Pulled Pork (With Italian Herbs) Recipe

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5 from 12 votes

Pulled Pork (With Italian Herbs) Recipe

Tender, slow-cooked pulled pork infused with aromatic Italian herbs is the perfect dish for any occasion.

Prep Time30

Cook Time7

Total Time7 30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Author: Grace Vallo

Equipment

1 Dutch Oven or you can use a slowcooker/crockpot but Dutch oven is recommended

Ingredients

4 pound boneless pork butt or pork shoulder
6-8 peeled garlic cloves any large cloves cut in half
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200℉
For Italian dry rub: combine rosemary, thyme and fennel seeds in a bowl. Set aside.
To prepare meat: Turn your pork butt onto a working surface so that the fattiest side is facing up. Use a sharp knife to make small, inch-deep incisions throughout the fatty layer of the pork butt, pushing a garlic clove into each slit. Make sure garlic cloves are as buried as possible in the fat. See my step-by-step video below for help!
Sprinkle and press down dry rub onto pork butt so as much sticks to the meat as possible.
To brown meat: Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in dutch oven to medium heat (or a separate skillet if you’re using a slow cooker). Place pork butt, fatty-side up, in the dutch oven or skillet, sprinkling other side with salt and pepper. Brown pork butt on side #1 for 4-5 minutes until light golden. Flip pork butt so that the fatty side is face down and brown this side for 4-5 minutes until light golden, sprinkling the other side with salt and pepper.
Dutch oven method (recommended): Place cover on dutch oven, and place in oven for about 7 hours. At 4 hours, flip pork and baste with juices. At 6 hours and 40 minutes, check temperature of thickest part of the pork. Internal temperature should reach 195-210℉. Keep roasting pork, checking every 10-15 minutes, until pork has reached that temperature! Pork should reach this temperature anywhere from 6 hours 40 minutes to 7 hours and 15 minutes.
Slow cooker method: If you’re using a slow cooker (crock pot), remove pork from searing skillet and place in slow cooker on LOW (which is approximately 200 degrees!), fat-side down. Roast for about 7 hours. At 4 hours, flip pork and baste with juices. At 6 hours and 40 minutes, check temperature of thickest part of the pork. Internal temperature should reach 195-210℉. Keep roasting pork, checking every 10-15 minutes, until pork has reached that temperature! Pork should reach this temperature anywhere from 6 hours 40 minutes to 7 hours and 15 minutes.
To serve: use a ladle to remove 90% of the juice from the bottom of your dutch oven or slow cooker. Use two forks to pull apart pork into desired chunks and shreds.

Video

Notes

You can use a 5-6 pound bone-in pork butt if needed, but cooking time may vary slightly!

Nutrition