This Oven Roasted pulled pork tastes like it was smoked for hours, but really was cooked in your oven! It's perfect with vinaigrette-dressed coleslaw.
I have made pulled pork in a lot of different ways over the years. My old fallback method used to be in the slow cooker, which I thought was good at the time.
In hindsight, it always came out pretty watery and not very flavorful. Eventually, I switched over to the method I currently use - Oven Roasted Pulled Pork Sliders.
How to make Oven Roasted Pulled Pork:
Between the overnight brining and the slow roasting, this method certainly isn't any faster than using the slow cooker. In fact, it's basically an all-day process.
But the result is almost indescribably better. The pork ends up super juicy with a slightly spicy, smoky crust.
And if you can't take all day to cook this pork when you know you're having people for a mid-day meal, just cook it in advance, shred it, and reheat it later.
I serve the pork with the same coleslaw I've been serving for at least a decade. It's light and vinaigrette-based. No gloopy mayo-based dressing here.
I always prefer to serve mine on my Homemade Hamburger Buns, which I form a little smaller, so they're slider-sized.
Oven Roasted Pulled Pork Ingredients:
- Salt - This is used for the brine and to rub the pork with before cooking. I recommend Kosher salt here.
- Brown sugar - Either light brown or dark brown sugar will work here.
- Liquid smoke - Since Oven Roasted Pulled Pork is not actually smoked, we're getting a little help from liquid smoke to create a smoky flavor.
- Boneless pork butt roast
- Yellow mustard
- Ground black pepper
- Smoked paprika
- Cayenne
- Ketchup - any brand or type will work here
- Molasses
- Worcestershire sauce
- Hot sauce - I usually use Frank's Red Hot or something similar, but your favorite brand will work here.
- Green cabbage
- Purple cabbage
- Carrots peeled - Note that if you're in a rush and don't want to shred a bunch of cabbage and carrots, you can buy a bag of ready-to-use cabbage mix and make the vinaigrette dressing from scratch
- White wine vinegar - or substitute apple cider vinegar
- Granulated sugar
- Canola oil - or another neutral-flavored cooking oil
- Dijon mustard
- Celery seeds - find celery seeds in the spice aisle of any grocery store. You could replace it with celery salt if that's all you have on hand, but make sure you omit the salt in the coleslaw dressing recipe.
Want more sandwich recipes?
Oven Roasted Pulled Pork Sliders Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below includes 1/12th of the pulled pork and coleslaw recipes but does not include a bun.
The nutrition calculation for the pulled pork assumes a 5% absorption of the brine, so the sodium and sugar content of the pork may be slightly higher or lower than what is shown in the nutrition information.
The recipes for the pork and coleslaw are both gluten-free and dairy-free as written. Ensure to use gluten-free and/or dairy-free buns if required.
Oven Roasted Pulled Pork Sliders with Vinaigrette Coleslaw
Ingredients
For the Pork
- 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 5 pounds boneless pork butt roast cut in half horizontally
- ¼ cup yellow mustard
- 2 Tablespoons ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
For the BBQ Sauce
- 1 ½ cups ketchup
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoons hot sauce
- ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoons ground pepper
For the coleslaw
- ½ small head green cabbage shredded
- ½ small head purple cabbage shredded
- 2 medium carrots peeled and shredded
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoons canola oil or another neutral-flavored cooking oil
- 1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon celery seeds
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the Pork
- Dissolve 1 cup salt, ½ cup brown sugar sugar and 3 tablespoon liquid smoke in 1 gallon (4 L) cold water in a large bowl. Place pork into brine, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.
- While pork is brining, stir together mustard and remaining 2 teaspoons liquid smoke in a small bowl. Mix pepper, paprika, cayenne and the remaining 2 Tablespoons brown sugar and 2 teaspoons salt together in a small bowl.
- Adjust oven rack to lower middle position, heat oven to 325°F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil and set a wire rack over top.
- Remove pork from brine, dry with paper towels. Brush mustard mixture over pork to cover. Sprinkle paprika mixture over pork and pat down to stick. Place pork on the wire rack over foil-covered baking sheet. Place a sheet of parchment paper over pork, then cover with foil, sealing the edges completely. Place baking sheet in oven and roast for 3 hours.
- Remove pork from oven. Remove and discard the foil and parchment that are covering the pork. Carefully remove wire rack with the pork on top and set aside. Carefully pour pork drippings from foil-lined pan into a bowl or measuring cup and place in fridge to cool. Replace wire rack and pork and return to oven to cook for an additional 1 ½ hours, or until the center of the pork reads 200°F on an instant-read thermometer.
- Transfer pork to a platter or cutting board and loosely cover with foil. Allow to rest for 20 minutes.
For the BBQ Sauce
- Spoon the fat from the top of the pork drippings and discard. In a medium bowl, whisk together ketchup, molasses, Worcestershire, hot sauce, salt, pepper and ½ cup of the pork drippings. Set aside.
- Shred the pork with your fingers or 2 forks. Toss with 1 cup of sauce. Reserve the rest of the sauce for serving.
For the Coleslaw
- Toss cabbage and carrots together in a large bowl.
- Stir vinegar, sugar, canola oil, Dijon, celery seeds, salt and pepper together in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Pour dressing over cabbage mixture and toss. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition
Julie Henning says
Okay! I've finally cracked! I'm about to make this recipe - thanks for posting it!
Carissa says
Glad to hear it! My brother recently brought it in for a work potluck, and despite using 8lbs of pork, it was STILL all gone!