Gosh, I love this Asian Shredded Pork recipe. Tender pulled pork soaked in crazy flavorful Asian-inspired spices. 10-minute prep and the slow cooker does all the work. Lots of leftovers, a.k.a. no cooking for a few days.
Whether you throw it over a bed of rice, or make a yummy Asian-inspired taco out of it, this is a super easy, highly flavorful meal that is a gem for any busy person trying to make a home cook meal!
What meat to use for Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Pork?
The beauty of this Asian Pulled Pork meal is that we let the slow cooker do ALL the hard work.
And when I say ALL the hard work, I mean it.
The awesome thing about slow cookers is that they can handle a pretty tough slice of meat, which also typically means, a fairly cheap slice of meat.
Use pork shoulders or pork butt, and the slow cooker will break down the fibers of the meat during the long and slow cooking process.
The end result is a piece of meat that is tender, melt-in-your-mouth, and easily-broken-apart.
Other Ingredients
Flavor is huge for me in my foods and cooking, and while the slow cooker is breaking apart the fibers of the meat, we will go ahead and let some yummy sauces and spices combine and permeate into the meat for many, many hours.
Because WHY NOT.
This recipe calls for fairly common Asian spices, and they can be found in the Asian aisle in your local grocery store. If not, see the affiliated links attached.
The sauces and spices used to make this delicious Asian Shredded Pork recipe are:
- soy sauce
- honey
- brown sugar
- sesame oil
- rice wine
- hoisin sauce
- few cloves of fresh garlic – avoid using garlic powder!
How to make Asian Pulled Pork
This is a dump everything into a slow cooker kinda meal…and I love it!
To make Asian Pulled Pork, add the piece(s) of meat, along with all the sauces and spices, into the crock pot.
Let it cook on high for 4-5 hours.
After the 4-5 hours of cook time. Shred the meat, and let it cook for another 30 minutes so that the pulled pork is well soaked with the sauce.
And truly that is it.
You got yourself some (or a lot of!) flavorful, tender, delicious Asian Shredded Pork.
Slow cooker meals are total life savers. There is something lovely about coming home after a long day and having dinner ready to be consumed.
How to serve Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Pork
Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Pork can be served in so many ways!
- On a bed of white or brown rice, or check out my Easy Mixed Vegetable Rice recipe
- Wrapped inside a tortilla
- Over noodles
- A side for instant ramen noodles
- Between two slices of bread or bun
- The possibilities are endless!
However you serve it, don’t forget to add garnishes.
Garnishes are fun, and no-cooking is required. They can add lots of textures and flavors, and turn a simple dish into a more complex one, without having to do much work!
Garnish with all or some of the below (all are no cook and super easy!):
- Sliced green onions
- Shredded cabbage
- Shredded carrots
- Chopped cilantro
- Sliced pineapple
- Cucumber
- Lettuce
- Again…the possibilities are endless!
ENJOY!!
Another yummy Asian-Inspired meals!
- Asian Salmon Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing
- Garlic Soy Chicken and Veggie Rice Bowl
- Steak Fried Rice
- Shrimp Stir Fried Noodles
- Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork
- Simple Thai Noodle Bowl
- Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
- Chinese Style Curry with Juicy Meatballs (by Kitchen Sanctuary!)
Other Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowl
- Slow Cooker Chicken in Tomato and Herb Sauce
- Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup
- Slow Cooker Asian Ribs
- Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Thighs
If you make this recipe PLEASE let me know how it goes in the comment box below, and share pictures of your creations on instagram by tagging #joyousapron! And while you are there, don’t forget to follow me!
Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Pork
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 – 2.5lbs lbs pork shoulder or pork butt
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 4-5 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Optional: Remove fat from the pork shoulders or pork butt. Bring meat to slow cooker.
- In a small ramekin, combine soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice wine, and hoisin sauce. Pour into slow cooker. Add garlic cloves.
- Toss meat around to coat all its surfaces with the sauce, but it does not have to be completely submerged in the sauce.
- Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Discard garlic cloves. Then use a fork to shred the pork (it should come apart easily) and then cook on high for another 30 minutes.
- Serve with rice, noodles or taco. And don’t forget to add garnishes! Enjoy!
Tasty! Love the flavor. Used spicy/hot honey instead which was my favorite! I also served over lentil, quinoa, and white rice blend, and made a quick pickled veggie to garnish; cucumber, carrot, red bell pepper, and cucumber. Yum!
Thanks for sharing, Vinnie. Great idea using hot honey – I bet that extra kick was delicious!
I am Norwegian, and i doing this recipe tomorrow. I am wondering; is «cup» a US or UK one? Or in other words, is this an American or an English recipe?
It’ll be a US cup!
Couldn’t find a 2.5lbs pork butte and had to use a 5lbs instead. Doubled the remaining ingredients except for the soy sauce. Didn’t have any low sodium soy sauce so I used slightly less than 1/2C of it and made up the difference with chicken broth to get 2/3 C.
I had doubled another recipe and did doubled the soy sauce but it came out way too salty and was basically all you could taste.
Also didn’t have any rice wine or hoison sauce so had to substitute with Pino Grigio and oyster sauce.
After 5 hrs of cooking, it came out absolutely delicious. It was so tender
and the flavor was fantastic. (Did a bit of taste testing as it was being shredded!)
I would like to serve this on a small flour tortilla with something like a slaw mix on top. Thought something like chimchi? Can you plead advise and would you have a recipe for an Asian slaw mix?
Thanks!
Those are great subs! Thanks for sharing!
Love the idea of serving on tortillas with a slaw mix. Honestly I would get a bag of precut cabbage and toss in in your favorite Asian dressing such as peanut dressing, sesame dressing etc, just for the ease of it! If you really want to make your own dressing, I do love my peanut dressing from this Asian salad recipe! If you try it let me know how it goes! <3
Used a 5lb boneless pork butt and double recipe. Cooked on 300 for 4.5 hours in a Dutch oven. Served it with fried rice and Asian cucumbers. Everyone LOVED it!!
Yay! Glad to hear that everyone loved it!
I never leave reviews but this one is SO GOOD I had to come and give my thanks. The whole family loves it, from grown up to toddlers. Ingredients are simple and it take five minutes to throw in the crockpot before work. We’ve been making it 1-2x monthly for years now- thank you! We mainly make tacos but it’s great with rice too.
Thank you for your kind words, it made my day! So happy to hear that your whole family loves this and it has become a regular over the years. <3
I saved this, tired of making bbq pulled pork. I also love this sauce when I make a ground beef bowl. Next time I make pulled pork it will be this one!
Sounds so good. I make a lot of you recipe’s. Can’t go wrong.
Thank you!
Thank you so much, Danielle. So appreciate your support <3 Let me know how you like this!
Hi, me again lol. I made it today, like seriously good! I had trouble finding pork shoulder or butt, found one Friday and made it today. All in all keeper for sure. Next will be your ribs lol. No bbq ribs for me right now either lol.
Thanks a bunch, you da best doll!
Thank YOU for making it and trusting the recipe! <3 So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Let me know how the ribs goes! 🙂
I was going to give my slow cooker to Goodwill, as it seemed everything I cooked in it came out dry. NOT this! So tender and juicy, with the delicious sauce. With easy sides like rice and edamame, it was a breeze to throw together a fabulous Sunday meal.
Sounds delicious <3 Thanks for sharing 🙂
Do you think you could cook it on low for longer? I am looking for recipes that I can start in the morning before I head to the office, to be ready when I get home.
I haven’t made this, but it sounds delicious!
Yes, definitely! You can cook this on low for 8-9 hours, or even a bit longer. That shouldn’t be a problem. Let me know how you like it when you make it 🙂
Didn’t plan well, if pork butt is frozen will it still work if cooked longer or does it need to be defrosted ?
Thank you recipe sounds delicious.
Yes, I highly recommend defrosting before adding to the slow cooker!
Hi! I’m currently making this tasty recipe for a third time. I made it first over Christmas as part of a buffet, and it was a huge success with everyone – I served it with homemade Asian slaw in bao buns 🤤 Now it’s my daughter-in-law’s birthday and she specifically requested I make this again – today I’m serving it with rice, Asian slaw, and pickled vegetables. We’ll be enjoying seconds and thirds all weekend! Thanks for sharing such a delicious but time-saving meal, it will definitely remain a regular favourite 🤩
Yay! I love hearing that – totally made my day! Appreciate you trusting my recipe! <3
This recipe is delicious! We added 1 teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice and a couple dollops of sweet chilli sauce. Came out amazing!
Yum! Sounds amazing! Love the addition of five spice powder!