Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork

Valentine's Day was Tuesday and I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast, which sounds charming until you attempt it with a squeeze bottle at 6:15 AM and discover that my hearts look like kidneys. Anatomically accurate kidneys. Noah said, 'Mama, that's not a heart,' and Lily said, 'It's beautiful, Mom,' because Lily is six and has the diplomacy of a UN ambassador, and Ethan said nothing because twelve-year-old boys do not comment on pancake shapes, they just eat pancake shapes, all of them, rapidly, like a disposal unit with homework.

I skipped Sunday prep this week. I'm allowed to say that. I'm allowed to admit that Sunday afternoon I lay on the couch while Brandon took the three oldest to a church fireside and Lily watched a movie and Noah napped, and I stared at the ceiling and did nothing. Not grief-nothing. Not depression-nothing. Just — nothing. Tired-nothing. The kind of tired that eleven months of white-knuckling through survival leaves in your bones when you finally stop clenching. The therapist says this is progress. The therapist says the body only rests when it feels safe enough to stop performing. I don't know if I feel safe. I know I felt tired. I let myself be tired. That might be the same thing.

We ate from the freezer all week anyway, because that's the point — the system carries you when you can't carry yourself. Monday: white chicken chili. Tuesday: heart-kidney pancakes for breakfast, leftover chili for dinner. Wednesday: breakfast burritos. Thursday: baked ziti. Friday: the last bag of pulled pork on buns with coleslaw from a bag because I am not shredding cabbage on a Friday, I am a human woman with limits. Every meal was ready in under thirty minutes. Every meal cost under two dollars a serving. The freezer did its job. I rested. Both things were true at the same time.

Olivia had a friend over Saturday — a girl named McKenna from her class — and they made friendship bracelets in Olivia's room and I heard them laughing through the door and the sound was so normal, so perfectly ten-years-old-on-a-Saturday, that I stood in the hallway and pressed my hand against the wall and breathed. Normal sounds different when you've forgotten what it sounds like. It sounds like two girls laughing about bracelets. It sounds like something you'd trade everything to keep.

The freezer is lower than I'd like. I'll prep next Sunday. But this week, low was okay. Low was enough. I was low and the freezer was low and we matched, and we still ate, and everyone was fed, and that's the whole sermon.

That Sunday morning, before I even made the list for next week’s prep, I pulled out the pork shoulder I’d been saving and set it in the slow cooker—because if there is one recipe that matches the energy of “low and still enough,” it’s this one. Ten minutes of work, eight hours of the kitchen doing the job for you, and enough meat to feed your people for days. It felt right after a week where I needed every easy thing I could get. Here’s how I made it.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours | Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes | Servings: 10–12

Ingredients

4–5 lb boneless pork shoulder (also sold as pork butt)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 cup chicken broth or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups your favorite BBQ sauce, divided
Hamburger buns, for serving
Coleslaw, for serving (bagged is perfectly fine)

Instructions

Make the rub. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne if using. Mix well.
Season the pork. Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels and rub the spice mixture all over every surface of the meat. Don’t skip this — it builds the flavor base.
Load the slow cooker. Pour the broth or vinegar into the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the seasoned pork on top. Spoon about 3/4 cup of the BBQ sauce over the pork.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours or HIGH for 4–5 hours, until the meat is fall-apart tender and shreds easily with two forks.
Shred the pork. Transfer pork to a large cutting board or bowl. Shred with two forks, discarding any large pieces of fat. Skim excess fat from the cooking liquid if desired.
Sauce it up. Return shredded pork to the slow cooker. Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup BBQ sauce and enough cooking liquid to keep the meat moist. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Freeze for later. Let cool completely, then portion into zip-top freezer bags in 2–3 cup increments (enough for one family dinner). Press out the air, label with the date, and freeze flat. Keeps well for up to 3 months.
Reheat from frozen. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or place the sealed bag in a bowl of warm water for 30–45 minutes. Reheat in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through. Serve on buns with bagged coleslaw.

Nutrition (per serving, pork only)

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork — The Freezer Did Its Job So You Could Rest