Main Ingredients: Pork
Styles: Batch Cooking, Budget-minded, Kid Friendly, Slow Cooking
Meal / Menu Items: Sandwiches, Mains
Cuisines: American
Recipes
Carolina Crock Pot Barbecue
Serves 8*
Preparation Time: 3 minutes preparation, plus 8 to 9 hours in slow cooker
Finally barbecue for folks who can't stand over a wood fire and roast a pig. With the right barbecue sauce added for flavor, the slow-cooker does an amazing job of turning out melt-in-your-mouth shredded pork.
Recipe
3½ pounds boneless pork loin roast
1 cup Fred's Red barbecue sauce or bottled barbecue sauce, plus more for passing at the table*
Trim visible fat from pork and cut it in half, placing pieces side by side in crockery pot.
Pour barbecue sauce over meat (thinned if necessary). Cook on low (200 degrees F) 8 to 9 hours.
Remove pork from slow cooker. Using 2 forks, pull meat into shreds. (Meat should be very tender, so this will be easy to do.) Place shredded pork in a serving dish and spoon enough cooking liquid/sauce from crock over meat to moisten it. Serve at once, passing extra barbecue sauce to serve on top. Or use it as a filling for sandwiches.
(May be prepared up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated.)
* Notes
Leftovers may be frozen up to 1 month.
If your favorite barbecue sauce is the consistency of ketchup or thicker, thin with water until it will pour in a thin stream. This will ensure the meat is coated with sauce. Don’t worry about thinning the sauce for passing at the table.
Backstory
In our home state of North Carolina barbecue divides itself along geographic lines. If you like your sauce a bit sweet, you’re bound to be from the western end of the state, while the easterners like it with a straight-up vinegar jolt. We especially like Fred's Red Barbecue Sauce because it's a great compromise. This Memphis-style sauce is a bit tart with just the right sweetness. Boutique bottled barbecue sauces abound on the supermarket shelves these days, so feel free to pick your favorite.
Serve the pork alone with coleslaw and corn bread on the side, or pile the meat on sandwich buns (with slaw on top) for more informal fare.
Nutrition Info
Approximate Values Per Serving (pork only): 384 calories (51% from fat), 21 fat (8 g saturated), 121 mg cholesterol, 42 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates, 0 g dietary fiber, 327 mg sodium
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Related Recipes
Fred's Red Barbecue Sauce
This is Beverly's family's favorite BBQ sauce -- slightly sweet with an undercurrent of complex spices and the faintest bit of burn in the back of your throat.
Read full recipe.
Comments
I’m not sure this really represents “Carolina” barbeque which is a vinegar based sauce - is there a bottled version of that?
I do make something similar to this, using Boston Butt instead of loin, with apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper in the sauce, with some hot sauce and red pepper flakes to taste. I do it all in the crockpot and pull it apart just like you do.
Maybe your recipe could be called Western BBQ?
Hi Sam, It’s true that Eastern NC BBQ is vinegar-based. But in Western North Carolina, specifically the Lexington area, they use a sauce similar to this one.
But you may be right, Western would be a better name!
I made this recipe recently and LOVED it - the house smelled so good while the pork was cooking! This will become my go-to barbecue recipe. Fred’s Red is already my go-to BBQ sauce, as it is so easy to prepare and tastes way better than anything store-bought.
Hi Jen,
Yes! Sometimes I feel like a cheerleader for both of these recipes. The BBQ sauce is nearly always in my refrigerator. I keep thinking I’ll figure out a way to turn it into a cocktail so I can just drink it!
Could this could be done with a beef chuck roast? Anyone ever tried it?