Recently I sent my lovely husband out shopping for me and he came home with a super cheap pork leg joint. At just £2.99 a kilo our 1.5 kilo joint was a bargain! I decided that instead of the traditional roast pork I was going to finally have a go at making slow cooker pulled pork – to see what all the fuss is about!

At 12 hours (Ideally 4 on high, 8 on low or just 12 on low) this is an ideal meal for preparing and leaving to cook while you are out at work. Or in my case busy at the allotment! 

Ingredients for slow cooker pulled pork

1.5 kilo pork leg (with the fat removed and saved for crackling*)

Smoked paprika (2 tablespoons)

Sea Salt & Black Pepper (1/2 teaspoon of each)

Garlic (3 cloves or 1/2 teaspoon of granules/powder)

Onion granules (1/2 teaspoon)

Oregano (2 teaspoons)

Cayenne Pepper (1/2 teaspoon or 1 teaspoon if you like a nice kick)

Chilli Powder (1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon if you like a nice kick)

Muscovado sugar (1/2 teaspoon)

1 chopped onion

Stock cubes x 2 (Or a pint of fresh stock)

Method for slow cooker pulled pork

Chop 1 onion to place into the bottom of the slow cooker. I love our slow cooker as it is so great for helping us make meals and have them cook while out. We can use cheaper cuts of meat and add lots of healthy vegetables in too.

Take all of the ingredients, besides the pork, and mix together.

I use a pestle & mortar because it helps grind up the ingredients well, especially the salt & peppercorns. Also it makes me feel like a proper cook!

Once you have a nice rub you want to spread it all over the pork leg. Then place this inside the slow cooker on top of the onions.

Fill up the slow cooker, to the top of the meat, with boiling water. This will create a stock with the stock cubes already placed instead. Add your fresh stock here if you’re using fresh stock. It is ok for meat to be sitting outside of the water but be aware that you will want to turn it frequently or you may have slightly different textures to the meat.

Cook on high for the first 4 hours (if possible). Then turn down to low for the remaining 8 hours. You can cook this for 16 hours on low if you would prefer, basically the longer the better.

Once the meat has finished cooking you can save the stock and onions as the base for a lovely gravy.

The meat is ridiculously tender and takes just seconds to shred. You don’t even need to use a sharp knife. I mixed homemade barbeque sauce through the meat. These meat claws for shredding slow cooker pulled pork look like fun!

*I saved the leftover pork fat and turned it into crackling.

In total my 1.5 kilo joint made enough meat for two main meals (for two), two days sandwiches (for two), the crackling you see above. I also froze leftovers for three pizza nights in the future. I was very pleased with the amount of meals we got for just £4.50 worth of meat and a few store cupboard ingredients.

What goes well with slow cooker pulled pork?

For me personally I’d probably use my homemade tortillas recipe, or I would serve with airfryer roast potatoes. If I was looking for something different I’d go for a sweet potato hash. This slow cooker pulled pork is delicious in a brioche bun, with a salad or as part of a bigger dinner.

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