There are some dinners that make you wonder why you ever bothered doing them the harder way.

This was one of them.

I picked up a 10-pound pork butt roast, seasoned it with a simple homemade rub, added barbecue sauce, and put the whole thing into my 6-quart Magnifique clay-pot slow cooker.

Then I pretty much left it alone.

After about 8–10 hours on low, it was some of the most tender pulled pork I've ever made. The kind that practically falls apart when you touch it with a fork.

We piled it onto Hawaiian rolls with pickles, sliced onion and more BBQ sauce, and I immediately thought: this is what I'm making the next time I need to feed a crowd.

It's easy enough for a regular family dinner, but a 10-pound pork butt also makes this perfect for game day, parties, potlucks or anytime you've got a house full of people.

And if you don't have a crowd to feed? Even better. One big cook gives you enough pulled pork to turn into several completely different meals throughout the week.

Why I Used a Clay-Pot Slow Cooker

I made this in my 6-quart Magnifique clay-pot slow cooker , and I was genuinely impressed with how the pork turned out.

The pork stayed incredibly moist during the long, slow cook, and by the time it was finished, it practically fell apart when I pulled it.

You absolutely don't need a clay-pot slow cooker to make pulled pork—a traditional slow cooker works, too—but if you have one, this is a great recipe to try in it.

And yes, I really did fit a 10-pound pork butt into the 6-quart cooker.

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10-Lb Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Prep time: 10 minutesCook time: 8–10 hoursCook setting: LowMain ingredient: 10-lb pork buttBest for: Family dinner, game day, parties and feeding a crowd

Ingredients

• 1 pork butt roast, approximately 10 pounds

• About 1/2 bottle BBQ sauce

• Hawaiian sweet rolls or slider buns

• Sliced pickles

• Thinly sliced onion

• Extra BBQ sauce for serving

  
  

For the Pulled Pork Rub

I didn't measure the seasoning when I made mine. I seasoned by feel and made sure the outside of the pork was generously coated with:

• Salt

• Black pepper

• Paprika

• Cayenne pepper

• Garlic powder

• Onion powder

  
  

If you'd rather have measurements, for a 10-pound pork butt I'd start with approximately:

• 2 tablespoons salt

• 1 tablespoon black pepper

• 2 tablespoons paprika

• 1/2–1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 1 tablespoon onion powder

  
  

You can adjust the cayenne depending on how much heat your family likes.

How to Make Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

1. Season the pork

Pat the pork butt dry and generously season it on all sides with the salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder and onion powder.

Rub the seasoning into the meat so the entire outside is coated.

2. Put it in the slow cooker

Place the seasoned pork butt into your slow cooker.

Mine was right around 10 pounds and fit in my 6-quart Magnifique clay-pot slow cooker.

3. Add the BBQ sauce

Pour approximately half a bottle of BBQ sauce over the pork.

That's it. I didn't add broth or water.

The pork releases plenty of liquid as it cooks, so by the end there was more than enough flavorful cooking liquid to mix back into the shredded meat.

4. Cook it low and slow

Cover and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours, or until the pork is extremely tender and easily pulls apart with a fork.

With a roast this large, I wouldn't rely solely on the clock. If you try to shred it and it's still fighting you, let it keep cooking.

5. Shred the pork

Once it's tender, remove any large pieces of fat and shred the pork.

You can shred it directly in the slow cooker or move it to a cutting board and then return the shredded meat to the pot.

Mix some of those cooking juices back into the pork and add more BBQ sauce if you want it saucier.

Turn It Into Pulled Pork Sliders

This was how we ate ours the first night, and I'm not sure I'd change a thing.

Pile the warm pulled pork onto Hawaiian sweet roll slider buns and top with:

• Pickles

• Thinly sliced onion

• Extra BBQ sauce

  
  

The combination of the sweet rolls, smoky pork, tangy pickles, crunchy onion and BBQ sauce is ridiculously good.

If you want hot sliders, arrange them in a baking dish, brush the tops with a little melted butter and bake at 350°F for about 8–10 minutes, just until they're warm and lightly toasted.

Perfect for Game Day or Feeding a Crowd

This may be my new favorite part about making a 10-pound pork butt.

It feeds a LOT of people without creating a lot of extra work.

For game day, parties or any night when we've got extra people around, I'd shred the pork and put it right back into the slow cooker on warm.

Then set out:

• Hawaiian rolls

• Pickles

• Sliced onions

• Extra BBQ sauce

  
  

Everyone can build their own sliders, and you're not standing in the kitchen assembling individual sandwiches while everyone else is hanging out.

Add chips, coleslaw, baked beans or a big pan of mac and cheese and you've got a really easy meal for a crowd.

And unlike a lot of party food, almost all the work happens before everyone gets there.

That's a win for me.

What If You're NOT Feeding a Crowd?

This is actually one of the biggest reasons I'd make a 10-pound pork butt again.

Instead of thinking of it as one enormous dinner, think of it as getting ahead on several dinners at once.

Eat the sliders the first night, then completely change things up with the leftovers.

You can turn pulled pork into:

• Loaded baked potatoes

• Tacos

• Mac and cheese

• Quesadillas

• Nachos

• Rice bowls

• BBQ pizza

• Breakfast hash

  
  

Can a 10-Lb Pork Butt Fit in a 6-Quart Slow Cooker?

Mine did.

That said, pork butts aren't all shaped exactly the same. The important thing is that your lid can close properly.

If your roast is too tall or wide for your particular slow cooker, cut it into two or three large pieces before cooking.

Don't try to force the lid closed over a roast that's too large.

Do You Need to Add Liquid to Pulled Pork?

I didn't add any additional broth or water to mine.

Between the BBQ sauce and the liquid released by the pork as it slowly cooks, I had plenty of cooking liquid by the end.

After shredding, I mixed some of those juices back into the meat to keep it moist and flavorful.

How Do You Know When Pulled Pork Is Done?

This is one place where temperature can be a little confusing.

Pork can reach a safe minimum internal temperature well before it has reached that fall-apart pulled pork stage.

For pulled pork, you're waiting for the connective tissue to break down and the meat to become extremely tender. Pork shoulder is often easiest to shred somewhere around 195–205°F internally.

But the easiest test is still a fork.

If you stick a fork into the pork and it practically falls apart, you're there.

If you have to work to shred it, it probably needs more time.

One Big Cook, Several Easy Dinners

This is exactly the kind of meal that works for the way I actually want to cook.

I'm not interested in spending an entire Sunday making seven identical containers of food.

But putting one big piece of meat into a slow cooker and letting it cook while I do everything else I need to do?

That kind of meal prep I can get behind.

Make sliders tonight. Have pulled pork potatoes tomorrow. Turn it into tacos after that. Freeze some for another week.

Or invite everyone over, put the slow cooker on warm, set out a pile of Hawaiian rolls and call it game-day food.

Either way, a 10-pound pork butt suddenly doesn't seem quite so excessive.

And after tasting this one, I might have a hard time buying a smaller one next time.