Pulled pork is the type of recipe crock pots were made for. Slow cooking allows the meat to soak up every bit of flavor in this recipe; from the sweet brown sugar to the bold root beer, everything combines to make delicious, tender, savory, melt-in-your-mouth sandwiches. Keep extra napkins handy, you’ll want to have extra sauce in each bite.
A lot of families only enjoy pulled pork sandwiches during the summer, when the barbecue is available. If you restrict pulled pork to a specific season, you're missing out on some fantastic recipes, just like the one below. A slow cooker allows you to continue enjoying traditional barbecue dishes even after the grill has gone away for the season.
You won't need too many ingredients for this recipe. Aside from the obvious pork roast and root beer, you'll need salt, pepper, cooking oil, medium onions, and minced garlic. None of those ingredients are hard to come by at all, but each play an important role in this recipe.
For the sauce, you'll need more root beer, tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, ground cloves, and allspice. If you do any baking in your kitchen, chances are you already have most of those ingredients in your pantry. That means you won't have to buy too much to make this delicious dinner!
Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Ingredients:
1 2½– to 3-pound pork sirloin roast
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 medium onions, cut into thin wedges
1 cup root beer*
6 cloves garlic, minced
Sauce ingredients:
3 cups root beer*
1 cup tomato sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash ground cloves
1 dash allspice
8 to 10 hamburger buns, split (toasted, if desired)
Lettuce leaves and tomato slices (optional)
Directions:
1. Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut meat to fit into a 3½– to 5-quart slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper; rub in. In a large non-stick skillet brown meat on all sides in hot oil. Drain off fat.
3. Transfer meat to slow cooker. Add onion, the 1 cup root beer, and garlic.
4. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.
5. Meanwhile, for sauce, whisk together sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2 cups.
6. Transfer meat to a cutting board or serving platter. Using two forks, pull meat apart into shreds.
7. Using a slotted spoon, transfer onion to serving platter; discard cooking juices. If desired, line buns with lettuce leaves and tomato slices.
8. Place shredded meat and onion on rolls. Drizzle meat with some of the root beer sauce.
*Do not use diet root beer