Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork

Do you know what a cook lives for? The look in friends’ eyes when they’ve bitten into something you’ve made, and they’re deliriously happy about what they’re eating. Their wide-eyed smiley faces would say, “OMG, WOW,” if they weren’t so busy eating, and wanting to be polite and not talk with their mouths full. That’s the response I got from my friends last night when I served them tacos with this slow cooked pulled pork. A pork shoulder roast is rubbed with a spice mix of traditional Mexican spices, marinated in the rub an hour to overnight, seared, and then slow cooked until the meat is falling apart tender. It’s a great filling for tacos, tamales, and burritos.

We’ve cooked this pull pork in a slow cooker, because it’s really easy this way. We do sear the roast first. I have a slow cooker that allows you to do that in the cooker pan itself, but if you don’t have that kind of slow cooker, you can sear it on the stovetop, or skip the step all together. Searing helps on two counts, it browns the meat on the outside adding a little more of that wonderful browned flavor to the dish. It also toasts the chili and the cumin in the spice mix, helping their flavors to deepen as well.Slow Cooked Mexican Pulled Pork by Simply Recipes

Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork Recipe

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 6 hours

Ingredients

The Rub:

  • 4 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 teaspoon ground oregano
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Scant pinch of ground cloves

The roast:

  • 3 1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1 Whisk together the rub ingredients in a small bowl.

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2 If the roast is tied up with butcher string, untie it. Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mix into the roast all over, reserving any leftover spice mix for later. Marinate in the rub at least one hour or overnight.

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3 Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. (If you are using a slow cooker with a removable container that can be used on the stovetop, use that, otherwise use a separate pan.) Place the roast in the pan and brown on all sides.

4 Place the roast in a slow cooker, and add any reserved spice rub. Cook on the low setting for 6 to 10 hours, until the pork is fall apart tender.

slow-cooker-mexican-pulled-pork-5 slow-cooker-mexican-pulled-pork-6 slow-cooker-mexican-pulled-pork-7 slow-cooker-mexican-pulled-pork-8

5 Remove the roast from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Cut into large chunks. Then use two forks to pull the meat apart into bite sized shreds. Return the shreds to the slow cooker and toss to coat with the juice from the roast.

Serve with tortillas, avocados, and salsa.

Yield: Serves 8.

Slow Cooked Mexican Pulled Pork by Simply Recipes

104 Comments

  1. LaWanda

    This looks and sounds delicious. Never mind that the crock-pot is the most used “object” in my kitchen. I just have one question: does a pork shoulder contain a bone? I have never cooked one. As is the case, I love your site!

  2. ChiShyLib

    I’m making out my grocery list now! I have some fajita spice mix from The Spice House which has all of the rub ingredients you list, plus a few more. I’m going to try that with a little extra chili powder and thrown in.

  3. Sandfan

    For those of you asking about the bone, I don’t know if the recipe has been updated or not, but my copy of it says a boneless pork roast.

    • Elise

      Yes, though I would pull the skin off first, and maybe add half a cup of water to the pot (not too much, the meat will give off its own liquid as it cooks), and leave the bone in while it cooks. It will be easier to pull the meat off the bone after it’s cooked, and you’ll get all the goodness and flavor from the bone if you cook it bone in. That all said, I haven’t made this with chicken, but I do believe it’s worth a try.

    • Marian P

      I think the chicken would work, I would use thighs, I think the breast meat would be overwhelmed. I would also opt for a shorter cooking time, probably 6 hours or less. Boneless, skinless thighs would make it very easy.

  4. Shayna

    I highly recommend an Instant Pot. Its an all in one rice cooker, pressure cooker, slow cooker. You can sear in it. It has a stainless steel pot. My new favorite kitchen tool

  5. Andrew

    A trimmed smaller Boston Butt would work well too, but would definitely want to trim a good bit of the fat cap off to keep the finished pot from being too greasy. A leaner pick of country ribs would be good too, have used them many times for a pulled pork like dish. The price is usually great on them, especially anyone in the southeast with a FL close by as it’s a staple ad item

  6. Heather

    Hi Elise, I don’t have a slow cooker; in the oven @ 200-250, ~4 hours ok for this? If not, what is your recommendation? Thanks – love your site!

    • Elise

      Hi Heather, great question. I would put it in an oven proof pot, like a Dutch oven, covered into the oven. Make sure the roast is at room temp before cooking. Sear it first. Cook it at 300°F for the first half hour, then drop the temp to 225°F, for 3 1/2 hours, or whatever it takes to get it to fall apart. It may take longer than 4 hours. The risk is that the heat is too high and whatever moisture gets released, evaporates, leaving you with a rather dry roast. I’m afraid I do not have a definitive answer for this. If I were making it without a slow cooker, I would add half a cup of water to the pot, bring it to a simmer, cover the pot, and then lower the heat to the lowest possible simmer setting on my burner to maintain a very low simmer. And then cook it as long as it takes. Good luck!

      • yublocka

        Thanks for this comment! I have only had pulled pork a few times and loved it. May one day try making it, but I don’t have a slow cooker either! Silly question, why would cooking it in the oven be different to a low heat saucepan on the stovetop – it’d be easier to check moisture level that way I’d think.

      • Adam

        I just tried your suggested directions for a Dutch oven in the oven (with the 1/2 cup of water) and it turned out great! With the oven set at 225°F the liquid read a steady 180°F on my infrared thermometer. After 4 hours the shoulder was falling apart all by itself.

          • Sally

            Years ago I read that low in a slow cooker would be 200°F in the oven and high would be 300°F in the oven. I’ve used those when cooking a slow cooker recipe in the oven and it has worked well. It’s just oven braising instead of braising on the cook top.

  7. Martha

    I cook my pork shoulder in the oven in a cooking plastic bag and it come out very soft if you cook at 325, the time depend on the weight of the shoulder

  8. Tracey

    I wonder… if you chunked it instead of shredding, then tossed the chunks into a greased skillet, would it make good carnitas?

  9. Christian

    Can I use my rice-cooker in lieu of a slow-cooker? (I live in Japan.)
    There’s so much different information on the web I can’t seem to find anyone in agreement on this question.

    • Elise

      I don’t know what what temperature your rice cooker cooks, as to whether it would be comparable to a low slow cooker setting or a high setting. So it may take some experimentation to sort out how to use it as a slow cooker.

      • FoodJunkie

        I don;t know how it well it will work but apparently you can use a rice cooker as a slow cooker using the warming setting only. You may have to juice it on the high setting periodically to keep the temperature up. I have no idea if long slow cooking would damage the rice cooker after a while but in a pinch it can certainly do the job.

  10. Vivace

    A great way to do this in the oven is sear first, then wrap tightly in foil and put it in the oven on low, low and let it go. It will retain moisture and juice and come out falling apart.

  11. Robert

    My oven goes down to 175 degrees, would this be too low to cook the roast? Also, could you use a nice boneless chuck roast for “pulled-beef” instead of pork?

    • Elise

      Yes, I think that would be too low. Somewhere between 250 and 300 is probably the right temp. Yes you could make this with chuck, or brisket, much like a pot roast, but I haven’t done it with these seasonings yet. I recommend reading all of the comments to see what others have suggested for cooking the roast in the oven.

  12. Monica P

    Looks amazing! There is a Mexican restaurant that my husband and I go to and they make wonderful carnitas (pulled pork) and I’d love to give this a try at home.

    Monica

  13. JBS

    My recipe is very similar with one small difference- add a can of beer to the crock pot when cooking, then shred the meat and return to the oven to caramelize and reduce the sauce. It’s heavenly!

  14. Bill

    We have the Ninja slow cooker and it is the greatest cooker ever made, we use the searing process in it. We have a pork roast in it now for the superbowl game, but we will try this recipe next. Thanks all have a great day.

  15. nancy

    I have this marinating right now. I read aloud the recipe to my husband and he went right out and purchased a pork shoulder roast as I prepared the spice rub. I had all the necessary ingredients on hand. I will be putting in slow-cooker tomorrow. Can’t wait to have tacos. Thanks for such a delicious recipe!

  16. Jen

    I was going to your website Saturday for your pulled pork recipe, when the Mexican pulled pork recipe popped up. Change of plans/ingredients! It did indeed make it’s own juices and was delicious with corn tortillas, beans, avacado and lettuce. We used an extra savory/spicy chile mix we recently received, here in Arizona. Yummy!!

  17. Jim Gauntt

    A small bone in picnic or other bone in shoulder should also work and may even impart deeper flavor. The way we do it is to cut 4-5 deep slices in the shoulder before slow cooking or braising and then make sure some of the rub gets in the cuts too – these are all great suggestions — now just a post on homemade good gluten free flour or Masa tortillas where you concentrate on technique would be a fine companion to this post :-)

  18. Cindy

    Hi Elise, I just made this and the flavor was great but it did come out a little dry. I trimmed a lot of the fat off first. Do you think that’s why? I set to slow cooker for 8 hours–perhaps that was too long? Would love your advice–thanks!

    • Elise

      Hi Cindy, Yes, this is why I don’t trim too much of the fat. If too much renders out, you can always skim it at the end. 8 hours in the slow cooker should not have been to long if it was on the low setting. Did you have plenty of liquid at the end of cooking? If so, then the temperature was correct, the lid secure, and the cooking time fine. If the meat was dry, it was either a lean roast to begin with (I always look for a lot of fat marbling when purchasing a shoulder roast) or you may have trimmed off too much of the fat.

      • RC

        I made this in the oven yesterday and it was really good. I had a 5 lb. bone-in pork shoulder roast that I seasoned like you posted and put it in the refrigerator for 5 hours. I would highly recommend letting it sit over night to let the seasonings penetrate more.
        I put it in the oven at 275 F for 5 hours, but the time is just a guide since it need to have an internal temp of at least 270 F…I let it get to 280 F +.
        I let it sit for about 15 minutes and then shred with two forks. Served with pico de gallo, avocado, limes, sour cream …excellent.
        Thanks for the recipe

  19. Cindy

    How spicy is this? It looks great and I’d love to try it, but want to know which spices I need to reduce. We are on the low end of the spice scale – Hormel canned chili is about all we can handle :-)

    • Heather

      Cindy – I have this marinating right now to go in the crock pot in the morning and I’ll try to report back on the spice level because I’m a bit afraid myself. :) My husband loves spicy food but I’m a bit more of a wuss. I plan to reserve some of the pulled pork for myself and not put it back in the juice -I think that will help keep the fire level manageable.

    • Heather

      Hi again, Cindy. First, this is absolutely delicious. As for the spiciness level, I think you will be just fine with the shredded pork if you don’t put it back in the juice in the cooker. It has great flavor, but isn’t really hot at all. I would really hope you try it with some of the juice though, even if just a bite, because Holy Wow…what a treat. I had one taco without juice and one with, and neither one was blow-your-head-off spicy. Try it, you’ll like it! :)

  20. Jenn

    Just made this tonight and it was perfect. I cooked half a roast (since I just cook for one) so I would end up with fewer servings, and it cooked beautifully. I topped mine with some avocado, queso fresco and salsa from a local taco shop. It couldn’t have been tastier!

  21. iris

    Just looking at this is making me hungry. My last pulled pork didn’t come out so great (my fault for tweaking recipe)..but I’ll have to try make this one soon!

  22. PurrlGurrl

    I’m curious why the brown sugar was felt to be needed, although at least it’s a relatively modest amount.

    I’ve noticed more and more of today’s main dish recipes have sugar added. Quite a few meatloaf recipes I’ve seen recently add up to as much as a 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the meat mixture.

    Even restaurant foods have been sweetened up. Asian food that isn’t overwhelmingly sweet can no longer be found where we live. We’ve stopped eating at Asian restaurants because of that.

    Given this trend to throw sugar into every prepared dish, is it a surprise to anyone that America is experiencing an obesity and diabetes epidemic?

  23. Heather

    Thank you, Elise! We had this for dinner tonight and even though I’ve never made pulled pork of any sort before, it might well be one of the best things I’ve ever made. My husband kept saying, “give it 5 stars!”. This is definitely going on the keeper list. I can’t wait to share it with my family and friends.

  24. Anita

    I made this yesterday and had it with the Spanish rice recipe on your website. It was absolutely delicious and definitely a keeper. I omitted the cayenne altogether as my chili powder had some kick to it.

  25. David Carter

    I make a different version of this; my rub consists of 2TBS Kosher salt, 1TBS chipotle powder, 1TBS dried cilantro, 4-6 cloves minced garlic. Serve with white onions, cilantro on white corn tortillas. Great for a potluck; it’s the only thing I’m allowed to bring to work potlucks. :)

  26. Tara

    I find myself without any garlic powder or onion powder!

    I have garlic salt, garlic pepper, “garlic gold nuggets” granules, fresh garlic and fresh onion.

    Are any of those acceptable substitutes?

  27. Helene

    Got a rice cooker for Xmas with slow cooking options and this is the first recipe we tried. Didn’t have garlic or onion powder on hand so added roasted garlic instead. Set it off before I went off to bed and woke up to this amazing pork roast that just crumbles under the fork.
    I agree that adding water is not necessary (although I did since the machine recommends it… but I won’t next time).
    Thanks for this wonderful recipe.

  28. Anna

    Terrific! I made this yesterday with a 4.4 pound shoulder roast and it took about 7 1/2 hours. The meat was absolutely falling apart – beautiful! Everyone loved it. My jar of cayenne is kind of wimpy, and the meat wasn’t very spicy. Instead, I roasted a jalapeno, and we topped the tacos with it.

  29. Angela

    This recipe is amazing. I cooked it as instructed. I served it on tortillas with radishes, onions, cilantro, and a little jalapeño hot sauce. My husband couldn’t get enough. I can’t wait until my parents come over so I can cook this for them.

  30. Julie

    I am making this in the oven today. The pork has released a lot of grease even though I trimmed it. Should I remove the grease as it is cooking? Anyone? Thanks!

  31. Alec

    The chili powder I make already has quite a bit of cumin, oregano, and garlic powder in it. Would there be a good substitute for those, or just add a smaller amount of each?

  32. Richard Hill

    What great flavor. Our roast was over 4 # and it was very salty for our taste. Will make it again with 3/4 tablespoon of salt. Thanks for all the great recipes. After retiring I have taken a much bigger role in making meals and you make me look good.

  33. Denise

    I made this yesterday with a 5 lb. boneless pork shoulder picnic roast. After it was done (in about 6 hours), I let it rest for about an hour, then shredded it. I decided to put the meat in burrito-size tortiallas with a little shredded monterey jack cheese and salsa verde. I rolled them up and put in a casserole dish, covered them with more salsa verde and shredded jack cheese. I baked them for 20 minutes until the cheese melted and the sauce was bubbly. My family absolutely LOVED it! Best pulled pork I’ve ever made. I plan to tweak the rub ingredients and make BBQ pulled pork next!!!

  34. Anna

    Quick warning for those attempting to sear the meat in their Crock Pot ceramic bowl – don’t do it! I’m afraid I followed that step and it resulted in cracking and ruining my Crock Pot. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the damage until after I cooked the meat, which resulted in the juices running all over the table and burning to the bottom of the metal Crock Pot. So…sear in another pan, people! Are those inserts easy to replace?

    But the flavors were nice – I’m using leftovers in a tamale pie!

  35. nancy

    I needed to say I’m making this again. It is so delicious. I have never been a fan of pulled meat — but this pork is so tasty and versatile. Well done you!!!!

  36. Noelle Tabor

    I used a pork tenderloin as I wanted a leaner cut of meat and added 3/4 cup of water to make up for the lack of fat. I would say this isn’t a good substitute :). Even with the added water it was just too dry. I did find the flavor blend really interested and added salsa to give it some more moisture.

  37. Diana

    I made this recipe last night using a hunk of shoulder roast I had in the freezer. I only let it marinate for 1 hour but it turned out really nicely! The meat is tender and flavorful- I will definitely make this one again!

  38. Frank Marks

    I added one ingredient prior to serving and it was delicious.
    When you put the shreds back in the slow cooker and cubes of Pinapple. Mix so the pinapple gets warm and coated.
    It adds a nice flavor to the overal dish. (I served it on a soft taco shell with a wedge of lime)

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