This melt in your mouth Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork is everything you want it to be – tangy, sweet, tender and juicy.
Meet your new favourite comfort food: Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork + OMG it is as incredible and wonderful as it sounds. Using an instant pot or slow cooker to cook this meat means that your pulled pork turns out oh so moist every single time. Since it cooks in the apple juice, alongside onions and garlic and all sorts of delicious things, the final result is as tangy and delicious as you hope it will be.
Pulled pork is definitely one of my love languages. After living in Knoxville, Tennessee and attending the University of Tennessee for my undergrad degree (GO VOLS!), I have a deep soul love for good barbecue. Now, while this Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork isn’t really barbecue in the traditional sense of the dish, this will absolutely scratch the same itch…but in an entirely new way.
This dish is Whole30 + Paleo, which means it’s refined sugar free (totally NOT a normal occurrence in BBQ), gluten free, dairy free and free of any sort of additives. This is 100% real food cooking all of the way.
Ingredients in Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork
The ingredient list in this Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork is actually really simple + quite seasonal, actually. You can TOTALLY make this year round, but with perfectly ripe local apples? Hot dang. It just can’t get better than that. Here’s what you’ll need:
- pork: pork butt or pork shoulder are really the types of cut you’ll want to use here. We want that lovely marbled fat to keep this tender!
- onions: when slow cooked, these onions turn into a caramely, sweet, tangy addition to our sauce. Yum!
- garlic
- apples: feel free to use any type of apple, but I will say that something like a honey crisp or a pink lady are my top choice. The extra tang from the apple really adds something.
- apple juice: feel free to use cider if you’re not worried about added sugars, but apple juice ensure we keep this dish refined sugar free!
- apple cider vinegar: this adds the most LOVELY tang that just makes this feel slightly more traditional to a pulled pork.
- salt + pepper
- dried ginger
- nutmeg
- arrowroot powder: this will help our sauce to get nice and thick. Feel free to use tapioca starch here too or cornstarch if you aren’t worried about keeping this Whole30 or Paleo.
How to cook this dish
I’ve included two different methods down below for just how to cook this Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork to ensure that it gets juicy and tender. I don’t really think that either one is better than the other, so just choose whichever is more likely to actually work in your kitchen, in your life!
For both methods, we’re really just going to follow a few simple steps:
- Cook our onions, garlic and apples a bit.
- Add them, with the liquids and our seasons pork, to either the slow cooker or the instant pot.
- Leave it be for a few hours + BAM!
Now, to make the sauce, you do have a choice here in how you like it. You can totally do what I did and take all of the sauce and blend it before thickening with the arrowroot. This makes a nice smooth sauce. Or, skip this step if you like it a little chunky! Just add some arrowroot (see the recipe for substitution notes) and cook to thicken. Smooth or chunky, this Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork sauce is something you’ll want to drizzle on everything!
Serving and storing Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork
This Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork would be absolutely divine in about a million ways. I feel like you really can’t go wrong. Spoon it over a cooked sweet potato or on top of a kale salad for lunch! Maybe alongside of my Salt + Vinegar Magic Potatoes? Holy moly. That would be INSANE! Or, if you’re keeping it low carb, just add some steamed green beans or roasted broccoli and call it a night. Seriously, this pork is good enough to stand on its own.
To store any leftovers, just be sure to allow it to come to room temperature before you pop it in the fridge. It will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge, or portion it out and store in the freezer for busy nights! It will last 6 months or more in there.
Friends, I know I say this all of the time, ha, but THIS RECIPE will absolutely knock your socks off. My husband went nuts for it + you will too. So, when you do try it + fall in love, will you promise to let me know over on instagram? Or to pop back and leave a comment down below with your thoughts? I’ll love you as much as you’re going to love this Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork.
Whole30 Apple Cider Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp avocado, olive or coconut oil
- 3-4 lbs pork shoulder or pork butt
- 2 white onions, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 red apples, like honeycrisp or pink lady
- 1 1/2 cups apple juice**
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried ginger
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch if not Whole30 or Paleo)
- 2 tbsp cold water
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Start by trimming the large layer of fat off of the outside of the pork. Chop the pork into 6-8 equal cubes and set aside.
- Turn the instant pot onto its saute or fry function. Add the oil, sliced onions and salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes before adding in the garlic and apple.
- Once the garlic smells fragrant, usually another 2 minutes, turn off the instant pot.
- Add the apple juice and apple cider vinegar to the instant pot.
- Sprinkle the salt, pepper, ginger and nutmeg over the pieces of pork and add them to the mix in the instant pot.
- Close the lid of the instant pot, set to sealing + cook on high/manual pressure for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, depending on the amount of pork used.
- Once the pork is done, release the pressure from the instant pot. Remove the meat and shred with a fork.
- ***This step is optional, but if you'd like your sauce to be very smooth, remove the contents of the instant pot and blend. If you are okay with a chunky sauce, skip this step!
- Turn the instant pot back onto the saute/fry setting. In a small bowl, mix the arrowroot and cold water. Add the slurry to the sauce, mixing as you add. Once the sauce is your desired thickness, turn off the heat and add the pork back in!
- Serve and enjoy!
Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Instruction
- Start by trimming the large layer of fat off of the outside of the pork. Chop the pork into 6-8 equal cubes and set aside.
- Add the oil to a frying pan over medium heat. Add the oil, sliced onions and salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes before adding in the garlic and apple. Cook for another 2 minutes or so.
- Into the slow cooker, add the apple juice, apple cider vinegar, and cooked onion, garlic and apple.
- Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg and ginger to the pork and layer it on top of the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 2-4.
- Once the pork is done, remove the meat and shred with a fork.
- ***This step is optional, but if you'd like your sauce to be very smooth, remove the contents of the slow cooker and blend. If you are okay with a chunky sauce, skip this step!
- Add the (chunky or smooth) sauce to a saucepan over medium heat. In a small bowl, mix the arrowroot and cold water. Add the slurry to the sauce, mixing as you add. Once the sauce is your desired thickness, turn off the heat and add the pork back in!
- Keep warm in the slow cooker until time to eat!
It has really been a challenge for me to eat healthy during the lockdown. This is surely recipe going to help me keep myself in check because I am following paleo diet. Thank you for sharing, I hope this helps.