Crockpot Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Sliders with Light & Tangy Slaw

Well, it’s happened. It’s finally happened. A few days ago, I posted about the newest member of our family: a brandy new, bright red Crockpot! Hooray! It seems odd that of all people, I wouldn’t own a Crockpot, right? Well now I do, and now I can make delicious slow cooked things like pulled pork!

Why haven’t I had a Crockpot before now? The internet and all the blogs I read are littered with delicious sounding slow cooker recipes. I’m always so jealous. But here’s the story.

When we lived in Daytona, one of Nick’s roommates had a slow cooker. It was put to use quite often, for pulled pork, carnitas, delicious dips. But then the roomies parted ways, and bye bye went the Crockpot. When we moved to Pensacola, we moved into the World’s Smallest Apartment. We hardly had room for the kitchen appliances we already owned, so there was definitely no adding any new ones to our collection.

After that, this whole getting married business came about. Obviously the best part (just kidding) of getting married is registering for all the fun things that you’ve been eying for years at Williams-Sonoma and all your other favorite housewife stores. One hitch, though. Since I stated my blog and pronounced my love of cooking to the world, for every birthday, Christmas, and other gift-giving holiday, I’ve been showered with awesome kitchen stuff! I started getting scared that we would have nothing left to register for, and so I put a halt on letting myself buy anything house related that wasn’t completely necessary. Crockpot included.

But then something happened. Nick and I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to test out our first registry. I was so not prepared. I lasted about an hour before I was completely overwhelmed and decided to call it quits for now. There are SO MANY things I never knew I needed! And so, what I realized, is that I will never run out of things to register for. Because there are like, 8 zillion things that I could easily find a use for.

And so we bought a Crockpot.

Then I needed a good recipe to take it for a test run.

I don’t drink soda very often. We never had it growing up, so I never really developed the addiction. Which is fine by me! I love bubbly water beyond belief, but I really only drink soda if it happens to have vodka in it. 😉  On the once every other month or so occasion that I do drink a soda, I have a particular fondness for Dr. Pepper.

I’ve never understood the Coke thing. I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, and I don’t see why people like it so much. Meh. But Dr. Pepper… Cherry, vanilla, all 23 flavors of sugary deliciousness.

So when I saw this recipe, I was sold.

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

(adapted from My Retro Kitchen)

• 6-7 lb pork butt, trimmed of fat
• 3 cans Dr. Pepper (or enough to almost cover pork)
• 1 medium onion, cut in large chunks
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp dry ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce

Place the onions in the bottom of a slow cooker.

Place the pork butt on top of the onions.

Add the garlic, ground mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the Dr. Pepper on top.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.

Carefully remove the meat from the slow cooker and place on a large cutting board. Using two forks, shred the pork.

Place the shredded pork back into the slow cooker and continue to cook for an additional hour.

Drain the remaining juices.

The meat was tender and juicy. It really didn’t taste at all like Dr. Pepper (which I won’t lie, I was a bit sad about even though the original recipe warned me that it wouldn’t), but it was slightly sweet and delicious.

Now the question is what to do with the pork. Well, this made a LOT of meat. So I made a couple dishes. One was pulled pork tacos in corn tortillas with sour cream, cilantro, and Cholula. Heaven.

The other, of course, was BBQ sandwiches! I’ve been out of Oklahoma long enough that I’ve started craving BBQ again. I wanted a pulled pork sandwich smothered in barbeque sauce, topped with crunchy coleslaw, on King’s Hawaiian buns (the BEST buns for BBQ). Since I could only find mini rolls, I turned them into sliders!

I like creamy slaw, but I’m not a huge fan of overpowering mayo flavor. Adding some greek yogurt to this dressing, along with some kick from vinegar, lemon and mustard, made the perfect slaw! And it was even pretty healthy.

Light & Tangy Slaw

• 1 (12 oz) package shredded coleslaw
• 6-8 green onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp dill seed
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Combine slaw mix and scallions in a bowl.

In another small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour dressing over slaw and toss to combine.

Let the slaw sit in the fridge for at least an hour to get all the flavors incorporated.

To assemble your sandwiches, top a roll with pork, sauce and slaw. Enjoy with pickles and more slaw on the side!

Now I’ve got 9 cans of Dr. Pepper left, in a house where no one drinks soda. What I can do with them? I’m taking recipe ideas!