Oven Roasted Pulled Pork with Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce

Oven Roasted Pulled Pork with Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce is a spice-rubbed pork shoulder that is roasted low and slow in the oven, fork shredded, and then drizzled with a zesty and sweet mustard barbecue sauce.

Our family loves pulled pork.  When conditions are good, we're getting our pulled pork on several times a month.  You are familiar with pulled pork, right?  It's when you take a nice big hunk of pork and cook it low and slow until it's so tender it literally falls off the bone and can be shredded with ease.  It's a beautiful thing.

My husband and I have two methods of preparing pulled pork.  The first involves our smoker.

We have an amazing smoker that my step-dad picked up for us at a yard sale.  Score of the century, because it makes amazing smoked pork among other things.  But our fave is totally smoker-prepared pulled pork.  We like to mix it up with different varieties of wood chips and smoke that baby all day long.

Some days aren't ideal for smoking though.  Too much wind or rain can ruin a day's pork smoking plans.  Boo.

Which brings me to our second method of preparation: oven-roasting saves the day!

Oven-roasting my pork yields almost the same results as the smoker.  You don't have that quintessential smokey flavor (which I looooove), but the end result is the same tender, gorgeous, fall apart meat that is pulled pork.

I like to use a pork shoulder for my pulled pork, also known as a pork butt.  It's nice and fatty (pork fat rules!) which leads to a ton of flavor when it's all said and done. Top a pork sammie with some Cajun Crispy Fried Onions and we're talking chef's kiss.

Now, you can slow roast your pork butt according to the preparation method below and it will be totally amazing as soon as it's shredded, sans the sauce.  There's a rub mixture added before roasting that brings lots of flavor.

If you prefer your pulled pork saucy instead of dry (which in my opionion is the only way to go), load that beautiful shredded pork up with your favorite barbecue sauce.  This recipe includes a mouth-watering, tangy, homemade honey mustard barbecue sauce.  It is the icing on the pulled pork cake, so to speak, and really takes this pulled pork over the top.  

No longer do you have to make the trek to your local barbecue restaurant for tender, slow-cooked, barbecue pulled pork.  With this recipe, it's so easy to make drool-worthy pulled pork at home right in your oven.

And don't forget, you can customize the sauce to suit your preferences, but if you like a tangy, Carolina-style sauce, you will love this!

Oven Roasted Pulled Pork with Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce

   

Ingredients

PULLED PORK

• 1 (5 pound) pork shoulder
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp coarse salt
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 Tbsps Worcestershire sauce
• honey mustard bbq sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  
2. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, paprika, garlic powder, pepper, and onion powder.  Coat the pork roast with the Worcestershire sauce.  Rub the spice mixture over the entire roast, making sure to get it into all of the cracks and crevices.
3. Place the roast, fat side up, into a roasting pan and roast for 6 hours. 
4. When the pork has cooked for 6 hours, remove the pork from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes.  Transfer to a cutting board.  Using two forks, begin pulling apart the meat.  Pull out the bone, and pull the crispy fat layer from the top of the roast and crisp meat from the bottom of the roast off to the side.  Continue shredding the meat until all of the meat is shredded. 
5. NOTE: This step is OPTIONAL.  Using a knife, cut the crispy fat layer and crispy meat layer that you pulled to the side into small pieces and mix in with the shredded meat.  Discard any pieces of meat that are too crisp for you.
6. Drizzle the pork with the some of the barbecue sauce, reserving some to serve on the side. Pile the meat up on toasted buns and top with more sauce, if desired.

Notes

• My very favorite part of pulled pork is the crispy fat and the crispy meat that is cut up and mixed in with the tender prok.  For some people (my husband), this is too rich.  My husband is not a fan of the crispy bits.  Add them in, or don't.  It comes down to personal preference.
• Source: Me!