Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – Low Carb and Gluten Free
Try this Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – Low Carb and Gluten Free recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – Low Carb and Gluten Free recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 3 lb boneless pork shoulder (aka. boston butt)
- 1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard
- 2 tsp hot sauce (i used frank's red hot)
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp low sugar ketchup
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar substitute
- Carbohydrate 4.14980564015215 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.276914913724436 g
- Fiber 0.286263193652661 g
- Protein 0.403694340802067 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0225475833649621 g
- Serving Size 1 1 serving (137g)
- Sodium 158.498593565929 mg
- Sugar 3.86354244649949 g
- Trans Fat 0.0211900330058402 g
- Calories 20 calories
Step-by-step
- In a small bowl, combine the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, allspice, celery salt, cloves, and mustard powder. Mix well.
- Rub the spice mixture all over your pork.
- Add the water to a large crock pot.
- Place the spice rubbed pork in the pot and cover.
- Cook on high for four hours, or until tender and falling apart.
- Remove the meat from the crock pot, leaving the juices behind.
- Shred the meat with clean hands, or use two forks to pull it apart.
- Skim the solids and visible fat from the top of the liquid and discard.
- Add all of the sauce ingredients to the remaining liquid in the crockpot, whisking until smooth.
- Cover and cook on high for about 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.
- Add the meat back to the sauce and stir until fully coated.
- Serve hot.
Four hours on high is the standard thermal window for breaking down a three-pound pork shoulder without drying the exterior. Crockpot models vary wildly in wattage and calibration, so test for doneness by twisting a fork directly into the thickest muscle bundle; resistance means the collagen has not yet fully converted to gelatin, requiring an additional thirty minutes of covered resting time. Dense cuts demand this patience, and rushing the heat cycle will yield tough meat that refuses to shred cleanly.
Fat management dictates the structural integrity of the final pan sauce. Skimming the rendered pork fat before whisking in the apple cider vinegar and xanthan gum prevents a greasy mouthfeel and allows the thickener to hydrate properly. Xanthan gum requires vigorous mechanical agitation to disperse without forming unpleasant gelatinous clumps, so use a wire whisk rather than a spoon when incorporating it into the warm cooking liquid.
Shredding the warm pork requires structural awareness of the muscle grain. Pulling the meat apart while it remains piping hot allows the fibers to separate naturally along their directional seams, yielding longer strands that hold sauces more effectively than chopped cubes. Two heavy-duty forks provide optimal leverage for this mechanical tearing process without fatiguing the hands.
Storage safety relies on rapid temperature reduction once cooking concludes. Transfer leftover pulled pork into shallow glass containers within two hours of heat removal to bypass the bacterial danger zone safely. Refrigerated portions maintain optimal texture for up to four days, while vacuum-sealed batches retain structural integrity in the freezer for three months.
