Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

I {LOVE} Rea Drummond! I love her love for food. I have been tempted to try many of her recipes and most I modify to use oh not so much butter or cream and they are still amazingly good! This one was no different.  I have made this once before in the crock pot but let me tell you… this time was so much better. In a Dutch oven… in the oven, slow and steady! This meat is exceptionally delicious and has a tremendous amount of flavor.  The ingredients might scare you at first but trust me, trust Rea… it’s so, so good!

Ingredients

1 whole Large Onion

1 whole Pork Shoulder ("pork Butt") - 5 To 7 Pounds

Salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, and Garlic Powder

6-7 garlic cloves, minced

1 can (11 Ounce) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce

2 cans Dr. Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large Dutch oven. I love onion so I might have added more than just one!

Mix the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and season the meat, remembering it’s a big piece of meat so the more the merrier! Once it’s seasoned, rub the entire piece of meat with the diced garlic cloves! Then set it on top of the onions in the pan.
Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the pork (include the sauce.) Pour in both cans of Dr. Pepper into the pan.

Place lid tightly on pot, then set pot in the oven. Cook for at least six hours, turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. After the 6 hour mark, check the meat to see how well its cooked.  It should easily fall apart, if it doesn’t, cook it for another hour or so and check again. 

Remove meat from pot and place on a cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it.

For the liquid, I removed all the chili peppers that are now plump and juicy and discarded those. I have little ones eating so wanted to control some of the spice. I placed the Dutch oven to the stove over high heat and reduced the liquid by half, maybe even more.  Because the majority of the liquid was the Dr. Pepper, the sauce was now nice and thick with amazing flavor.  We used this as our bbq sauce on our pulled pork sandwiches.  The added kick from the spice was incredible!

This is a must try  because it yields so much meat and you can have plenty of left overs with endless possibilities.  Try this today and when you do, remember to take the Thyme to Savor!