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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Salad

Course Entree
Cuisine Healthy
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 25 minutes
Author ChefMatt

Ingredients

Pulled Pork

  • 2 lbs. pork shoulder with fat cap removed
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • to taste salt and pepper
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil, for browning
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp prepared Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 L chicken stock

Crispy Maple Lardons

  • 1 only the fat cap diced into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 tbsp high quality maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt to cure

Salad Mix

  • 1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 10 each red radishes, thinly sliced
  • 3 each multi color carrots, peeled into strips
  • 2 each red plums, cut in half with pit removed
  • 1 head romaine hearts, sliced
  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil, for browning and for drizzling
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp Braggs apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Pulled Pork

  1. Remove the fat cap with a sharp boning knife, and set aside.  Season the pork well with all of the spices.  Heat up oil in a large pan until just below smoking point.  Sear all sides of the pork shoulder until nice and crispy and brown.  

    Slow Cooker Recipe Pulled Pork
  2. Whisk together the honey, maple syrup, mustard and chicken stock and pour into slow cooker. Turn on and make sure liquid is hot before putting the pork shoulder in there as well.  Add in a few bay leaves and set on high.  Make sure the liquid just simmers, not just boils away.  Cook for 4-5 hours. 

  3. NOTE:  The pork in this case doesn't have to be fully submerged in the liquid.  As long as you leave the lid on and let the slow cooker do its thing, the pulled pork will turn out great!

  4. Once the pork is done, pull it out of the slow cooker and use two forks to shred the pork and set aside.

Crispy Maple Lardons

  1. Take the diced fat cap and mix it with the salt and maple syrup, let sit for a few hours.

  2. Lay the fat out on a tray and cook in a 425 degree oven until the pork fat crisps up and becomes quite crunchy, about 10-15 minutes.

  3. As the fat cooks it will want to stick together.  Use a wooden spoon to mix the lardons around while cooking.  Set on a plate with some paper towel to drain the excess fat.  

Salad Mix

  1. Heat the vegetable oil up in a pan.  Get the pan nice and hot and add in the shredded cabbage and the radishes.  Cook for just a couple of minutes to get some browning on the veggies, but not over cook them.  Remove from the pan and set the plum halves flesh side down to caramelize the sugars.  Turn down the heat a bit so you don't burn them.  Set aside to cool.  

  2. Dice the plums and add into a large bowl with the cabbage, radishes, carrot curls, chopped romaine.  mix in 2 tbsp of vegetable oil, and the syrup and vinegar and toss well.

  3. Plate the salad, and garnish with the crispy maple lardons and the pulled pork.  For some added flavor, caramelize some of the pulled pork in a pan with more maple syrup.  Enjoy!