Pulled Pork with Orange Juice

This easy slow cooker pulled pork is bursting with bright orange flavor thanks to fresh orange juice and zest. A simple set-it-and-forget-it recipe that delivers tender, juicy pork in a citrusy homemade BBQ sauce—perfect for sandwiches, tacos, or meal prep.

Got leftovers? Find leftover pulled pork recipes here.

I’m down to the last giant bag of oranges from our visit to the orange grove. I have enjoyed baking and cooking with the oranges and trying them in everything.

It’s to the point where no one is surprised when I tell them what they are eating has oranges in it! And this orange barbecue pulled pork is one of our favorite new recipes.

Although we really love smoked pulled pork I don’t always have the time or patience to cook outdoors. I love making crispy pulled pork in the oven, but this pulled pork recipe uses the slow cooker.

Ingredients you need

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• Boneless pork butt roast: You can use a bone in pork shoulder, Boston butt, picnic shoulder or pork loin.
• Oranges: Both the juice and zest of the orange is used. But if you only have orange juice on hand, you can omit the zest.
• Apple cider vinegar: You could use plain white vinegar, but I love the flavor of apple cider vinegar.
• Onion: You can use white or yellow onions. You can also use sweet vidalia onions.
• Garlic: I love the flavor from fresh garlic, but you could use garlic powder instead.
• Sweeteners: I used a combination of honey and mollases to sweeten the sauce.
• Pantry staples: Tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce.
• Seasonings: Paprika, chile powder, cumin, onion powder, salt and pepper. If you like things spicy, add some hot sauce or crushed red pepper.

Step-by-step directions

1. Prep the roast. Trim off the large chunks of fat from roast and season with salt and pepper. Place pork roast in a 6-quart slow-cooker and top with onions.
2. Make the sauce. Whisk together sauce ingredients then pour over the pork roast.
3. Cook the roast. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours.
4. Shred the pork. For the last hour, remove the roast and shred the entire pork. If you have a bone, remove it. Discard any excess fat. Return shredded pork to the slow-cooker and continue cooking for one hour.

Recipe tips and FAQs

For this orange pulled pork, I served them as sandwiches. You can use regular dinner rolls, kaiser rolls, hamburger or hoagie buns. Dill pickles are a must for my family, too. Some of our favorite side dishes to serve with this include:

• Cider Vinegar Potato Salad
• Homemade Curly Fries
• Baked Sweet Potato Chips
• Mango Cole Slaw
• Cucumber Tomato Salad

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Pulled Pork with Orange Juice

Laura Bashar | Family Spice

This easy slow cooker pulled pork is bursting with bright orange flavor thanks to fresh orange juice and zest. A simple set-it-and-forget-it recipe that delivers tender, juicy pork in a citrusy homemade BBQ sauce—perfect for sandwiches, tacos, or meal prep.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 6 hours hrs

Total Time 6 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Calories 759 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 lb boneless pork butt roast
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion sliced
• 1 cup orange juice freshly squeezed preferred
• 6 oz tomato paste
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 ½ teaspoon chile powder
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 8 kaiser rolls

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Instructions

 

• Trim off the large chunks of fat from roast and season with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Place pork roast in a 6-quart slow-cooker with onion slices.
• In medium-sized bowl whisk together orange juice, tomato paste, cider vinegar, honey, worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon salt, paprika, orange zest, garlic cloves, chile powder, cumin, onion powder and molasses.
• Pour barbecue sauce over the pork roast and cover the slow-cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours. For the last hour, remove the roast from the slow-cooker.
• Use two forks or your fingers to pull pork apart until the entire roast is shredded. Discard any excess fat. Return shredded pork to the slow-cooker and continue cooking for one hour.
• Place pulled pork into serving dish and mix in with some of the juices from the slow-cooker. Serve with kaiser rolls.

Notes

Serving Suggestions: Got picky eaters? You can also cook the pork without the barbecue sauce. Just serve the sauce on the side for those who want to mix it in!

Cooking Tips: Don’t have a slow-cooker? Heat your oven to 300º F and cook the pork without the water and bbq sauce in a roasting pan, fat side up, covered with aluminum foil, for 4 hours. Remove the foil and continue to bake until roast is tender, about 2 more hours. After shredding the pork, add bbq sauce and serve.

You can also smoke the pork roast on the grill and serve with this orange barbecue sauce.

TO STORE: Store any leftover pulled pork in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 759kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 56gFat: 45gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 24gCholesterol: 195mgSodium: 812mgFiber: 2gSugar: 14g

Keyword barbecue pulled pork, orange barbecue sauce, orange bbq sauce, orange pulled pork, pulled pork orange juice

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Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.

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