Pacific Pineapple Pulled Pork {Slow Cooker}

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This pulled pork is a little bit teriyaki and a little bit char siu and all flavor! It is great on a sandwich and perfect over rice. Throw it in your slow cooker and dinner will be ready when you are.

Fork tender pulled pork is super easy to make in the slow cooker.  This recipe is flavored with the tastes of a Pacific island with the help of pineapple, soy sauce, and Chinese 5 spice. 

It adds a fun twist to a meat we all know and love.  Pile it high on sandwiches or serve it over rice. Both ways are a simple but tasty way to get a meal on the table.

Are you as obsessed with pulled pork as we are?  It seems to be one of our fall back meals in almost any situation.

I have been trying to clean out our deep freezer in preparation for filling it up with a whole hot and I stumbled upon a pork shoulder.  I can’t help but to pick one up every time I seen one on sale. 

It seems like a least a few times a year they go on special for about a dollar a pound. You can’t beat that for meat prices!

So I grab one and throw it in my freezer for a later date. Then we have an easy meal for a gathering later.

But in an effort to make as much room as possible, I decided to make it just for us. We just love pulled pork, so I knew we wouldn’t have any trouble getting through it.

There are so many ways you can flavor the pork, but I was in a pineapple mood. It’s probably because the cold weather is making me wish we lived on a tropical island somewhere!

I first shared this recipe back in 2017, so I already knew we liked the flavors because they aren’t to dissimilar to Hawaiian teriyaki chicken. It is a completely different taste profile than a smoked pork butt or the normal BBQ styles you may be familiar with.

It has a much more Asian inspired list of ingredients, which makes it an interesting departure from what you might think of when you hear the words pulled pork. We absolutely think it is wonderful.

Don’t worry about this recipe making a ton of meat. Pulled pork leftovers are half of the reason for making it in the first place.

They freeze great, so that is helpful. Plus there are a million ways to rework them.

We used some of these leftovers in a chili. They would also make a fun filling for a taco with a tropical slaw.

Leftovers from previous batches have found themselves on fun Asian inspired pizzas. You could also make a super fun batch of nachos.

The possibilities really are endless!

Original post from 2017:

I’m sure by now you know all about our love affair with pulled pork. It’s just such an easy way to feed a crowd!

Of course it doesn’t hurt that my amateur pit master brother lives across the street and is usually happy to throw an extra pork butt on for us when he fires up the smoker. He isn’t always firing up the smoker though and it’s definitely a labor of love to slow smoke food, so I hate to ask him too frequently.

Besides, it’s fun to switch it up sometimes. We’ve done pork braised in beer, or balsamic and rosemary pork. We’ve had carnitas, and even an apple cider pulled pork.

Rather than rehash something we’ve already done, I wanted to try something new. So I went to my other current obsession, pineapple and went from there.

I’d happily find a way to put it into everything. I was actually tempted to make pineapple the theme of our Easter party this year and find a way to work it into everything on the menu.

Luckily for our guests, I ended up with a bit more variety. Though I did find a way to work my favorite tropical fruit into at least a few of the offerings.

Back to this recipe, I thought my two loves would work really nicely together. Then I added in some of the flavors from char siu to round it out.

A bit if Chinese 5 spice, some soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic. You know, all of the good stuff! It made for a great flavor profile!

I served it on homemade sweet Hawaiian rolls for a real treat. The leftovers were great on rice as well. 

I even made a pizza out of a bit with a spicy pineapple sauce and some habanero cheese. We put it on the grill for a really fun experimental pizza!

While typing this I just had a fun new idea I want to try for pulled pork. When’s the next party?! In the meantime, what are your favorite pulled pork recipes? 

Pacific Pineapple Pulled Pork

Servings: 16 Servings

Author: Carlee

This pulled pork is a little bit teriyaki and a little bit char siu and all flavor! It is great on a sandwich and perfect over rice. Throw it in your slow cooker and dinner will be ready when you are.

4.93 from 13 ratings

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Equipment

• OXO 4-Cup Fat Separator
• Crock-Pot Programmable Slow Cooker

Ingredients

 

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• 20 oz can crushed pineapple
• 4 Tablespoons soy sauce
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 large pork butt
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil optional
• salt and pepper

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Instructions

 

• Optional, but encouraged: Cut the pork butt into large fist sized chunks and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat and brown the pork on all sides.
  1 large pork butt, 2 to 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• Stir together remaining ingredients in a large slow cooker. Place pork into the sauce. 
  4 Tablespoons soy sauce, ¼ cup honey, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice, 1 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1 Tablespoon ground ginger, 20 oz can crushed pineapple
• Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-6. 
• You can shred the pork and shred it at this point if you’d like, but I prefer to defat the liquid in a fat separator if serving the same day or by placing it in the refrigerator if making it ahead of time. 
• To serve, pull the pork with a couple of forks. Add enough cooking liquid back in to reach your desired level of "juiciness."

Notes

If you would like the juice to stick to the meat a bit more, stir in a couple of tsp of cornstarch dissolved in a little bit of cold water the defatted liquid. Bring to a simmer until thickened then add to the pork.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 85kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 2gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 242mgSugar: 10g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“Cooking With Carlee” is not a dietitian or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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