Lazy BBQ Pulled Pork

This lazy guide to making crockpot BBQ pulled pork in the slow cooker is quick to prep and easy. Use bottled or make your own barbecue sauce.

This lazy guide to making crockpot BBQ pulled pork in the slow cooker is great for getting yourself set up with a bunch of meal options for the week.

★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★

This crockpot BBQ pork recipe recipe is super easy!

You will slow cook a chunk of pork to tender goodness along with a few key ingredients for flavor.

Shred the meat when cooked, then add your favorite barbecue sauce. Simple!

Pulled pork tastes great on a sandwich, sliders or try it on top of macaroni and cheese or nachos!

★ Ingredients You'll Need ★

• Pork - use loins or pork butt
• Apple cider vinegar - acids in vinegar help tenderize your pork for melt-in-your-mouth texture.
• Worcestershire sauce - this adds a dash of flavor
• Barbecue sauce - use bottled sauce or make your own BBQ sauce!
• Salt and pepper. Season to taste.

★ How to Make this Lazy Crockpot Pulled Pork ★

• Optional Step for added flavor and moisture: Sear your pork in a cast iron skillet over high heat for 1-2 minutes on each side. Highly encouraged but you can skip this step if you're feeling extra-lazy.
• Place pork into crockpot.
• Pour apple cider vinegar on top of pork.
• Pour over Worcestershire sauce.
• Slow cook by weight. See recipe below.
• Remove cooked pork and shred.
• Add seasoning and barbecue sauce.

Watch the short video beneath the recipe below to see the full process.

★ Tips & FAQs ★

At what temperature is pork fully cooked and safe to eat?

The National Pork Board recommends cooking pork to an internal temperature of 145° F. (View the full chart and more details here)

So, you will want to have a meat thermometers handy since that's the best way to tell if your pork roast is thoroughly cooked without overcooking it to the point of it being really dry.

Another telltale sign that your pork is not yet done is if you puncture it with the thermometer, and the juices that come out are redish pink. This means it still needs time. Juices should be more of a brown color when the pork is done.

Don't overcook your pork.

The key to delicious, tender pulled pork is cooking it just until it's done, then turning down the heat to keep it warm. You'll want to turn your crockpot to "Keep Warm" and not low or high or the pork will continue to cook and will become dry and tough.

Since the cook time varies greatly depending on the size and shape (how thick) your loins are, the best way to tell if the pork is done, is to check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the pork loin using a meat thermometer.

Don't have a meat thermometer? Don't worry, you don't need anything fancy a simple analog thermometer works, or you can go digital for a quicker, more precise read. 

Shop meat thermometers on Amazon

What's the best BBQ sauce to use?

If you're not a huge barbecue sauce fan, it's very possible that the barbecue sauce you've had just wasn't a good one.

There are so many types of barbecue sauce that are typically made a certain way by region. For example, Carolina barbecue sauce is more yellow in color because mustard is one of the main ingredients. However, more traditional barbecue sauce like the ones found in Texas, are mostly deep redish brown in color.

To learn more about different barbecue sauces, check out this guide to barbecue sauces by region.

Once you have an idea of the variations in sauce, the best way to learn what type of sauce you like best is to do a taste test! Spend a little money getting a variety of bottled sauces and taste each one! Get your family involved and see what they like best too. Make it into a fun, cheap family activity you can do at home when you're bored.

Can you make your own barbecue sauce?

Of course you can make your own sauce if you want. It's actually quite easy and I have a recipe for you if that's your thing.

Get my homemade barbecue sauce recipe here

However, this is lazy BBQ pork for a reason. I'm a busy mom with a lot going on during the week so buying bottled barbecue sauce is a big time saver for me. There are a lot of options too which is nice!

Still, if you have time and want to make you own, then you can still use this easy barbecue sauce recipe. You may even find that making some sauce ahead of time and keeping it in the fridge would be a way to get the homemade flavor you want without spending a lot of time when you've ready to actually make pulled pork.

What's the best way to shred pork?

This simple crockpot pulled pork recipe is one of my favorites to make. This recipe makes enough to serve a small crowd but you can also make it for dinner and use the leftovers to munch on throughout the week for lunch. It's so easy! Just slow cook your pork and shred it.

To make things even easier, try using these meat shredder claws to quickly and easily shred the cooked pork without burning your hands. The nice part is you don't have to wait so long for it to cool this way and then heat it back up again. Just be careful though, the steam can still be hot and burn your hands so use caution.

What can you make with pulled pork?

I love a pulled pork sandwich topped with homemade coleslaw, on a toasted kaiser roll or try pulled pork on Hawaiian rolls with avocados for delicious pulled pork sliders.

You can also serve up pulled pork without a bun. Pair it with a side of baked beans, homemade macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and/or some cornbread. We like to do this and it feels just like you're out to eat at Famous Dave's!

★ More Recipes You’ll Love ★

Hungry for more easy dinner ideas?

• Browse all my dinner recipes
• Browse all my recipes that use pork!

This easy recipe for Crock Pot BBQ pulled pork was featured on South Your Mouth!