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Pulled Pork Recipe with Coleslaw

Carolina-style pulled pork sandwiches topped with smoky barbecue sauce and a vinegar-dressed coleslaw.
Cook Time 12 hours
Seasoning (overnight estimate) 8 hours
Servings 8 servings
Author Jeff Phillips

Ingredients

Pork and Sandwiches

  • 1 pork butt or picnic shoulder about 8 lb
  • 8 sandwich buns for serving

Spicy Rub (Full Batch)

  • ¼ cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup paprika
  • ½ cup celery salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
  • ½ tablespoon mustard powder
  • ½ tablespoon white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 teaspoons ground thyme
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Smoky Barbecue Sauce

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • ½ cup chipotle ketchup Ketchipotle in the source
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons yellow mustard

Coleslaw Dressing (Full Batch)

  • 1 ½ cups white vinegar
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 6 tablespoons dry yellow mustard powder
  • 2 tablespoons celery salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground white pepper

Coleslaw Mix (Large Batch)

  • 3 heads white cabbage thinly sliced
  • 8 oz green bell pepper julienned
  • 8 oz red bell pepper julienned
  • 8 oz red onion thinly sliced
  • 12 oz carrots julienned
  • 1 cup peanut oil
  • 2 teaspoons celery salt
  • 2 ½ cups prepared coleslaw dressing from the dressing above, not additional purchased dressing

Instructions

Pork

  • Sift and mix the spicy-rub ingredients. Apply generously to the pork as needed; you do not have to use the whole batch.
  • Wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight.
  • Smoke at 225°F for about 10–12 hours, until the center reaches about 200°F and the meat is tender enough to pull.
  • Shred or pull the meat and toss with smoky barbecue sauce to taste.

Sauce and Slaw

  • Combine the barbecue-sauce ingredients in a saucepan and simmer about 10 minutes.
  • For the dressing, combine all dressing ingredients in a stainless-steel saucepan, bring to a boil while mixing, then turn off the heat and cool.
  • Toss the cabbage, peppers, onion, carrots, peanut oil and celery salt with 2 1/2 cups of the cooled dressing. Let the slaw stand about 1 hour, keeping it refrigerated until serving.

Sandwiches

  • Pile pulled pork onto bottom buns, add about 1 tablespoon sauce per sandwich, top with coleslaw and close with the top buns.

Notes

Yield: 8 main servings is stated in the article. The rub, dressing and three-head coleslaw recipes are full batches as written and make extra beyond eight sandwich toppings; apply rub and sauce to taste and use only the listed 2 1/2 cups of prepared dressing in the slaw. The recipe gives no specific wood or detailed pork-shoulder setup beyond 225°F, 10–12 hours and about 200°F internal. Overnight seasoning and the slaw's standing hour are additional.