This easy Pulled Pork recipe is made with pork shoulder (or butt), pantry spices and coke to tenderize the meat and add sweetness to the seasonings. The result if perfect, tender and juicy pork cooked in the oven, slow cooker or instant pot! 

Serve pulled pork in a sandwich, with nachos, tamales, tacos, burritos, or quesadillas.

A pile of pulled pork on a white plate.

Whether you’re planning food for a party, BBQ, or a simple weeknight dinner, this pulled pork recipe is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Serve it with BBQ sauce and your favorites side dishes, or serve it in sandwiches, tacos, nachos and more. If you’re cooking for a larger gathering or party see my tips in the post for how to calculate how much pulled pork you’ll need per person.

How to make Pulled Pork:

  • Trim fat: To make pulled pork you will want to buy a pork shoulder (sometimes called pork butt or Boston butt) roast. I prefer boneless, but you could buy bone-in. Trim pork of excess fat and cut it into 4 pieces. Combine spices in a small bowl and rub all over the pork. (This can be done the night before).
Four cut pieces of raw pork roast, seasoned, on a tray.
  • Sear (optional): Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven pot over medium-high heat. Add the meat and sear for a few seconds on all sides.
  • For Oven Pulled Pork: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Pour coke around the pork in the Dutch oven pot. Cover pot with lid and cook for 3 hours. Remove lid and cook for an additional 1-2 hours, until pork is tender and easily pulls apart with a fork.
Cooked pulled pork in a dutch oven pot, before and after it has been shredded.
  • For Slow Cooker Pulled Pork: Place pork in slow cooker and pour coke around it. Cover and cook on LOW (recommended) 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours, until pork is tender and shreds easily with a fork.
Cooked pulled pork in a slow cooker before and after it has been shredded.
  • For Instant Pot Pulled Pork: Place pork in instant pot and pour coke around it. Cook on Manual/High pressure for 70 minutes. When timer beeps, allow the pot to naturally release pressure, about 15 minutes longer.
Instant pot pulled pork cooked in the pot, then shredded.
  • Shred meat and add BBQ sauce, if desired.

How much pulled pork per person?

If you’re wanting to estimate how much pulled pork you should make for a party or event you should keep these two general rules in mind:

  1. One pound of pulled pork will feed approximately 3 people (about 5 ounces per serving).
  2. Cooked pulled pork will loose about half of its weight as it cooks (so a 5 pound raw pork roast will cook down to 2.5 pounds of meat).

So, follow this simple calculation to figure out how much pork you’ll need per person:

  • # of guests multiplied by .33 (⅓ pounds of meat per serving) = amount of cooked pulled pork you will need. 
  • Times that number by 2, since the meat will cook down 50%.

For example, if you want enough pulled pork to feed 50 guests.

50 X .33 = 16.5 lbs cooked pulled pork needed

16.5 X 2 = 33 pounds raw pork butt needed

Other factors to keep in mind when calculating how much meat you’ll need include:

  • Ages of those eating (young children wont eat as much)
  • How the pork is being served. If served as the main dish with lighter sides, you’ll need more than if it’s served in sandwiches or tacos, or if there are other heartier sides to go with it.
Cooked pork on a cutting board with two forks shredding the meat.

Storing and Freezing Instructions:

To Store: put leftover pulled pork in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

To freeze: Pulled pork can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Reheating Pulled Pork:

To reheat in the Oven (preferred): Preheat oven to 250°F. Add the pork and leftover juices to an oven safe container (add water, apple juice or broth to the meat if it’s too dry). Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 20-30 minutes or until warmed through to 165°F.

To reheat in the Slow cooker: Add the pork and leftover juices to slow cooker (add additional liquid if needed–apple juice, broth or water– to keep is moist). Turn to warm setting or LOW and cook until warmed through to 165°F.

To reheat in the Microwave: Add the pork and leftover juices to a microwave safe bowl (add additional liquid if needed–apple juice, broth or water– to keep is moist). Place a damp paper towel over the meat and heat in one minute increments until warmed through to 165°F.

Pulled pork sandwich served in a bun with bbq sauce, on a plate.

How to serve it:

FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!

Recipe

A pile of pulled pork on a white plate.
Prep 20 minutes
Cook 5 hours
Total 5 hours 20 minutes
Save Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

Instructions
 

  • Trim pork of excess fat and cut into 4 pieces.
  • Combine spices in a small bowl and rub all over the pork. (This can be done the night before).
  • Sear (optional): Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven pot over medium-high heat. Add the meat and sear for a few seconds on all sides.
  • Oven Method: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Pour coke around the pork in the Dutch oven pot. Cover pot with lid and cook for 3 hours. Remove lid and cook for an additional 1-2 hours, until pork is tender and easily pulls apart with a fork. Remove from oven and shred meat. Toss in barbecue sauce, if desired.
  • Slow Cooker Method: Place pork in slow cooker and pour coke around it. Cover and cook on LOW (recommended) 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours, until pork is tender and shreds easily with a fork.
  • Instant Pot Method: Place pork in instant pot and pour coke around it. Cook on Manual/High pressure for 70 minutes. When timer beeps, allow the pot to naturally release pressure, about 15 minutes longer. Remove lid and shred the meat.

Notes

Coke: The coke adds sweetness and tenderizes the meat (Diet soda wont produce as great of results). Root beer would make a good substitute. If you don’t want to use soda you can substitute another acid, like ½ cup apple cider vinegar mixed with one cup of apple juice.
Store leftover pulled pork in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Find reheating instructions above in the post. 
Serving size: This recipe will yield about 2 pounds of cooked pulled pork; enough to serve about 6 people (5 oz per serving). See the post above for my tips for calculating how much pulled pork you’ll need for a larger group. 

Nutrition

Calories: 310kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 36gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 124mgSodium: 554mgPotassium: 667mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 406IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 33mgIron: 3mg

Did You Make This Recipe?

Tag @TastesBetterFromScratch on Instagram with #TastesBetterFromScratch!

HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?! 

RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.

Originally published May, 22nd, 2020. Republished May 16th 2021.

Related Posts

Share Recipe

Categories

About The Author

Lauren Allen

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Delicious and easy. Used smaller portion of meat and adjusted time accordingly. Needed to add a bit more liquid. Yummy 😋

  2. Made this for the first time. I used the substitute suggested of 1/2 cup of AC vinegar and 1 cup apple juice. Wanted to cut the sugar some and wasn’t sure if the caffeine would “cook out” since I can’t have it. Was AMAZING! Moist, fall apart, melt-in-your-mouth kind of amazing. Will make this again. Oh, also did the oven method but my cut of meat was smaller (almost 3lbs.) since I’m not cooking for a big family, so it cooked in just a little over 3 hours.

  3. 5 stars
    I love making this recipe it is so easy to make. I do cook the pork with 100% pineapple juice. Never done it with soda. The pineapple juice works beautifully! Thank you for your recipe.

  4. 5 stars
    Tried it and have nothing to say but that it turned out delicious!!! Thank you for the recipe!!

  5. I am not a cooking genius, but I learned something from this recipe. Absolutely do not use Coke in a pressure cooker! The liquid steams out and the residue bakes onto even a ceramic coating. I have used oven cleaner on the inner pot several times and I’m not sure I can save it.

    1. 5 stars
      First time making this and I followed the recipe exactly and boy was it delicious! So tender and flavorful! Bought the pork shoulder at my local grocery store for $6 and that 6.5 pound shoulder fed 6 people easy! Thanks for the great recipe!

    2. I have used coke in my pressure cooker but not before removing most of the fizz first. I just add sugar and allow it to fizz and then add to the pork. Hope this helps! Recipe is delicious!

  6. 5 stars
    I have made this recipe so many times over the last year. It’s always easy and it’s always delicious! Thank you for putting such easy to follow recipes out there for us! 🙏

  7. 5 stars
    I’m making this for the second time today. Prior, I used a recipe with several more ingredients and spices(more prep time), but your recipe takes the cake. My family devoured this pulled pork and it’ll now be my go to! From fridge to crock pot within maybe 15-20 minutes prep and most of that is just trimming off the fat. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

  8. 5 stars
    I made this recipe for a large family gathering. I did 24lbs in 4 batches in the instant pot and it turned out great. It literally fell apart. Your recipe for the bbq sauce was a hit!

    1. 1 star
      I followed the recipe to cook in oven covered for 3hrs at 300 and uncovered for 1-2 hrs and the pork came out dry not moist. Maybe too long of time. I wasted beautiful pork butt.

      1. Hi Gary, I bought two bottles of Coke in case 12 oz wasn’t enough, so I had to add more. Once you know
        how much liquid to use, you will love it! The size of roasts will vary, leading to more liquid being needed.

See More Comments