This is truly the easiest 4 ingredient slow-cooker pork roast you'll ever need! With just four (4) ingredients and approximately six (6) hours of hands-off cook time, you’ll have a truly delicious pork roast ready to shred up for the week’s meals. I love using this for an easy slow cooker pork fajitas recipe and also use the leftover shredded pork for chile verde, pulled pork sandwiches, burrito bowls or even carnitas tacos served with fresh pico de gallo. The options are endless and meals are made easier. That’s my kind of batch cooking.
The key here: use quality meats. Here at Cooking with Our CSA, we tend to eat mostly plant forward and a moderately vegetarian diet. When we do purchase beef, pork, and poultry, we are committed to sourcing most of our meat from Sage Mountain Farm, Diestel Family Farms, and Five Mary's Ranch to name a few California farms and ranches we love to support.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
There are several reasons why this recipe rocks. First, we're using the slow cooker or crock pot here. This slow cooker recipe is hands off so you can set it and forget it! It'll take a few hours while the pork roast enjoys a slow cooking. It's a game changer in preparing a number of meals easily. Second, the simple list of ingredients works well to use for your favorite dishes. We need just 4 ingredients to make what's quickly become one of my favorite new recipes here.
Ingredients for the Easiest Slow Cooker Pork Roast
For one of my favorite easy recipes, this one only needs four ingredients. Here's what we'll need:
- One 4-pound pork butt or pork shoulder, (bone in or boneless is fine): Because the ingredient list is so short, we're opting to use the best quality pork roast we can find. Knowing and seeing how the animals are raised on the farm provides us with the confidence and assurance that we’ll enjoy the highest quality, best tasting meats.
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled and kept whole: This aromatic is a great way to add flavor to our pork roast. Could you use more? Absolutely. But 5 cloves here has proven a great start.
- 1 tablespoon flaked sea salt + 1 tablespoon smoked sea salt: I love the combination of smoked sea salt and flaked sea salt. I find it gives a smoky edge as if it's been slow cooked in the smoker all day.
- 2 slices bacon: The excess fat rendered from the bacon adds additional flavor and helps to keep the meat moist.
How to Make the Slow Cooker Pork Roast for Fajitas
This delicious family dinner is super easy to make! Prep time is mostly hands off thanks to the use of our slow cooker. To start, line your slow cooker with the two slices of bacon and place your pork roast on top. Insert garlic cloves into various points of the roast. Use your index finger to make a divet or small opening to place the garlic clove inside. Mix together your smoked salt and flaked sea salt. Sprinkle your salt mixture on top of the roast, seasoning as much of the top and sides as possible. Cover and set your slow cooker to low and allow roast to cook for 6 to 8 hours. Turn off slow cooker and let the roast cool about 30 minutes.
Using tongs, remove pork roast from slow cooker. Place pork in a large bowl, keeping as much of it whole as possible while leaving the rendered fat liquid in the slow cooker. Remove any garlic cloves you see from the pork roast and discard. Using a couple of forks, shred pork. Portion your cooked pork into 8 ounce containers and store in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Storage Tips and FAQ
You can portion out your cooked shredded pork roast into 8 ounce containers and store in the refrigerator for up to five days making meal prep a breeze. You can also store in freezer friendly containers for up to 3 months.
What's great about this recipe is its versatility. A few ideas:
In tacos! Serve with your warm tortilla, favorite chunky salsa, fresh cilantro, and pickled red onion. My kids also add their favorite Mexican-style taco cheese to this too. Perfect for Taco Tuesday! And they also make great slow cooker pork fajitas!
In flautas! I love mixing in a couple tablespoons fajita seasoning then rolling them up in flour tortillas and frying them up in a large skillet. Served alongside guacamole and sour cream is the best option here.
Create a speedy stir-fry by crisping up shredded pork until golden brown with stir-fry bell peppers or stir-fry vegetables and your favorite stir fry sauce. Serve over a bed of rice and this is better than takeout!
Make mini pulled pork sliders! I'll crisp up shredded pork in the skillet then mix barbecue sauce until well combined. Top buns with your favorite toppings and dig in! Mini sliders make for easy entertaining make-ahead apps too!
You can definitely use a 3- to 4-quart Dutch oven or cocotte to make this recipe. The ingredient list is the same. Simply cook with pork on a low heat setting and add about ¼ to ½ cup of water to prevent the meat from drying out during the slow cook. You can also use an instant pot or pressure cooker if you have those tools available. Allocate approximately 15 minutes per pound of meat to produce a roast that is still slightly pink in the middle or the internal temperature registers about 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
Easiest Slow Cooker Pork Roast
Ingredients
- One 4-pound pork butt or pork shoulder (bone in or boneless is fine)
- 5 garlic cloves peeled and kept whole
- 1 tablespoon flaked sea salt + 1 tablespoon smoked sea salt
- 2 slices bacon
Instructions
- To start, line your slow cooker with the two slices of bacon and place your pork roast on top.
- Insert garlic cloves into various points of the roast, using your index finger to make a divet or small opening to place the garlic clove inside. Mix together your smoked salt and flaked sea salt then sprinkle your salt mixture on top of the roast, seasoning as much of the top and sides as possible.
- Cover and set your slow cooker to low and allow roast to cook for 6 to 8 hours. Turn off slow cooker and let the roast cool about 30 minutes.
- Using tongs, remove pork roast from slow cooker and place pork in a large bowl, keeping as much of it whole as possible while leaving the rendered fat liquid in the slow cooker. Remove any garlic cloves you see from the pork roast and discard. Using a couple of forks, shred pork.
- Portion your cooked pork into 8 ounce containers and store in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
