Pineapple Hatch Chile Pulled Pork: Pork shoulder slow cooked with delicious seasonings, chiles, & pineapple until tender, juicy, & bursting with flavor.
Pork Al Pastor
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A sweet heat pulled pork with just the right amount of that fresh pineapple goodness, all cooked up in a crock-pot for long roasting depth of flavor and deliciousness!
And be sure to use any leftovers to make these gloriously delicious Pina Colada Pork Enchiladas!
Pineapple Pulled Pork:
When I was a little child, back when we lived on the farm that I discussed in my Grilled Corn post (which by the way is a hilarious post by-the-way, and also the corn is delicious so you should totally try it alongside this pulled pork!), we had farm animals.
Each year our farm would get new chickens, horses, cows and pigs. One year we had two pigs:
- One of our pigs was big, smelly, and lazy and we kids cared not a jot for it. We named him “Pig”. (Yes, we were absolute geniuses!)
- The other however was small and fun and relatively clean and we loved him dearly. He thought he was a horse so we named him “Horse”. (What’d I tell ya? GENIUSES. I bet you can’t guess what we named our cat…
Psych! We didn’t have a cat! And if we had, we totally would’ve named him Lucifer.)
Anyway, Horse would follow our actual horses all around the farm and he didn’t snort like a pig, but attempted to neigh like a horse. It was fantastic! One time we put a miniature saddle on Horse and tried riding him and that was even more fantastic!
Hatch Chile Pork:
Well, every year my family would put on a huge summer party. My dad trained (real) horses for a man that did one of the largest fireworks show’s in the country, and that man’s engineers would rig up a small sized, but still incredible, show that was done on the farm.
Then there was this amazing little old lady from a local restaurant that would come cook pigs in a fire pit under the ground for the summer party feast. People would come from all over to eat good food and watch the show and have a good time celebrating summer.
Dear Reader, Do you know where I am going with this story?
Yes reader, you are correct. They cooked our favorite little pot belly pig, Horse!!! And everyone said he was delicious. Eeek!
(Now I am interrupting this awful story and your regular programing to say if you’re currently on a virtual scavenger hunt, the clue is IS.)
I didn’t have the stomach to try any of the meat that night. Also, I have never been able to watch a fireworks show since then without thinking of pulled pork.
Luckily the trauma from Horse’s death has somewhat faded from my mind and I am back to enjoying all things pork once. Especially bacon; I LOVE bacon! And pulled pork, I really enjoy eating pulled pork. And if my story didn’t traumatize you to deeply, then I guarantee you are going to LOVE this pulled pork recipe!
I will not however, ever ever ever eat a horse (I am pretty sure calling Horse a horse was how I was able to convince myself it was okay to eat pig again.)!
What an awful story to tell you with a pulled pork recipe post! Why did I do that?! Sorry y’all, I’m going to blame it on the late night ramblings of an over-worked mom; however it is really because I think it’s funny that we called him “Horse” and tried to ride him. So, I totally wanted to tell you dear reader and pretend friend of mine about Horse the pig.
My parents really should’ve said they sent Horse out to the country with our dog (who was not named “Dog” by the way).
Pineapple:
The hatch-chiles in this recipe are canned, but the pineapple we use is fresh so that we can tent the top of our ingredients with the pineapple husks inside the slow cooker. You will want the best pineapple:
- The number one way to tell if your pineapple is sweet is by smell. Sniff near the bottom of the pineapple. Basically, the sweet fruit smell will be an indicator of how sweet and ripe the pineapple is or is not.
- Weight. Feel how heavy the pineapple is in comparison to it’s size. As with watermelons; if it feels heavier, then it is juicier. Continuing with the watermelon comparison; you may not want it to be too juicy because that means it may be overripe. (And here is where we step away from the watermelon comparison and use our nose again). Smell it one more time, does it smell fermented? If not, then you’ve got a great pineapple on your hands. If so, set it down and keep sniffing around. Basically, you want sweet smelling pineapple that is heavy but not too heavy.
Also, check out this cool doo-dad for cutting and coring your pineapple. But be sure to save the husks! And wash them before you core your pineapple.
Recipe for Pineapple Hatch Chile Slow Cooker Pulled Pork- Pork Al Pastor:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 3-4 lbs of Pork Shoulder (you can also use pork butt), cut into large 1-2 inch cubes
- 1 Pineapple; washed, cored and cut into 1-2 inch chunks
- (Save the Husks)
- 4 Chicken Bullion Cubes
- 1 4-6oz can Hatch Green Chiles (in the desired heat)
- 1/4 cup Champagne Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Cumin
- 2 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Onion Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Paprika
- 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar (Optional!!!)
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (Optional)
- Combine all seasonings to create a rub
Instructions
- Run down all pork pieces with the seasoning combination.
- Layer pork, chiles and pineapple chunks in you crock-pot, sprinkling with leftover seasoning as you go.
- Once all pork, chiles and pineapple is in the slow cooker, pour champagne vinegar over the top.
- Cover everything with the Pineapple Husks, meat side down.
- Place lid on slow cooker and cook on high heat for 6-8 hours (usually six is plenty).
- Shred and serve!
Calories
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Carbs
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A cool trick for shredding your Pork:
Want to know a neat little trick I’ve discovered? Once your meat is cooked, throw it in your kitchen aid or other mixer bowl with about 1/2 -1 cup of the liquids. With the beater/ paddle whisk, stir the pork until it is shredded to your desired consistency. Don’t over-shred though!
Disclaimer:
Thank you for following Flirting with Flavor! Per usual, this post may contain affiliate links including Amazon links. All opinions are my own. Please see Tangled with Taste’s disclosure for full disclaimer.
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