Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade BBQ Sauce

Good news to everyone who reads this and cringes at my terrible photos! I ordered myself an (early) birthday present yesterday – my first DSLR camera, a Nikon D70. I’m so excited to get it that I just can’t stand it. It should be here on Monday!!

I’ve also been trying to collect a greater variety of “food props” (interesting plates, linens, etc) thanks to my generous parents and some great clearance sales.

In the meantime though, you will have to settle for what you’ve got. And what you’ve got is photos from my $99 HP Photosmart point-and-shoot. >.>

Anyway though… to the point. Today’s recipe is for Pulled Pork Sandwiches. My (picky) husband really loved them, although I am personally not a huge pulled pork fan. But if you are, I hope you enjoy this recipe! I used Emeril’s recipe as a loose guide, but made changes based on what I had.

Truth be told, you could make this using store-bought BBQ sauce if you were in a hurry… but I didn’t have any, so I made it from scratch.

For 4-6 servings, you will need:

Pulled Pork

• 1 pork loin roast (3 lbs or so- whatever will fit in your slow cooker)
• 1c chopped onions
• Approx 2c chicken stock (enough to cover the top of the pork in the slow cooker)
• 1 tbs smoked paprika
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 5-6 sandwich buns (or 10-12 whole-grain toast slices)

Begin by adding the herbs, spices, chicken stock, and onions to a small slow cooker. Stir well. Add the pork. Cook, covered, on low for 8 hours, or until the pork easily pulls apart with forks. When the pork starts getting tender, you can begin the BBQ sauce (it needs to simmer for 20 mins or so). See below for the BBQ sauce recipe.

Remove pork to a plate and pull it all apart. Don’t go this far until the sauce is prepared, else the pork will get cold.

BBQ Sauce

• 4 tbs butter
• 1c finely chopped onions
• 6 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 3 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dry mustard
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 6 tbs brown sugar
• 3/4c cider vinegar (Can substitute white wine vinegar or vinegar with fruity flavors. I actually used 1/2c of white wine vinegar with 1/4c cooking sherry because I didn’t have any cider vinegar.)

Begin the BBQ sauce by melting the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Once the butter is melted, add the onions. Cook until they are very soft, about 4 minutes.

In the meantime, chop the garlic.

Add the garlic and spices, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes.

Add the water, vinegar….

and the brown sugar. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and simmer for approx 20 mins, or until the sauce has thickened…

Like this!

Arrange some of the pork on a bun or slice of bread, and spoon a few tbs of sauce over the top.

Like this!

Enjoy!

Store the sauce and pork separately in air-tight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days. You could freeze leftover sauce as well, if you wanted.