Pulled pork. Pork that is pulled apart (by hand – caveman style!) and slathered in sauce. Super easy to make when it’s unhealthy and loaded with sugar… but I’ve never really found a recipe that both made my mouth water AND is good for you.
Until now.
This recipe is a lot different from the normal bbq pulled pork sugar-bomb we normally have, but it’s amazingly tasty and with a different flavor profile, it’s a nice change up from the same-ole same-ole “meat with red sauce” that can quickly become routine.
So drop your preconceived notions on combining ginger, apples, and pork and let’s give this a go!
Ingredients:
- 2-2.25lb pork shoulder (I buy the cheapest hunk of meat they have normally)
- 1 large onion
- 3 apples (I prefer red apples, but anything you have on hand will work)
- 1 cup beef broth (I use the low sodium stuff)
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp ginger (buy fresh, it makes a difference!)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp paprika
- 2 medium garlic cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- pepper to taste
Directions:
Core your apples and cut into small cubes. Slice up all of your onions. Make a bed along the bottom of the crock pot using roughly half your apples and onions. Put your meat in the crock pot. Add the rest of the onions and apples on and around your pork.
Grate your ginger and add it to the crock along with the rest of the ingredients. Make sure the meat is evenly covered by your spices.
Cover your crock pot, set to high, and let cook for 5-6 hours.
Everyone’s crock cooks a little differently, but cooking for around 5ish hours seems to do the trick. A perfect indicator of it being done or not is if you can easily shred the pork IN the crock pot using only one fork. The meat should be basically falling apart at this point. If you need to take it out to shred it, I’d let it cook for a while longer.
That’s all there is to it. Get out of your safe zone and give this sucker a try.