There’s nothing quite like a slow-cooked, tender, juicy shredded pork. It’s versatile and freezes well, so I love making a big batch of this Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork to keep on hand for quick dinners later. This heavily spiced pulled pork has become one of my favorites over the years and is probably one of my most cooked recipes. It’s just too easy, with the slow cooker doing all the work, and the results are soooo delicious!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
Use a Slow Cooker for Tender, Moist Meat
Pulled pork is super easy to make, especially if you have a slow cooker. Slow cooking holds in all the moisture during cooking and slowly breaks down connective tissue, so the meat is so tender that it just falls apart and shreds with the touch of a fork. Combine those spectacular results with the fact that slow cookers are essentially hands off, and this is, without dispute, my favorite way to make pulled pork.
How To Use Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork
This delicious shredded meat can be used so many different ways. Pile the pork into rice bowls, burritos, quesadillas, tacos, or just enjoy on a bun. I also love using it to top salads for an extra shot of protein.
Freeze the Extras
This makes a BIG batch, so keep some in your fridge for the week and freeze the rest. To freeze the pulled pork, divide the pork into more manageable portions (I usually do 1-2 cup portions), then chill it completely in the refrigerator overnight. Transfer the pork to the freezer once completely cooled and keep frozen for up to 3 months. Any freezer safe container works.
Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork
Servings 6 (1/2 cup each)Ingredients
- 3 lbs. boneless pork butt or shoulder ($4.47)
- 2 Tbsp chili powder* ($0.60)
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika ($0.30)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder ($0.05)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
Instructions
- Combine the chili powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper in a bowl.
- Cut the pork butt into 2-3 inch cubes. Place the pork cubes in a large bowl, sprinkle the prepared spice mix over top, then stir to coat the meat in the spices.
- Place the seasoned meat in a slow cooker, place the lid on top, and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 8-9 hours.
- After cooking, stir the meat with a fork to shred the meat. If it's not tender enough to fall apart when stirred, return the lid and cook for an additional 30 minutes and try again. After shredding the meat, it is ready to serve, or portion and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Keep the shredded meat in the juices from the slow cooker until ready to serve for the best flavor.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Color Cutting Boards
- Chef’s Knife
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!You might also like our Slow Cooker Carnitas recipe!
Chili rubbed pulled pork served as tacos in corn tortillas with sliced jalapeños, pickled red onions, and cotija, Cumin Lime Coleslaw on the side.
How to Make Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the chili spice rub first. In a small bowl, combine 2 Tbsp chili powder, 1 Tbsp smoked paprika, ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder, 1 tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. Stir until they’re evenly mixed.
Cut one 3 lb. boneless pork butt or shoulder into large chunks (about 2-3 inch pieces).
Place the pieces of pork in a bowl and pour the spices over top. Stir the pork pieces until they’re evenly coated in spices.
Place the seasoned pork in a slow cooker (I’m using a 5 qt slow cooker and it’s only about half full). I do not add any water or liquid to the slow cooker, as the meat will release quite a bit of liquid as it cooks. If your slow cooker specifies that you must add some liquid, you can add a cup of water.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours. After cooking it should be so tender that it begins to fall apart when stirred. If it doesn’t, simply put the lid back on and continue to cook for 30-60 minutes more. Sometimes that last little bit of time makes a huge difference in the texture.
Stir the pork in the slow cooker until it has shredded into smaller pieces. Serve immediately or transfer to a food storage container and refrigerate and/or freeze for later. I like to keep the meat right in the cooking juices during storage for maximum flavor.
It’s soooo tender and juicy! And those spices!!
And it makes the absolute BEST tacos!!
This turned out fantastic. Very well balanced flavor. Used the leftovers to pack for work and it was great everyday. Even my kid with tactile sensitivities approved this despite the spices used.
This was v good, v easy, and a bit festive, in a way. Had with some pickled jalepenos, on buns, with the coleslaw on the side. Good thing to make for a crowd as it’s not fussy and you can relax as a hostess and be a good cook at the same time. (the slow cooker does the work and it’s dead easy to make a big batch of coleslaw and chill it in the fridge.)
Love this recipe! Followed it exactly, and it was perfect! We ate it rolled into flour tortillas. Will definitely be going into the regular rotation.
This is a wonderful, easy, delicious recipe! We love to bake up some potatoes and top them with this pork, scallions, jalapeños, cheddar, sour cream, and a drizzle of bbq sauce. So fantastic!
Could this be made with boneless pork chops? I have these thick boneless chops I don’t know what to do with.
Chops are quite a bit leaner than pork butt or pork shoulder, so while it’s possible, it’s not going to be as tender or juicy. It may turn out fairly dry.
Easy peasy, cheap, and delicious. What more could you ask for? My almost one year old loves it too. Tender and juicy. Perfect baby and adult food.
Hi Beth. Just so you know, the overall star ⭐️ rating of this recipe doesn’t appear at the top of the recipe, like it usually does for your stuff.
Thanks for the heads up! Hopefully I can get that fixed. :(
Hi Beth this pulled pork just came out of the crockpot and onto the table. It is so good. I have tried several of your recipes and not one has disappointed me. All have been good. I read the reviews and some had asked for the perfectly pulled pork recipe and was wondering if you could email me a copy of it. Would like to try it also. Thanks for all of your easy and delicious recipes! Hope you have a great day!
Delicious. I used mango/pineapple fruit juice instead of orange juice. It is DELICIOUS. Makes a HUGE quantity that I can eat on for days.
The spices really make this recipe shine! It was tender and didn’t kill my budget! Love this blog! Thank you!
Could this work with a cut of beef as well? If so would have any cuts you would suggest? I have a quarter of a cow in my freezer and can’t justify buying a chunk of pork right now but it looks so good!
Yep, you can definitely do this with beef. The beef equivalent would probably be a chuck roast or chuck shoulder roast. :)
I make crock pot carnitas all the time. I look forward to trying this version. Once tip.. a crisper pork I take my shredded pork, spread on a rimmed baking sheet and put under the broiler for a bit. I typically will mix it around once or twice for lots of crispy bit. Make for a yummy, juicey, crispy meal.
Hint for freezing: Scoop into large muffin tins. Freeze – pop out and spin wrap in clear wrap, package up in 1 gal freezer bag. Portion control for bulky roll pulled pork sandwich.
I LOVE that idea!! Thanks for sharing!
The link to the cumin lime coleslaw takes you to your regular Cole slaw recipe! (Still delicious)
Oh thanks! Let me go fix that. :)
Yummy! This pulled pork is very tasty. I eat it without any bun because have celiac. Another great one, Beth.
Any chance to include instructions on how to make in the oven or instant pot?
Unfortunately, I haven’t tried either of those methods so I can’t offer advice on how to do it, but if you want to experiment I’d try googling “slow cooker to oven conversion” or “slow cooker to Instant Pot conversion” to see if there are any general guidelines out there to use as a starting place. :)
I made this last night in my Instant Pot (6qt). I used your exact recipe, but seared about half of the meat (I got lazy) with some oil before pressure cooking. After searing, I added about a cup of apple juice and a splash of apple cider vinegar to make sure there was enough liquid, and cooked on manual for 45 min. The meat was perfect, but there was a lot of liquid left over, so I took the meat out to shred and put the IP on saute for a few minutes to reduce the sauce. Overall 10/10 especially because I was running late and didn’t have time for the crock pot.
That sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing the technique you used. :)
You are a genius. This is my forever pulled pork recipe, but I always had to plan to have time for the slow cooker. No more. Your instructions worked beautifully, and this is my new favorite way to make my favorite pulled pork!
I used recipe as described in a casserole dish with a lid. Oven at 200F for 8 hours. Worked great!
I seared the meat chunks in a cast iron before slow cooking to add more flavor.
I made a few different things with it but my favorite was pulled pork and black bean enchiladas with the pepperjack sauce from the white bean enchiladas recipe. Holy moly probably the best enchiladas I’ve ever had, including from restaurants. The meat is also great in the posole recipe.
Started this up tonight… looks and smells delicious. Was wondering if the juices in the pot is all from the meat or did you add anything else to it.
Yep, that’s just from the meat. The only things I added are in the ingredient list. :)
I made this yesterday and it was awesome! Such a perfect meal for the COVID era – budget friendly, easy to prepare, delicious and versatile. My family enjoyed this in soft tacos and burritos with mashed avocado, sour cream and cilantro. My kids loved it, too! Thanks so much, Beth, for all your awesome recipes! Your website is always my go-to when I’m looking for something new.
I love this recipe! I’ve made it multiple times. Does it work on low heat for 8-9 hours?
Yes you can!
This recipe sounds delicious! I’ve been searching for an easy recipe for the shoulder I’m currently defrosting in the fridge-you’d think I’d auomatically come here by now, but I went to a couple other sites first! I should just come here first from now on, huh?😄
Hi Beth
I just found your website and have already made slow cooker taco chicken and tikka masala with great success! So thank you.
I have a pork loin and want to use it for this recipe, do I need to add liquid given that the loin is less fatty than the butt?
Thanks
Leah
I’ve made it with loin before and I still like it quite a bit. Just be aware that the texture of the meat will be different because loins are quite a bit more lean. It won’t be quite as tender and juicy as the butt.
Hey, I make this recipe frequently and my family loves it! I’m thinking of making it for a work party and was wondering: would adding a few ounces of pineapple juice add anything to the flavor? Wanted to mix it up this time.
Thanks!
Oh I think that could be really delicious. Let us know how it goes!
This is my favorite pulled pork recipe. I serve it in pocketless pita bread with tzatziki sauce. So yummy! Also used it for the Posole soup. Amazing!
Oh YUM! That sounds delicious.
We keep this recipe in regular rotation! Day 1 we eat it in burrito bowls or on tortillas. Day 2 I mix it with cream cheese/shredded cheese, and bake taquitos! The chili rub mixes with the cream cheese and it’s sooo good!
Great idea Allison!
W-O-W! I tried this since it was cheaper than my usual method (no broth or garlic cloves), and I’m never going back. This turned out amazing!
I used some of this in your posole recipe and will be mixing the rest with a can of Rotel for some easy pork burritos.
What timing would you suggest for an Instantpot?
Awesome as always, Beth! I used my instant pot at 60 minutes with a natural pressure release
Thanks Abby! Came here to check for IP info. 🙂
Hello! I’ve made this recipe a few times and it’s to die for. Would this same process work with a Beef chuck shoulder roast? They were buy one get one at Kroger so I’d like to try it out this weekend.
Thanks!
It should work similarly, yes. :)
Has anyone made this in an instant pot or pressure cooker? I’m wondering what timing you guys might suggest. Also wondering whether I would need to add any Liquid?
Is it possible to make a version of this with chicken breast in the slow cooker?
Absolutely! You may need to add a little liquid, since the chicken will be a lot more lean and won’t create as many juices. I would try maybe 3 hours on high.
Is there a way we can cook this in a an oven if we don’t have a slow cooker?
You can probably roast it at a low temperature for a few hours, but I haven’t tested this method, so unfortunately I don’t know what temperature or how long.
Would you be able to send me the old recipe? I’m having a party and the last time I made it. It was a crowd favorite!
Sent! :)
Omg! This is so good. I’m tempted to be like “Beth can I have the old recipe?” Even if I never have made the old one just because I think it would be so cool to get an email from Beth! Haha. Definitely embracing my budget bytes fan girl today, thanks for all the awesome recipes!!
I want to compare the perfectly pulled pork to the chili rubbed recipe. Can you email a pdf of the old one also! My wife loves it.
Sure!
Is this the same recipe as the perfectly pulled pork? I had an old shortcut I’ve been using to get here. My girls loved this pulled pork as I’ve made it plenty of times. It was never spicy for them but if it’s spicier now, I may need to make modifications!
Hi Jason, no it’s not the same, but better IMHO. This one IS a bit spicy, though, so I’ll email you a pdf of the older recipe to keep on hand (I’ll use the email that you used to leave the comment).
Could I please also have an email of the original perfectly pulled pork? It’s become a regular meal in our house. Thanks
Absolutely! Emailing it now. :)
Yeah -same thing here. Can I have to original recipe? My kids are change resistant and I like peaceful meals. :-)
Just emailed it to you. :) Let me know if it doesn’t arrive!
One more email? I’m missing your old recipes!
No problem, Pam! Sending now! :)
I love your idea of using leftover meat for a Southwest style pizza! What kind of sauce would you suggest for that?
Honestly, I’d probably just use a regular pizza sauce and make the toppings southwest inspired. :)
So easy and so delicious! I found that I only had one tbsp of chili powder left when I went to make this, and it still turned out flavorful. We had it in tacos, and I plan to use some of the leftovers in your 30-minute posole tomorrow!
Made this a bit different. Marinated the pork to tenderize in 1 c. apple cider vinegar and water to cover the uncooked pork for 24 hrs. I took the pork out, patted it to dry, rubbed the spices (chipotle pepper, red pepper, chili powder, and cumin) onto the pork. Then browned the whole pork in butter on medium-high in a cast iron dutch oven on all sides. Took the pork out, added 1 large onion and four cloves of garlic and sauted a bit in the butter and pork juices. Turned down the heat, added half a cup to 3/4 c. to deglaze the pan and cooked on low (covered) for four hours. Amazing!
“…a bit different.”
This is literally an entirely different recipe. It sounds delicious but it’s not even close to the original and like 5x the work.
This recipe is stupid delicious and so stupid easy!! I can’t say enough good things about it and I haven’t even used it in a dish yet! I would be interested in useing this meat in other recipes other then the Posole. I need more ways to use this delicious meat!
Thanks Brianna!
This looks so good and I’m wanting to try it. Would I be able to use a boneless pork loin instead of a butt? I would like to try this for New Year’s.
I’ve made it with loin before and I still like it quite a bit. Just be aware that the texture of the meat will be different because loins are quite a bit more lean. It won’t be quite as tender and juicy as the butt.
The pork butt at my grocery was over 7 pounds so I got pork loin instead and it worked great! It was done in a little over 3.5 hours.
I made this a few nights ago. Absolutely delicious, and SUPER EASY! I eat it as a standard pulled pork sandwich with barbecue sauce, or in a rice bowl with salsa, black beans, and cheese. Thank you!
Pork is quite hard to get where I live, so do you think this rub would work with a whole cut up chicken or a beef roast?
Yep, I actually think this would work great with either! :) The flavors are pretty universal.
Can this can be made with a picnic roast with no problems? The picnic roast was on sale for 45 cents a pound! I couldn’t pass that up. I tried googling the difference between a picnic and a butt roast, and it said a picnic roast was more ham tasting. I have another recipe I could use the roast in, but the spices in this one sound so good! Thanks.
I’ve never tried that cut, but if it was on sale for 45 cents per pound, I’d definitely risk trying it out with this recipe. :)
I finally got around to getting the roast defrosted and made yesterday. It was delicious! My roast was 11 pounds (8 after I got the skin removed). I cut off as many chunks as I could and then threw the bone and meat I couldn’t cut off of it and the chunks in the crockpot. To account for the massive size, I tripled the spices and cooked on high for 5 and a half hours.
It got thumbs up from everyone in the family, and my two pickiest eaters kept snitching pieces while I was shredding. I ended up with a whopping 12 cups of meat! It made a divine tamale pie, and the rest is tucked away in the freezer to make burrito bowls, posole, quesadillas, and enchiladas. Thanks for the recipe. It’s an excellent change from the normal carnitas style pork that we make for Mexican recipes.
Awesome! Thanks for the update! :D
I made this last week with a pork roast sirloin and my kids LOVED it…best way I’ve had pork in a long time as well. They’ve already asked me twice to make it again. Now I’m trying it with a big pork loin. I love how its not as greasy as some pork things I’ve tried. They loved it in tacos, I made a burrito bowl/salad type meal for myself. Thank you for sharing, super easy and so yummy.
I have made this several times and have commented before about how delicious it is.
Today, I eliminated the first bowl. I cut up the meat and put it directly in the slow cooker instead of a bowl.
Then followed the recipe as written.
One less bowl to clean!
I just cooked this recipe and had a bite before storing it away to eat later this week and it’s delicious! However, this is the first time I’ve cooked pork, and I noticed mine was a little pink. I cooked it on low for 4 hrs as suggested but did open the lid 2 to stir the meat around. Is this pinkness normal or did I undercook it?
Probably, it needs to be on high for four hours. :( You can do it on low, but it will need closer to 8 hours.
This rub is wonderful, and made even easier by the fact it consisted of seasoning we had readily available.
I tried to make a version of this last night but with a pork loin rather than butt or shoulder, because the loin was on sale and the butts/shoulders were all 7+ pounds. The flavor was great and we’ll definitely be eating all of it, but it was pretty difficult to shred and seems a tad dry. Would you guess that this would be because of the cut of meat?
Thank you!
Yes, probably. The thing that makes the shoulder/butt so tender is that it has a lot of connective tissue and fat, whereas loin is fairly lean. :)
This was so freaking incredible…
I thought I had left it in the fridge for a day to marinate before I crocked it the last time I made it but I don’t see that in the instructions (but yes, in the comments). I think I did it because I prepped meals for the week on Sunday, maybe? <<>> but it did turn out way awesome!
Another winner! I had a very small pork roast, so I didn’t bother to cut mine into cubes. I just rubbed it down with the spice mix, and threw it on high for a couple hours (about 2 1/2 did it for me). Very yummy. I am loving this website.
wow, this was YUM and EASY. I used a larger (4.5 lb pork shoulder) cut of meat and doubled the rub, but instead if using the packaged chili blend i subbed (and doubled!) with straight hot New Mexico red chile powder and a little cumin. It came out PHENOMENAL – like some of the best carne adovada we had in NM. The rich sauce left in the pot after the meat came out was almost exactly like our favorite enchilada sauce. This was much easier than making a NM red sauce from dried red pods and then marinating the meat for a full day before low-and-slow roasting. this will DEF go in my regular rotation!
Could you cook on low for 8 hours instead of high for 4? I want to make this for dinner on a weeknight but don’t have time to pop home halfway through the day.
Thanks!
Yep, that should work fine. :)
This was super easy, took almost no hands on time, and really good! Great in burrito bowls (with rice, black beans, pico de gallo and avocado), and even better in pulled pork sandwiches with Southwest Slaw- my husband whipped some together by mixing mayonnaise, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder, and then pouring it over slivered green cabbage. I don’t usually like slaw (or anything with mayonnaise), but it made the pork sandwiches even more magical!
As always, this recipe is spectacular. We enjoyed it the first time with roasted veggies and I added the leftover meat inside some bad dough mix I picked up from a local market. I am going to make a batch just to use in bao dough for freezer lunches. The slightly sweet dough pairs so perfectly with this.
I used this in the Chili Basic recipe and it turned out so good!
I made this tonight and we had pulled pork sandwiches with a little bbq sauce-looking forward to using the leftovers in burrito bowls for lunches this week!
Pork shoulder/butt was on sale at Sam’s, so made a couple of HUGE batches. I’ve never cut up the pork with a dry rub before. That was great advice. The only thing I altered was using chipotle chili powder instead of regular chili powder because we like the spicy heat. 1st meal was the pork stacked on top of your cilantro lime rice and a wee bit of cheese and lettuce on top of that. This was a WINNING recipe!!
This was so good.My family ate it all week in a variety of ways but once we only had a few oz left I turned it into BBQ pork Quesadillas! I tossed the pork onto a tortilla with a bit of cheese and some bbq sauce it was so good.
I feel pretty silly I never knew making pulled pork was this easy.. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Made this today, it smells amazing! 19 meals out of it, all tucked away in the freezer (bought a larger cut of meat.) We plan to add brown rice to it and take it to work. Thanks!
I made this today. It is delicious. I had to bag it up to freeze before I ate a big portion.
The brilliant step in this recipe is cutting the meat into chunks so more gets covered by the rub. Previously, I have cooked pork roasts whole so the rub only covered the outside. This recipe packs a lot more flavor.
I’ve made pulled pork as well as beef brisket in the slow cooker using recipes like the one here. Preparation & cook time are the same for both meats. I have found that there are 2 changes that can really give more flavor: 1) put the rub on the meat at least 8 hours–the night before or even a full day before cooking. Gives the spices a chance to really infuse flavor into the meat. 2) Use liquid smoke. Don’t be shy with it either–like at least 1/2 tsp per pound of meat.
My family loves pork tacos, so a pork butt can make all sorts of meals for us for a week(plus some to freeze). I recently decided to add some of that shredded pork into a stir fry of veggies and noodles. Oh my, it was amazing! Very little goes a long way when it is shredded because it gets into every bite.
I’m new to freezing already cooked food so what’s the best way to defrost this for another meal for my family? Thanks in advance!!
You can do a couple of things with this. You can pop it in the fridge the day before and let it defrost slowly, you can empty the bag into a bowl and microwave until hot, or you can run the bag under water for a couple minutes until it’s thawed (that’s if you have it in small portions, like I do).
We’re in the process of moving and I packed away my slow cooker, but I have my Le Creuset dutch oven. On low, would it be done in about the same amount of time – 4 hours? Will it work as good as the slow cooker method? Thanks!
I use my le creuset a lot instead of a crock pot. Keep it very low because the heat is higher on the bottom, whereas as crock pot heats on the sides too. The good thing is you can brown the meat at higher heat first and get better flavor. Oh also you might need to add stock or water or wine because the pot doesn’t retain moisture as much as a crock pot.
To avoid the problem with food burning on the bottom of your le creuset, put it in the oven at 250F. That way, you get slow, even heat penetration.
You’re right on with the extra liquid, even if it’s just a half cup or so.
I’d take Sarah’s advice here. I haven’t had the pleasure of cooking with a Le Creuset. :)
If the weather is cool (or even wintery) you could put your Dutch oven in a low oven (300º F). No danger of burning the bottom and you still have the option of browning your meat before you bake it. My favorite way to make stew like dishes.
Looks great! What size of crock pot did you use in the photo? I ask because it looks like we might have the same size crock pot — 6.5 litres. I’ve found that many recipes are meant for a smaller crockpot and have often wondered if I would have been better off buying a smaller one (the instructions say the crockpot should be at least 1/2 full, if not 3/4 for best cooking results so if you use a big crock, everything cooks quite fast and the heat runs hot, I’ve found)
Mine is somewhere between 5-7 quarts. I’m not sure of the exact size. :/
i like doing BBQ nachos with leftover pulled pork too
I do the exact same thing, but I always keep the cooking liquid. Although the liquid looks really oily after cooking the meat, if you refrigerate it overnight, you can skim off the fat, and you’re left with a rich, pork broth.
Mmmmmmm!! I LOVE shredded pork. This recipe is perfect with tacos!!! I can’t wait to make them for dinner sometime!!! :-)
Great idea, foods that you can eat again and again with just a slight twist so your brain thinks of it as a totally different experience are the best. Will have to see if there are any good deals on shoulders or butts this week…mmm, mouth is watering now…
Last time we made pulled pork we had a TON and made nachos as a last resort.
They were FANTASTIC.