The cranberry sauce is chilling, the mashed potatoes are in motion and the oil is coming to a boil for our annual Christmas Day feast starring a deep-fried turkey and all the trimmings. And while I’m counting down the minutes until I pile my plate high this evening, I can’t help but start planning for the next food-filled celebration: New Year’s Eve!
‘Tis the season of slow cooker creations, and this time I’m serving up a spinoff on the most pinned Just a Taste recipe of 2013. Slow Cooker Balsamic Honey Pulled Pork stars meltingly tender pork shoulder slow-cooked in a sauce of balsamic, honey, garlic, onions, and my secret ingredient, blackberry jam.
But there’s no fork required for this party-perfect bite. Serve the pulled pork piled high atop brioche buns topped off with a serving of crunchy, cool Asian-inspired coleslaw. Or, skip the sliders and slaw and grab the tortillas for slow cooker pulled pork tacos with pickled red onions. New Year’s Eve has never tasted so good.
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Ingredients
- 1 (2 1/2- to 3-pound) boneless pork shoulder
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup blackberry jam (See Kelly's Notes)
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 recipe Asian Slaw or store-bought coleslaw
- 12 slider-sized buns or rolls
Instructions
- Trim any excess fat from the pork shoulder and place it in the slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, balsamic vinegar, jam, hoisin, chicken broth, garlic and onion, and then pour the sauce over the pork shoulder. Cover the slow cooker and cook the pork shoulder on LOW for 8 to 9 hours until it is no longer pink and is cooked throughout.
- Using tongs, remove the pork shoulder from the slow cooker (reserving the liquids) and place it on a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the pork shoulder into smaller pieces. Place the pulled pork in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of cold water to make a slurry.
- Transfer the liquids from the slow cooker into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and whisk in the slurry. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook it until it reduces and has thickened slightly, about 3 minutes. Pour the sauce over the pulled pork, tossing to combine.
- Halve the buns. Divide the pulled pork between the buns, topping the pork with a portion of the Asian Slaw, and serve immediately.
Kelly's Notes:
- If you don't have blackberry jam, you can use any other variety of jam, such as raspberry or plum.
- Depending on your preferences, you may want to pour only a portion of the sauce over the pulled pork. Any leftover sauce can be served with other proteins or veggies.
- The pulled pork and slaw can also be served in tortillas for pulled pork tacos.
- ★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
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Recipe by Kelly Senyei of Just a Taste. Please do not reprint this recipe without my permission. If you'd like to feature this recipe on your site, please rewrite the method of preparation and link to this post as the original source.
Made this for dinner and loved it! I was skeptical at first because the sauce mixture smelled so vinegary but as it cooked that smell went away and it became sweet and savory. I didn’t submerge the pork after thickening, instead I drizzled it on like a sauce. Yum!
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Stephanie!
This recipe was fantastic! I came back to rate this and I almost never rate recipes. The only changes we made were gluten free Hoisen sauce and we cooked it in the instant pot. Since it was a six pound roast I doubled the recipe and cooked it for 90 minutes and then made the sauce in the bottom of the pot. I served it as tacos with the pickled red onions and my family agreed this was a winner. We had froze the leftovers from that night.
Fast forward a month, we thawed it out and the meat was just as flavorful as when we first cooked it and the texture was good too! We cooked the leftover meat into rolled tacos. Basically filling and rolling corn tortillas with the meat and frying them. Serving them with Cotija cheese on top and the pickled red onions diced up. We will definitly be making this again!
Yum, yum, yum! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Natasha, and thank you so much for coming back to rate it!
Should the shoulder be tied or untied?
No need to tie it!
This looks and sounds SO good. It’s on my to-do list, can’t wait to make it. Thanks for sharing, Kelly! :)
You are so welcome, Nicole! I hope you enjoy it!
This is a pretty good recipe. I did find it to be a little less flavorful than I wanted and I think the chicken broth is unnecessary, there’s already plenty of liquid IMHO. I will try it again with more additional seasonings and maybe a gourmet balsamic, and no broth. I did marinate it overnight as I prepped everything the night before I turned on the cooker. The cook time was perfect, love when I can just grab a bone out of a roast with tongs, and slip it right out!
I just made your honey balsamic pulled pork this week, and have made it several times in the past. Always so good! A great recipe!
I’m so thrilled you’ve been enjoying the recipe, Susan!
Hi. I’m a total newbie to instant pot pressure cooking and have very little experience in the kitchen (besides eating). So this might be a stupid question.
Will this recipe still work if it’s pressure cooked for an hour (or whatever time you recommend) instead of 9 hrs slow cook? I’ve read that pressure cooking should work as well or often better than slow cooking because the eat is less likely to dry out.
Thanks.
Hi Steve – I’ve never tried that so I’m not sure what the result would be. Let me know if you give it a shot!
Hi Steve! I’ve never tried this recipe in a pressure cooker so I’m not sure what the timing/settings would need to be.
Finally made this tonight for very fussy husband and son. We all love it! The slaw was so tasty too! I used the bagged slaw mix instead of all purple cabbage and it was great. Will definitely make this again. Thanks!
Love hearing this, Maria! Thrilled you all enjoyed the recipe!
Best Pulled Pork I have ever had – I make this often and have given the recipe to many fans!!
Amazing! So glad you’ve been enjoying the recipe, Shar!
Thank you for this great recipe. We had this as sandwiches, as the recipe suggests. Then I froze the rest and we had it another time over quinoa with some roasted cauliflower. Both were delicious. I’m adding these ingredients to the grocery list to have again this week!
So glad you’ve been enjoying the recipe, Sarah! And I love your idea to serve it over quinoa!
Hi Kelly! I’m really excited to try this recipe. When you say 4 – 6 servings, do you know how many sliders that comes out to about? I’m making this as part of a larger appetizer table. Thank you!
Hi Chris! It definitely depends on how much pulled pork you pile onto each slider (and the size of the buns!). I’d say you could get at least 12 good-sized sliders. :)
Thanks so much, Kelly!!
I made this and added some sliced pineapple and about 1/4th cup pineapple juice with siricha and it turn out unbelievable!!
Thank you so much for responding. I will let you know how it went this weekend. Have a great day!
Hi Kelly, I am going to be making this over the weekend for the superbowl. I was wondering if it would pair with a regular coleslaw, my husband is not a fan of the Asian type, should I just make a different side dish all together. I will also be making red potato fries, and homemade hamburger buns. Thank you for the recipe, looking forward to trying. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Hi Lisa! Any type of slaw would go great with this pulled pork. It has a wonderful sweet/savory flavor, so you could do a classic slaw as a wonderful complement. Enjoy!
I’v made this twice already. Made it with picnic ham and boston butt. Picnic Ham was better. Though I like a little salty pork belly. I also found some other sweet vinegars like pommegranate, lambrusco and red wine give it a lot of variety. A dollop of peanut butter powder is good to stretch the recipe. Whether you have hoisin or not. It mellows out the sweet bite.
I am going to try it on really stringy pot roast recipe. i always overcook it! But I think it might be a great substitute for sloppy joes.