Putting together a flavorful and versatile dinner is so easy with this slow cooker beer pulled pork recipe. A pork shoulder is cooked to a perfect mouth-watering texture that will leave your family wanting more.
What I love about pulled pork is I can make it in so many ways. Whether it be Root Beer Pulled Pork, Hawaiian Pulled Pork, or even Hard Cider Pulled Pork, I always have recipes for feeding a crowd.
Why this recipe works
Three words – quick prep time. Thanks to this dump-and-go style recipe, the biggest prep involves combining a variety of seasonings into a mixture that becomes the rub for the meat. There’s also no need to marinade or pre-cook the meat.
Simply mix the seasonings, spread them over the meat, and cover and cook! Easy peasy, right? Depending on the cooking time of your choice, you can go the long route and cook it on low (or even overnight) or start it in the morning and have it ready by dinner time.
Regardless, this is one of those main dishes that can be served in many ways, feed a lot of people, and take minimal effort. This is genuinely one of the best slow cooker recipes for making pulled pork.
Recipe Ingredients
- Pork: The best cut of meat for this pulled pork recipe is the pork shoulder, often called pork butt. This particular cut has the perfect amount of fat that melts into the meat and helps to make it tender.
- Beer: This is optional, but if you choose to use it, just know that it adds amazing flavor. We went with a traditional lager (Yuengling).
- Seasonings: Salt, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and dark brown sugar are all used for the rub and will cook into the meat (and juice).
- Homemade BBQ Sauce: A homemade barbeque sauce is made with rice wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ketchup, and dark brown sugar.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Rub the spice mix all over the pork shoulder before placing it inside the cooking spray-prepared crockpot.
Step Two – Pour beer around the pork roast, cover, and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or HIGH for 5-6 hours.
Step Three – Remove the pork shoulder and allow to rest for a few minutes. After it rests, shred the pork with two forks.
Step Four – Add the ketchup, rice wine vinegar, mustard, dark brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce directly to the remaining lager/drippings mixture in the crock pot, stirring to combine.
Step Five – Return the shredded pork to the crock pot.
Step Six – Mix with the BBQ sauce and allow to cook for an additional 15-20 minutes.
How to serve
- Serve a generous helping of beer pulled pork on a hamburger bun, slider, hoagie, or on your favorite buns for the best pulled pork sandwiches.
- Use this slow cooker pulled pork on burrito bowls with black beans, guacamole, and fresh cilantro.
- You can also serve the shredded pork on top of a pizza.
- If you want to play around with different toppings, consider adding a scoop of cole slaw, shredded cheese, chopped jalapenos, and/or extra barbecue sauce.
Recipe FAQs
To make sure you get the perfect beer pulled pork dish, we recommend sticking with the shoulder or butt of the pork for this recipe.
With pork, the longer you cook it, the more tender and flavorful it will be. There is a cutoff time though, because the meat will end up being mushy if cooked too long.
Any leftovers can be added to an airtight container and kept up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze any leftovers in a freezer Ziploc bag for up to 3 months.
You can use root beer, hard cider, apple juice or even water! You can make this with whatever you have on hand instead of making pulled pork with beer.
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Slow Cooker Beer Pulled Pork
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 4 lbs. pork shoulder (often called pork butt)
- 3 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. paprika
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 12 oz. can of lager beer
For the BBQ sauce
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup mustard
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Instructions:
- Prepare the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray.
- In a small bowl combine the dark brown sugar, salt, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and pepper.
- Rub the spice mix all over the pork shoulder before placing inside the crockpot.
- Pour the beer around the pork shoulder, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 5-6 hours.
- Remove the pork shoulder and allow to rest for a few minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the BBQ sauce.
- Add the ketchup, rice wine vinegar, mustard, dark brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce directly to the remaining lager/drippings mixture in the crock pot, stirring to combine.
- Shred the pork and return to the crockpot, mixing with the BBQ sauce and allow to cook for an additional 15-20 minutes.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
- To make sure you get the perfect beer pulled pork dish, we recommend sticking with the shoulder or butt of the pork for this recipe. Pork loin can make for a very dry pulled pork recipe.
- Any leftovers can be added to an airtight container and kept up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze any leftovers in a freezer Ziploc bag for up to 3 months.
- You can use root beer, hard cider, apple juice or even water! You can make this with whatever you have on hand.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
This is the absolute best pulled pork recipe ever!!!! I will never use bottled barbecue sauce again. Thank you for sharing this!
This dish was perfect! I usually use bottled bbq sauce for pulled pork but since I had all the sauce ingredients on hand to make this, I’ll stick with this recipe instead. The pork was tender and tasted delicious!
I made this for a Game Night with friends and they loved it.