We’ve been having a fair bit of pork in our house, largely as I’ve been doing a bit of dinner prep in the morning and engaging my slow cooker in an attempt to eradicate ‘6.00pm dinner madness’. So, as a lover of my slow cooker, pulled pork, and anything with a BBQ sauce (coz everything is better with a sauce, as I’m sure Manu from MKR would agree) I’ve been trying to perfect a slow cooker pulled pork recipe, accompanied by a BBQ sauce that’s got no refined sugar (Sugar Free September last year has changed how I view sugar for life).
Anyhow, I’ve been faffing around in my kitchen trying to perfect this recipe to get it to the point where it’s blogworthy. TAAA DAAA: My kitchen play time is done: This is a mighty fine dinner I’m rapt to be sharing with you! Bonus too: The delicious BBQ sauce is ‘sugar free’, though I have used honey to sweeten it (I wonder if apple puree would work? I’ll try that next time). The addition of kicked up slaw is a must in my opinion: I can’t get enough Broccoslaw (as mentioned in my recent March favourites blog post) or Sriracha Hot Sauce at the moment.
Give this a go – I reckon you’ll rate it as much as we do!
PS: Do I need to mention that a great mayonnaise to use in the Kicked Up Slaw is this one?
PPS: This meal is delicious with cauliflower mash, roast potatoes, or good old fashioned mashed spuds. Knock yourself out.
Ingredients
- 2 onions, finely sliced
- 1.5-2kg Pork belly (keep the fat on)
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Bay leaf
- 1 tlb ground cumin
- 2 tlb smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp mixed spice
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tlb dried oregano
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup passata
- 2 tlb olive oil
- 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1/4 c tomato paste
- 2-3 cups pre-made coleslaw (I'm lazy!) - I love using Broccoslaw
- 1/3 c Mayonnaise (you can use a mix of half and half natural yogurt and mayo too)
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tlb apple cider vinegar
- good grind of fresh black pepper
- 1-2 tsp Hot sauce to taste (I love Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce)
- Salt and pepper
- Sesame seeds (to garnish)
- Chopped fresh mint (to garnish)
Instructions
- Mix together the mustard powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and rub all over the pork belly (if you have time do the night before, wrap it in glad wrap - the flavours will intensify!)
- In the bottom of your slow cooker place chopped onions, pork belly and bay leaf. Note: Keep the fat on the pork belly.
- Mix together all BBQ sauce ingredients and pour over the pork belly.
- Cook the pork in your slow cooker, on low for 7-8 hours (or on high for five hours). Essentially the meat is ready when it is tender enough to pull apart with a fork.
- When your pork is cooked transfer it to a casserole dish. Leave the BBQ sauce in the slow cooker and crank the heat up to high: Leave the sauce to thicken for 10 mins (or thicken with cornflour/arrowroot).
- While the BBQ sauce is thickening up get cracking with shredding the pork. First, remove and discard the fat belly layer then pull the pork apart with two forks.
- When the BBQ sauced has thickened pour some over the pork. Transfer the rest of the sauce to a small bowl to serve on the side.
- In a large bowl place the coleslaw.
- In a smaller bowl make the dressing by combining all the other ingredients.
- Toss dressing into the coleslaw. Done!
- I served the pulled pork with roast potatoes when I took the photos, but we love it with cauliflower mash or old fashioned potato mash too.
