Sweet BBQ Pulled Pork

I love making one main dish and creating several meals from that dish. My Pulled Pork is a Crock- Pot favorite and a perfect example for that.

First, let me start with how to make the pulled pork. The first step is CRAZY EASY! Put your pork loin in the crock pot. Be sure to place the pork with the “fat cap” on top. Second, add 36 ounces of your liquid. My favorite is Root Beer. Other yummy options are Cherry Cola or Dr. Pepper. Cover the crock- pot and turn on High. Cook for 6-8 hours or until the pork is fork tender and falling apart.  I usually turn the meat about 4 hours in.  You don’t have to turn the meat, it will turn out amazing either way. So if you are gone all day, no big deal. That’s all there is to it!

When your pork is finished in the crock pot, you pull it out and shredded it. I usually wait for it to cool down so I can man handle it with my hands. You could also but pork chunks in your stand mixer or just use 2 forks to shred the pork. After it is shredded, I pour 1 cup of the juices from the crock- pot over the meat and let it sit while I make the sauce. That’s all there is to the pork part of the dish…. I told you it was easy!

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The Secret’s in the Sauce!        

I love taking a basic bottle of BBQ sauce and “doctoring” it up. Some may call it “cheating”, I call it “Working with what the Good Lord gave me”. If you have a sauce that you already love, by all means, use that. But if you are looking for a sweet change, I encourage you to give this recipe a try! I have never measured the recipe for my sauce… so it was fun trying to figure out how I actually make it. I am a “dump it in the pot” kind of gal… I don’t usually use measurements. (One of the perks of cooking….no exact science)

Take 1 Cup of your BBQ sauce, 1 Cup of Ketchup, 2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce, 1 Cup Brown Sugar, 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder and 1/2 Teaspoon of Cummin, throw it all in a heavy bottom sauce pan and simmer until the ingredients are dissolved.

This will start to pop pretty fast, so be sure to keep and eye on it and stir regularly. The sugar will cause burning to happen if you walk away from it. In this case, a watched pot DOES boil!

Combine the pork and the sauce! BOOM! DONE! Doesn’t it look YUMMY!?!

A couple meals we usually get out of this are Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Pulled Pork Tacos, and Pulled Pork Nachos (either over Tater Tots or Chips)

This is the Pulled Pork Nachos over Tater Tots. Super Easy and FULL of flavor! Bake your tater tots as suggested by the packaging. I always lightly toss them in garlic and onion powder to give the tots some flavor. Then when the tots are finished baking to your preferred crispiness,  top them with warmed BBQ pork and cheese. You can then put the combination in the oven or the microwave until the cheese is melted. Top with sour cream and enjoy!