BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders

With the 4th of July just around the corner, I have the perfect summer get-together recipe for you!

I know some people can have some pretty strong feelings when it comes to what kind of BBQ sauce they prefer. There’s Kansas City Style, Texan, North Carolinian, and many more I’m sure. Me? I really don’t care either way as long as it’s tasty and there isn’t high fructose corn syrup and maltodextrin in the ingredient list! (Sounds snooty, I know…what can I say?)

I am a bit of an ingredient snob, but I do care what goes into my body and it is often just as easy to make something from scratch that won’t have any negative health effects, so why not!?

It might sound like a lot of work to make your own BBQ sauce, but in reality, it couldn’t be any simpler AND you don’t need any crazy ingredients to make delicious, sugar-free, quality controlled BBQ sauce. 

When looking up different recipes, many called for liquid smoke. I almost hit the purchase button on Amazon (would have been pretty easy!) but I really wanted to make a sauce that could be whipped up on a whim with ingredients you likely have in your pantry. To solve the “Smokey Flavor” issue, I used smoked paprika rather than just plain paprika, and I think it did the trick!

And what we ended up with was seriously perfect in my humble opinion! I was worried it would taste more like a spiced ketchup, but I was blown away by the “BBQ” flavor. It could totally pass as a sauce served in any of your favorite BBQ joints!

Making the sauce required little effort (just add ingredients into a saucepan and let ‘er simmer!) and the pork was equally simple! I made a basic spice rub, added it to the Instant Pot with a cup of broth, and let the handy little appliance do the work! It could totally also be made in a crockpot in the same manner, but I was short on time so the IP came to my rescue 🙂

As for serving, I plated these as “sliders” because I thought that would be a fun way to serve it for a July 4th party, but I also had visions of:

• BBQ Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (Would be great as a weeknight meal, topped with green or red onions and avocado and served with a slaw or roasted vegetables like broccoli or Brussels sprouts…similar to this recipe.)
• BBQ Pulled Pork Loaded Sweet Potato Fries (A little extra flair, topped with extra sauce, red or green onion, avocado, and of course, CHEESE!)
• Or a super simple weeknight meal like this: (This is actually how we ate our BBQ Pulled Pork for dinner…nothing fancy but SO SO yummy!)

The awesome thing about both the pork and the BBQ sauce is that they are both super versatile and could be used for a number of different meals, presented differently and used in a variety of ways!

The sauce would be great on grilled chicken thighs/drumsticks or ribs, or used in BBQ chicken pizza or in a big yummy entre BBQ chicken salad! This recipe makes a big batch, so it’s great to freeze 1/2 of the sauce for another time and make another mealtime come together even easier!

The shredded pork is versatile enough to be served in a variety of ways as well, from any of the ideas I listed above, to tacos, tostadas, nachos…the sky’s the limit!

I (clearly) love this recipe (or recipes, rather) because they’re seriously easy to put together, require very little “hands-on” effort, and taste SO yummy! This is right up my alley because I am ALL about simple weeknight dinners that still pack a big flavor punch.

Additionally, any time I am entertaining (for something like the 4th of July!) I don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen and I don’t want to force Travis to be stuck by the grill. This can all be prepped ahead of time so you can enjoy yourself when your guests arrive. It would also be a great dish to bring to a party so you know you are eating healthy, wholesome food that everyone can enjoy!

Ok, let’s get to this recipe, shall we!?

Ingredients 

For the BBQ Sauce: 

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 24 oz strained tomatoes
• 4-5 oz tomato paste
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup coconut aminos
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

For the Pork Rub: 

(for 2 lbs of pork rump roast)

• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Additional Ingredients:

• 2 lbs pork rump roast
• 1 cup chicken broth
• Sweet potato rounds (for sliders), or fries, or cooked whole
• Avocado
• Green or red onion
• Cheese?
• pickled jalapenos
• sliced pickles
• crumbled bacon

Instructions:

1. Begin by preparing the pork. Mix all spices in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over the roast evenly. Pour the broth into the Instant Pot or Crock Pot, then place the pork inside. 
2. For the Instant Pot, set it to “manual” and cook for 75 minutes. For the Crock Pot, cook on low for 8 hours or high for 3 hours. 
3. Next, begin preparing the sauce. Simply add all of the ingredients to a medium saucepan and bring it to a low simmer. Allow it to simmer for 1 hour, until it begins to thicken and all of the flavors get a chance to enhance. 
4. While the meat is cooking, and the sauce is simmering, and about 30 minutes before serving, prepare the additional ingredients and toppings
5. For sliders, cut the sweet potatoes into about 1/4 inch rounds. You could instead make sweet potato fries, or bake a few whole sweet potatoes for stuffed potatoes. The choice is yours! 😉 
6. To serve, shred the meat using 2 forks. Then mix about 1/2 cup of the sauce into the shredded pork. Top the sliders/fries/stuffed potatoes with extra sauce and toppings, and devour! 

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll go ahead and say it one more time-homemade BBQ sauce is so much easier to ake than it might sound, contains only quality, clean ingredients, no sugar, and the taste is out of this world! 

You will impress your guests with your skillz, and they don’t have to know how easy it was!  Summer BBQ’s have never tasted so yummy or been so healthy!

Print

BBQ Pulled Pork

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

1 hr 15 mins

Total Time

1 hr 25 mins

 

A delicious, simple recipe for homemade, Paleo BBQ Sauce and easy shredded pork made in the Instant Pot or Crockpot! 

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6

Author: Maggie @ Our Fine Day

Ingredients

For the BBQ Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 24 oz strained tomatoes
• 4-5 oz tomato paste
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup coconut aminos
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

For the Pork Rub:

• for 2 lbs of pork rump roast
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp  chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Additional Ingredients:

• 2 lbs pork rump roast
• 1 cup chicken broth
• Sweet potato rounds
• Avocado
• Green or red onion
• Cheese
• pickled jalapenos
• sliced pickles
• crumbled bacon

Instructions

1. Begin by preparing the pork. Mix all spices in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over the roast evenly. Pour the broth into the Instant Pot or Crock Pot, then place the pork inside.
2. For the Instant Pot, set it to "manual" and cook for 75 minutes. For the Crock Pot, cook on low for 8 hours or high for 3 hours.

3. Next, begin preparing the sauce. Simply add all of the ingredients to a medium saucepan and bring it to a low simmer. Allow it to simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until it begins to thicken and all of the flavors get a chance to enhance.

4. While the meat is cooking, and the sauce is simmering, and about 30 minutes before serving, prepare the additional ingredients and toppings

5. For sliders, cut the sweet potatoes into about 1/4 inch rounds. You could instead make sweet potato fries, or bake a few whole sweet potatoes for stuffed potatoes. The choice is yours! 😉

6. Chop onions, avocado, and any other topping you prefer!

7. To serve, shred the meat using 2 forks. Then mix about 1/2 cup of the sauce into the shredded pork. Top the sliders/fries/stuffed potatoes with extra sauce and preferred toppings and devour!