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Summer is coming! I am so ready for it — not the heat, but the break from the crazy schedule. I am officially sending my kids to school with shoes that should be duct taped (our dog has chewed through about 13 pairs of shoes in our home thus far)! I just threw another pair of shoes in the garbage yesterday. Our crazy puppy sniffs out and find shoes everywhere and then destroys them in minutes. I feel there should be puppy therapy offered to help survive the madness. But for the record, we are SO in love with our new addition and couldn’t imagine life without him. He is without a doubt my fifth child!
Since our May is nuts, I am looking for simple meals that I can put together in my sleep. These Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Sandwiches are so easy and everyone loves them.
The pork is slow cooked in a crockpot or instant pot with a can of your favorite dark soda — Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, Root Beer, or Coke. I have tried them all and can attest that they are all amazing.
Why cook soda with the meat?
That may sound a little crazy! The soda helps tenderize the meat making it melt in your mouth. It also locks in some flavor.
The pork is slowly simmered with the soda, salt, pepper and an onion for the extra flavor boost. Once it is tender and can be easily shredded with two forks, the simmering liquid is mostly discarded and BBQ sauce, brown sugar, and hot sauce are added. My personal favorite BBQ sauce is Sweet Baby’s Ray’s Sweet and Spicy. The original sauce is fabulous as well. You can make your own BBQ sauce from scratch, but we are taking the easy route.
My husband is ridiculously picky about his coleslaw. He has been known to ask the restaurant ahead of time if he could taste their coleslaw to know if he should order it or not. He is a coleslaw connoisseur! When I was creating this recipe, I couldn’t wait to get his reaction. Thankfully, it passed his test with flying colors and he even asked if I would make more so he could take it to work. We have a winner!
The creamy coleslaw is made with a combination of green cabbage, shredded carrots, and purple cabbage. I love the purple cabbage for color. I buy the small bag of coleslaw mix but you can also buy a small head of green cabbage instead. The coleslaw is made with finely diced cabbage, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar and salt. Super simple creamy coleslaw recipe!
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Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Sandwich
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb. Boneless Pork Loin
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 2 teaspoons Pepper
- 1 Large Onion chopped
- 1 - 12 ounce can Dr. Pepper Cherry Coke, Coke or Root Beer
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 - 18 ounce bottle BBQ Sauce Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy. May want extra sauce.
- 1 Tablespoon Hot Sauce optional
- Coleslaw:
- 6 cups Purple and Green Cabbage finely shredded
- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 6-10 Soft Sandwich Buns
- 1 Jalapeno sliced (optional)
- Pickles optional
Instructions
- In slow cooker, add pork loin, onion, salt, and pepper. Pour soda over meat.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours, or until tender and fully cooked.
- When the meat is tender, remove from crockpot and shred with two forks. Discard most of cooking fluid, leaving about 1/4 cup remaining in slow cooker.
- Put pulled pork back into slow cooker and add brown sugar, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce. Stir together.
- Heat for 30 minutes longer.
- To make coleslaw:
- Shred cabbage. Place in bowl and toss with mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Taste and add more salt and sugar to taste.
- Top buns with BBQ pulled pork, coleslaw, and optional jalapeno.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
PIN the Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Sandwiches:
Just curious why use a pork loin instead of a pork shoulder?
Hi Tara! I made your recipe again today. We love it before but like every other cook I needed to experiment. This time I added approximately a 1/4 cup of liquid smoke with the BBQ sauce, it was great before but this seemed to give it that little bit more that made us all go back for seconds/thirds!
I just made this for my family and lemme tell you, the most juiciest, most moist pulled pork I’ve ever had in my life! It is absolutely delicious! I’m not big on spicy so I was afraid of the barbecue sauce but I’m glad I stuck with your recipe because it was perfection. The only thing I’d do differently next time is double the recipe as it went fast! I should have known it would be fantastic as I made your brussel sprouts and we loved them! I literally craved them afterwards for weeks! You freakin’ rock, sis!
Could I use ginger ale in this?
I use ginger ale when I slow cook corned beef so I see no reason why not- it is so yummy
Hi Tara! Absolutely! I tend to prefer chicken in most things so I have tried it and you can interchange it with no problem. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂 – Melissa
Do you think chicken would work with this recipe?