Slow-Cooker Jalapeño Pulled Pork
Published September 18, 2024
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- About 6½ hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 6½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
2 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil
2½ to 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into roughly 2-inch pieces
Salt
1 (12-ounce) jar pickled jalapeño slices
2 tablespoons fish sauce
½ cup brown sugar
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
24 grams carbs; 221 milligrams cholesterol; 895 calories; 30 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams saturated fat; 63 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 1002 milligrams sodium; 55 grams protein; 21 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high. Sprinkle the pork lightly with salt. Add to the pot, in batches if necessary to keep from crowding, and sear until browned on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker. Pour off any excess fat from the pot, then reserve and don’t wash the pot.
- Step 2
Hold the pickled jalapeños back with your fingers and pour the brine into the slow cooker (about ¾ cup). Add the fish sauce. Cover and cook on low until the meat shreds easily when pulled with a fork, 4 to 6 hours.
- Step 3
Spoon off the layer of fat from the liquid in the slow cooker, then pour 1 cup of the liquid from the slow cooker into the reserved Dutch oven. Add the brown sugar and 2 to 4 tablespoons pickled jalapeño slices, depending on heat preference. Simmer over medium-high, scraping the bottom of the pot, until the mixture reduces by half and resembles maple syrup, 7 to 9 minutes.
- Step 4
Working right in the slow cooker, use two forks to shred the meat into large, bite-size pieces. Stir the sauce into the pork.
Private Notes
Comments
My changes to make it easier (and more flavorful) with only 3 ingredients: 1. Sear pork as instructed then put in instant pot. 2. Add 1 jar of TJ pickled jalapenos - brine and jalapenos. 3. Double the fish sauce amount. Omit brown sugar. 4. Set high pressure for 30min (or 4-6 hours in crockpot). Once done, shred pork in sauce.
@carolyn — Pepperoncini are a decent sub here - they bring less heat and some of same vinegary brine @JSON - soy sauce has some of the same umami without the fish. Worcestershire would be a little better, but also has fish in it, so I’m assuming that’s a no go. Made this with the sweet jalepenos you can get at Trader Joe’s and their brine made a real difference - yum!
3 pounds of meat = 4 servings. I like the way you think, Ali Slagle. Any favorite brand of pickled jalapenos?
@katie Agreed! This was SO good & really different. I made this in my dutch oven after searing the pork loin-300 degrees for 3 hrs, took off lid & dumped in chiles & 1/2 cup brown sugar last hour and then reduced. I used 7oz. can pickled jalapeno juice & hot & sweet pickle juice to make 3/4 cup of brine then added 6 oz green chiles. Amazingly wonderful spice explosion! OMG!
This recipe is banger - I make it in my Instapot (sear in pot, add brine and fish sauce, 40 minutes, then remove pork and reduce with brown sugar in the instapot). I know another instapot user left out the brown sugar, but I am a fan of the spicy/sweetness. I also find that I prefer not to shred it - just serve it in chunks as it comes. Love, love, love.
Did a trial run on this recipe before cooking a full10 lb pork shoulder for our pop up soup kitchen Saturday. Delicious! Subbing worstershire sauce for fish sauce (I was out) seemed fine. Two other modifications: 1. I only got about 1/4 cup of liquid from slow cooker so I added 1 cup of homemade chicken broth (I save carcasses in the freezer and make big batches of broth which I freeze) to the sauce. 2. 1/2 c of brown sugar seemed excessive so I used 1/4 c of maple syrup (the official substitution guide is. 2/3 maple to 1 sugar so this was something like 3/8 c of brown sugar) and I thought the sweetness was about right. The maple flavor really worked well. Full disclosure I grew up on a farm in Vermont so I use maple for much more than pancakes. My mother always figured she needed a gallon a month.