Pulled Pork
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Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder/butt roast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 batch Asian BBQ Sauce divided
Instructions
- Cut pork into 3 or 4 large chunks, removing any butcher’s twine, if necessary. Sprinkle all sides of pork with salt and pepper.
- Place pork in slow cooker bowl. Pour 1/2 cup Asian BBQ Sauce over pork and turn pork to coat. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until pork is very tender and easily pulls apart with fork.
- Transfer pork to large bowl and use two forks to shred, discarding any pieces of large fat. Pour remaining 3/4 cup Asian BBQ sauce over pork and toss to combine. If pork still seems not quite saucy enough, add cooking liquid from slow cooker bowl and toss, until pork is saucy.
- Serve pork on hamburger buns or in rice bowls.
