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Slow Cooker Pork Shoulder For Pulled Pork and Crispy Pork Crackling

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Make a slow cooker pork shoulder on the weekend for a variety of delicious and frugal meals during the week. Slice or shred – a great option for Christmas!

slow cooker pork shoulder, pulled pork, crispy pork crackling

Pork shoulder or pork butt is one of the more inexpensive cuts of meat, making it a great budget choice. It is perfect for slow cooking, which means you’re saving time as well as money.

It’s a great option for Christmas because it’s easy to throw in the slow cooker in the morning, and then you can relax for the rest of the day and still have deliciously tender, melt-in-the-mouth pork for Christmas lunch and dinner. 

This article shares everything you need to know to remove the skin before cooking, what to do with the skin for perfect crispy pork crackling, and how to cook the pork in the slow cooker. From there, you can either slice and serve as you would for any roast meat, or you can make pulled pork and serve it in dozens of different ways.

Preparing Your Pork Shoulder for the Slow Cooker

You will want to start preparing your pork the day before you cook it.

raw pork shoulder

Usually, when you buy pork shoulder or pork butt – whether it’s boneless pork or bone-in, it will have the skin on, and you will need to remove the skin to cook it in the slow cooker.

If you like crackling, you can cook it separately for salty, crispy goodness.

If you don’t want to cook it for crackling, you can render the skin to make lard (see the end of this article for links). But if you don’t want to make crackling or lard, ask your butcher to remove the skin for you, and this will save you some time and effort.

How to Remove Skin From the Pork Shoulder

This process is also demonstrated in the video below – check out the video to watch the technique.

Important to note: this process is so much easier if your knife is SHARP. So give your knife a sharpen before you begin.

To remove the skin, start by turning the joint of the meat over and cutting along one edge of the skin.

Pull the skin away from the meat, slicing with the knife to help peel the skin away. Continue to peel and slice the skin, turning the pork around as necessary until the skin comes off.

removing pork skin

Remove all of the skin and as much fat as you can (it’s ok to leave some fat). Your shoulder should now look something like this:

Adding Flavour with a Spice Rub

A spice rub will give the pork added layers of flavour, but it is optional.

If you want plain pork, say, for Christmas dinner, then just leave the rub off.

The complete ingredients and quantities for the rub are in the recipe below, but it includes paprika, salt, black pepper, oregano, coriander, cumin, and sugar.

I sometimes use the pre-made all-purpose seasoning in the jar for an easy alternative.

Rub the pork shoulder all over with the mixture, making sure you get it into all the nooks and crannies. Be generous with the mix for maximum flavour!

Place the shoulder in a covered container and leave in the fridge overnight.

How to Prepare the Pork Crackling

To make crackling with the skin, dry it off and then rub it with salt and leave it uncovered in the fridge so that it cures and dries out even more.

Cook in an air fryer for around 30 minutes at its highest setting or very hot oven (around 220°C) for 40-50 minutes or until crisp and bubbling.

If your cracking isn’t crisping, you can finish it off under a hot griller/broiler. 

The other option is to render the skin into lard. See link below for instructions.

How to Cook a Pork Shoulder in the Slow Cooker

In the morning, throw a roughly chopped onion into the bottom of your slow cooker.

You can place the pork shoulder directly into the slow cooker, or you can brown it off in a hot frying pan with a little oil or lard to give it some extra flavour, but I usually find this unnecessary.

Add stock to the slow cooker (or deglaze the frying pan with stock before adding it to the slow cooker) and cook low and slow for about eight hours or until cooked through and tender. 

You can test the thickest part of the meat with a meat thermometer if you have one. Cook it to 71°C for medium and 77°C for well done.

Once the pork is cooked, rest it for 20 minutes and then either slice it and serve with roast vegetables and gravy or make shredded pork for a variety of easy pulled pork recipes (or do both!)

Slow-Cooked Pork Shoulder With Roast Vegetables and Gravy

Let the cooked pork rest and slice. Keep warm on a covered, warmed plate or on a covered plate in a warm (not hot) oven.

To make the tastiest gravy ever, heat some oil or lard in a frying pan and add an equal amount of plain flour (arrowroot flour makes a great gluten-free flour alternative).

Cook the flour for a few minutes to take off the raw taste.

Next, ladle some of the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into the pan, stirring well to prevent lumps. Keep adding the stock to the gravy stirring all the while until you’ve got a thin gravy.

(Note: if you’ve used all-purpose seasoning on your pork, it will add a fair bit of salt to the stock, so you may want to thin it down with fresh stock when making the gravy. Taste the oniony stock before using it to check its saltiness.)

Now take that thin gravy and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer, stirring, until thickened to your liking. This reduction process concentrates the flavours making a delicious gravy.

Serve with the gravy, some roast vegetables and steamed greens.

How to Shred the Pork

Once cooked, your pork will be so tender it will be easy to shred.

Using two forks, gently pull at the pork, separating the strands until it is shredded to your liking.

Storing, Freezing, Reheating

Cooked pork leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to three days. 

Alternatively, freeze in portion-size batches for up to three months. Defrost before reheating.

Reheat over low heat in a frying pan with a splash of water, stock, or sauce. Cover and reheat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a food-safe temperature of 75°C. Alternatively, reheat in the microwave with a splash of liquid.

Cover and reheat, stirring occasionally, until the pork reaches 75°C.

What to Do With Leftover Pulled Pork

Remove the leftover meat from the bone and shred using two forks. You should have a heap of leftover pork.

Divide the pork into meal-sized portions and freeze for later.

Ways to use pulled pork include:

  • Pork and gravy roll
  • Pulled pork sandwich
  • Slaw and pulled pork burger with BBQ sauce
  • Pulled pork and refried bean enchiladas
  • Pulled Pork Pizza
  • Pork pasta sauce
  • Pork Burrito bowls
  • Pulled pork pies
  • Pork chilli with beans and rice
  • Pulled pork nachos or tacos
  • Stuffed potato topping
  • Cottage pie
  • Pork San Choi Bow
  • Pulled Pork and homemade baked beans

This article was originally part of a series on stretching food to maximise savings.

As well as slow-cooking a pork shoulder to make delicious pulled pork to stretch over many meals, the series also shows how to:

When you make stock and lard (neither cheap to buy) from what would often otherwise be thrown away, you’re getting even more value for your money.

Slow cooker pork shoulder is a great meal prep option because it’s easy to make and delicious, and the pulled pork can be portioned, frozen and reinvented into a variety of other meals.

Yield: 8 serves

Slow Cooker Pork Shoulder

slow cooker pork shoulder

Cook this cheap cut of meat in the slow cooker for melt-in-the-mouth roast meat. Eat as a roast with vegetables or turn into pulled pork and freeze in portions for dozens of recipe variations.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Additional Time 10 minutes
Total Time 8 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pork shoulder, bone-in
  • 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 2 tsp. ground paprika
  • 1 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • a good grind each of salt and pepper
  • 1 onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 - 2 cups of pork or beef stock

Instructions

THE DAY BEFORE

  1. Remove the skin and fat from the pork shoulder.
  2. Mix the rub ingredients together and rub all over the pork shoulder on both sides, rubbing the mixture right into all the nooks and crannies.
  3. Refrigerate in a covered container overnight.

IN THE MORNING

  1. Place the onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.
  2. (Optional) Heat oil or lard in a frying pan until hot and brown the pork shoulder on all sides.
  3. Place the pork shoulder into the slow cooker.
  4. Using the stock, deglaze the hot pan, scraping up any flavourings in the pan (optional). Pour the stock into the slow cooker.
  5. Cook on low for 8 hours or until cooked through, tender and falling off the bone or until internal temp is 71°C.
  6. Slice or shred to serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 203Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 142mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 20g

Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, serving size or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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10 Comments

  1. Eileen Miles says:

    ‘Pulled ****’ is a term we have only recently heard here in Australia. Is that all it means? that the meat has been shredded with forks instead of slicing? I think this recipe looks great and as there is only two of us a great money saver. I think the pork is more expensive but still a bargain cut.

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Yep, just shredded. And you’re right, it’s a term I’ve recently come across too – thanks to the internet.

      I’m exploring Mexican cuisine at the moment (as my recipes will reflect). We’ve never really eaten it as it hasn’t had much influence here in Australia.

  2. Yum, I LOVE pulled pork :) It’s one of my staple slow cooker meals. I usually make crackling from the skin because it’s so delicious, but I’m interested to see how you make lard and then soap from it.

    1. Eileen Miles says:

      I look forward to learning too!!

    2. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Mmmm, crackling… it is so delicious! Lard and soap coming up soon :)

  3. Thanks so much for the information. We got a pork shoulder on sale with the skin on, which is something i had never come across. I followed your directions to remove the skin, and it came out perfectly!! Thanks so much, John B. Hatfield, PA, USA

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Great to hear :)

  4. I must be an odd ball because I’m not that fond of “pulled” pork! Will I get the same flavour/tenderness if I don’t shred the meat?

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      You don’t need to ‘pull’ it. Slicing it is absolutely fine. Same flavour and tenderness (but plain without sauce). I cook this for Christmas without the spices and slice it and serve with gravy.

  5. Great and simple recipe! Pictures so helpful to doing the crackling, really looking forward to making :)