Growing up in the south, I’m pretty familiar with pork barbecue. I’m also familiar with the fact that most commercially available versions from barbecue places have high fructose corn syrup or other non-foods in their sauce.
Boston butt is one of the easiest cuts of pork to cut and it is also one of the cheapest to buy. I’ve been able to find Boston butt from pastured pork at great prices, and slow cooking this recipe makes it incredibly tender. It’s also an easy recipe to make on days when you are out of the house all day and need dinner to be ready when you get home.
For our family, one Boston butt will easily spread to 3-4 meals of leftovers and the kids love it. We’ve even done barbecue omelets with leftovers. If you’ve never tried Boston butt before, I’d encourage you to try this recipe.
Slow Cooker Boston Butt Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet onions
- 4-5 lb Boston butt roast
- 1 TBSP chili powder
- 1 TBSP paprika
- 1 TBSP garlic powder
- 1 TBSP sea salt
- 1 TBSP celery salt
- 1 TBSP basil
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 (15 oz) can crushed pineapple (or one whole fresh pineapple)
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Thinly slice the onions and place them in the bottom of a 6-quart or larger slow cooker.
- Rinse the Boston butt and place it on top of the onions.
- Sprinkle with spices.
- Pour the whole can of pineapple over it. If using fresh pineapple, peel, core, and thin chop the pineapple and place over pork.
- Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 10-12 hours or until fork tender. Don't open until at least 8 hours and then check for tenderness.
- Shred with two forks to make pulled pork and top with barbecue sauce if using.
Notes
Nutrition
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My husband started this in the crockpot early this morning, and it was finished just a few minutes ago, we would definitely do this again, it is delicious ?
OMG – I prepared this using the IP instructions. I used a 4.45lb boneless Boston Butt. I’m not sure if it’s because I kept the butcher twine on or what (though I usually do for this type of cut), but the center was only 144 degrees when I opened up the IP! It was visibly underdone. I tried to compare to other pulled pork IP recipes, and they mention cutting the meat into several chunks first but for similar time and cooking to around 190 degrees. I’m not even sure how long to guess to keep cooking, but this was a big disappointment as I was about to set the table for dinner.
Katie, I have Hashimotos also, am a cancer survivor, and have gluten sensitivity. Your Boston butt recipe looks delicious but I can’t have the sugar in most BBQ sauce. Do you have a recipe for sugar free barbecue?
There are lines of sugar free bbq sauces that can be purchased in the grocery store, or leave the bbq sauce off. It’s just as delicious without the sauce. I hope you’re able to try this recipe.
Absolutely loved this; I’m a northerner and we don’t do bbq pulled pork so I didn’t add the bbq sauce. I didn’t have crushed pineapple but I had pineapple juiced so used that. Served it with cooked apples and a spinach soufflé.
Outstanding. Thank you.
This has become a household favorite of ours! I have a question, though. When you store the leftovers, do you keep it in the liquid from cooking, or do you drain all of the excess liquid and discard?
I’ve done both in the past…
Did you have to peel the membrane off the ribs?
Hi, I’m making this now. When the pork is done what do you do with the cooking liquid? Do you discard or shred the pork and put it back in the liquid?