Slow Cooker Mustard-Rubbed Pulled Pork
Y’all are going to love this recipe. My Slow Cooker Mustard-Rubbed Pulled Pork uses just five ingredients and results in delicious pulled pork that shreds at the touch of a fork and creates a mustardy, slightly sweet, tangy vinegar barbecue sauce that you’re going to fall in love with. Plus, it’s made in the slow cooker so it’s super easy and perfect for Summer! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
I get inspiration for my recipes from all different sources. Sometimes it just pops into my head, sometimes it’s the product of thoughtful brainstorming, sometimes it’s inspired by something I ate in a restaurant or adapted from a recipe I saw in a book or on another site, and occasionally it all stems from a brand requesting I use a specific ingredient. When a brand approaches me wanting me to create a recipe using their product, I always consider two things: a) is this a product I already use, love and feel completely comfortable genuinely endorsing to my readers? And b) when first approached do I immediately and excitedly start brainstorming a whole list of ideas for recipes I would love to make using that product? I would never want to work with an ingredient I wasn’t organically inspired by or that I couldn’t recommend enthusiastically.
In this case, when French’s Yellow Mustard* wanted to work with me, the answer to both of the above questions was a resounding yes. I pretty much exclusively use French’s mustard (I love it on hot dogs, hamburgers, and turkey melts) and since it’s zero calories per serving it’s a super easy way to add some zesty flavor while sticking to your healthy eating plan. Plus, it’s all natural with no artificial ingredients, which is definitely an added bonus.
Just five ingredients – delicious results!
I knew immediately what I wanted to make using mustard, I just had to figure out how to adapt it for indoor cooking. My fiancé makes the most amazing mustard-rubbed pork shoulder in his smoker using yellow mustard and it’s actually my favorite thing he cooks. Since I know most households don’t own a smoker, I wanted to see if I could capture some of the same flavors right in the kitchen. Slow cookers make amazing pulled pork, so I thought that would be a good place to start. Since the pork produces its own liquid in the slow cooker, I also thought adding apple cider vinegar would make for a delicious vinegar/mustard Carolina-style BBQ sauce to drizzle over the meat when serving.
The results? SO GOOD. The pork slides right off the bone and shreds at the touch of a fork. It’s flavorful from the mustard and brown sugar rub and the sauce is a perfect blend of flavors. If you like the vinegar taste to be a bit stronger (if you plan to serve the meat on buns you may want to consider this), you can add more vinegar to taste in the saucepan step. Serve the meat any way you like: straight up in a pile (my favorite), on a bun, in a wrap, stuffed into a baked potato or baked onto a pizza. Your options for leftovers are only as limited as your creativity!
Looking for more tasty ways to use your slow cooker? Check out my Slow Cooker section for more posts, including Thai Peanut Chicken, Meatballs & Marinara, Barbecue Beef and more! Want more French’s Mustard recipes? Follow French’s on Pinterest or check out their hashtag #NaturallyAmazing for Summer BBQ ideas, cooking tips and infinite ways to turn mustard into a meal your family will love.
*I have partnered with French’s Yellow Mustard as part of their #NaturallyAmazing Summer campaign. I have been compensated for my time commitment to work with their product, however my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
Slow Cooker Mustard-Rubbed Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 5 pound bone-in pork shoulder
- ½ cup French’s Yellow Mustard
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Pork shoulders generally have a layer of fat covering one side. Using a sharp knife, remove this layer of fat and trim off any additional significant pieces of fat from the outside. My pork shoulder started off at 5 ½ pounds but after trimming was about 4 lbs 7 oz. (Note: the bone weighed about 5 ounces, so I calculated the points and nutrition info using 4 lbs 2 ounces of lean, trimmed pork shoulder)
- On a cutting board, coat the outside of the pork shoulder in mustard (you can probably use a silicone pastry brush, but I just slather it on with my hands...this is a messy step!). Once covered, sprinkle brown sugar over the mustard and pat into the mustard coating. Sprinkle the Cajun seasoning over the top.
- Place the coated pork shoulder into your slow cooker and make sure any residual mustard/brown sugar coating remaining on the cutting board gets drizzled on top. Cook on low for 8 hours until pork shreds easily and falls off the bone. Remove the bone and discard.
- Remove the pork to a cutting board and shred using two forks. Taste the cooking liquid and add the cider vinegar (you can add more to taste if desired). Transfer the liquid from the slow cooker to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes. Serve the liquid alongside the pork and drizzle over pork before eating – whether eating it straight, on a bun or otherwise. Refrigerate and store sauce separately from any leftover pork.
This looks great! A couple of questions: Can you think of any reason why I shouldn’t be able to use the Splenda brown sugar mix I already have on hand? And what’s the basis of Cajun seasoning? I hate to buy another jar of something I’ll rarely use. I have LOTS of spices, and I’m thinking cayenne base with, what, pepper, garlic? I’m eager to try this! Thank you so much!
I’ve used the exact cajun recipe Mary posted below before and it’s great. As for Splenda brown sugar substitute, I’ve never tried it or cooked with it so I really can’t say whether it will come out the same. If you try it let me know!
A recipe for Cajun Seasoning from Allrecipes.com:
Mix together & store in an airtight container:
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
*thumbs up* – thanks Mary 🙂
I’ve pinned this already! Looks yummy…and I’ve been into Cajun recipes lately, so this just sounds especially good! Thanks!
I hope you love it!! 🙂
HUGE Emily Bites fan! I made this tonight and we absolutely loved it! My husband and I are from South Carolina (currently living in Louisiana) and we’ve been wanting a good pulled pork recipe. This one isn’t quite like home, but it’s the closest thing we’ve gotten since moving by far. The pork is so tender and delicious and I feel like the sauce makes it even yummier! The recipe (although messy) was pretty easy and it was nice to just let it cook all day and have such an awesome dinner ready! We’ll been enjoying these leftovers for days! Emily, you’re the best! 🙂
Mary Beth – I made this with the Brown Sugar/Splenda blend the other night and it was delicious! I used the conversion on the package to use the right amount for the substitution. I believe the conversion for the 1/3 cup of regular brown sugar was 2-tablespoons+2-teaspoons, if I remember correctly.
Thanks Emily! This is definitely a do-again for us. My sauce didn’t seem to reduce very well, and my husband was kind of afraid of it, but the flavor was good. He was perfectly happy to eat 3-servings of just the pork in one sitting 🙂
I made this yesterday and it’s so good! The only thing I changed was that I used a boneless pork shoulder since that’s all my grocery store had. It fell apart so easily and was amazingly good! I was a little nervous about the Cajun seasoning since I’m not a huge fan of it but when combined with the brown sugar and mustard you couldn’t even pick out the taste. It made my house smell great all day! I’m excited for leftovers at lunch today!
I’m so happy it was a hit!! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Just made this dish this week! So yummy. I also used a boneless roast as someone else posted. Worked just fine. Thanks for the great recipe.
Yay! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hoping to make this next week. Do you think pork loin would work.? My local Stop and Stop usually doesn’t carry pork shoulder.
Not sure why you would remove the fat layer that’s where all the flavor comes from and those of you who use splenda….. OMG!!! don’t you know that splenda is actually a pesticide!!!! I just shook my head when I read all the reviews.
Just tried this recipe and it was SO GOOD!! And the leftovers are so versatile! They went great on a Cuban sandwich and also great on a sandwich dipped in the sauce au jus style! Thanks so much for giving me an easy go to staple!
Hi! Planning on making this and was wondering if you have any suggestions on what to do with leftovers? We are a family of 3 ( one being a 3 year old) so I know we will have lots leftover! Thanks!
Why would I trim the fat? Thats not really done when smoking it.
You’re not smoking it here though! This is a lightened up recipe, so I recommend trimming.
This looks amazing! I’m going to make this tonight, actually- and definitely make cubans with the leftovers Question though- do you think I would be okay to substitute the ACV with maybe a white wine vinegar or rice vinegar?
Sure, that should be fine!