Pulled pork in a slow cooker is not only an easy thing to make for a crowd, but it is always delicious! We love to make these for game day, so that we don't have to be busy cooking all day but can still serve great food! The combination of flavors in these Fall Spiced Pulled Pork Sliders with pickled onions on Hawaiian sweet buns makes these our go-to for tailgating all season long!
Which cut of pork is best for pulled pork?
You can certainly use any roast-cut of pork in this pulled pork recipe, like pork butt. You can use boneless pork or bone-in as well. We prefer a boneless pork shoulder to make this meal even easier to serve straight from the slow cooker crock pot without too much hassle.
Fall Spices and Seasoning
This method of cooking pulled pork in the slow cooker along with the cut of pork allows you to be a bit more aggressive with the seasoning. Stick with the salt amounts in the recipe because you can always add more at the end to taste.
This recipe gives a nice pork flavor with many other seasonings that blend well together. It is not spicy, nor is it sweet, which allows customization of your slider to make it the way you and your guests want!
The fall spices here are allspice and cinnamon. These give the pork a warming flavor and lovely aroma and is perfect for football season!
Quick Pickled Red Onion
Pickled foods go particularly well with pulled pork, and that is why we added the simple "quick pickled" red onions. The bitter "bite" from the onion is completely pulled out and the sweetness of the onion can pair up with a little tang from the vinegar. This is a light pickle as well, so it won't dominate the flavor on the slider.
We recommend adding the quick pickled onions and pickles to these pulled pork sliders, but you can really add any of your favorite toppings here. As for the sauce, use whatever sauce you prefer. Barbecue sauce is great on these, but we prefer a nice honey mustard sauce to highlight the other flavors in the pork.
The Buns
Pulled pork sandwiches would not be complete without the buns! Although the types of buns may not seem important here, they actually add to the overall flavor of these sliders. For this reason, we recommend Sweet Hawaiian slider buns. The sweetness in the slider buns complements the pickled onions and other flavors in the pork itself.
Slow Cooker
For these easy pulled pork sliders, we like to prepare the pork and put it in the slow cooker on low overnight. Slow cooking in a crock pot allows the meat to break down and become tender as it cooks. Doing it this way will allow it to cook while you sleep without any hassle, and you can wake up to a wonderful crock pot full of delicious pulled pork for game day or an easy weeknight dinner!
You could also cook this on high in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours if needed as well. The cook time may vary and you will need to check it at the 4-6 hour mark and continue to cook it until fully cooked through, tender so that it easily pulls apart.
Once you cook the pork, you can then pull it with a couple forks and place it back in the slow cooker on warm for people to enjoy and make sliders throughout game day.
Looking for something else to do with leftover pulled pork? We love using the leftovers for loaded nachos!
Enjoy!
We hope that you enjoy this recipe for Fall Spiced Pulled Pork Sliders! If you give this recipe a try, click the heart button, leave us a comment and 5-star rating below, or tag us on Instagram @cooking_with_wine!
Looking for more game day appetizers? Check these out:
- Cranberry Serrano Glazed Meatballs
- Sweet and Spicy Honey Garlic Chicken Wings
- Smoked Texas Beef Brisket
- Marinated Skirt Steak Street Tacos
- Baked Whiskey Glazed Hot Wings
📖 Recipe
Fall Spiced Pulled Pork Sliders
Ingredients
For the Pork
- 6 lb pork shoulder
- 2 tablespoon kosher salt - Divided
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ cup dark beer, such as a Bock or Brown Ale
- ½ cup beef, vegetable, or chicken stock
- 2 tablespoon stone ground mustard
- 2 tablespoon ancho chile powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 small onion, diced small
Quick Pickled Red Onion
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 ¾ cups ice water
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
For Assembly
- Sweet Hawaiian slider buns
- Pickles
- Honey Mustard or other sauce of choice
Instructions
Prepare the Pork
- Trim the pork of excess fat. Rub the pork with the salt and pepper. In a slow cooker crock pot, add the oil, then add the pork. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour the mixture over the pork and cook on low for 10 hours.
- Once done, remove the pork from the slow cooker and add the remaining salt to the juices and stir to combine thoroughly. Place the pork on a large cutting board and use two forks to pull the pork apart. Return the pulled pork to the juices in the slow cooker while you prepare the buns.
Prepare the Onions
- At least 30 minutes before the pork is ready, slice the red onion thinly. In a large bowl, whisk the ice water, vinegar, salt, and sugar until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Add the onions and let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes and up to three hours. Add ice to the bowl as needed to keep the liquid very cold.
Serve
- Put some pulled pork on the buns and top pulled pork with the red onion slices, honey mustard, BBQ sauce, pickles, hot sauce and/or any other condiments you want. For the buns, you can serve them as is, or butter and toast them.
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