Description
Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder delivers pure comfort straight to your dinner table, with tender meat that falls apart at the gentlest touch of a fork. Packed with rich flavor and minimal effort, this dish turns an ordinary weeknight meal into something truly special for your family.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 6 to 8 pork shoulder, boneless
Supporting Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons salt
Seasoning:
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Season the 6-8 pound pork shoulder with 2 tablespoons salt and ¼ cup granulated sugar, ensuring complete coverage. Refrigerate overnight, tightly wrapped.
- Remove pork from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Heat oven to 300°F.
- Place pork in a large baking dish, positioning it on the bottom oven rack. Roast for 5 hours, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes.
- Check meat’s tenderness after 5 hours. The pork should easily shred when prodded with a fork.
- Remove pork from oven. Increase oven temperature to 475°F.
- Sprinkle ½ cup brown sugar evenly over the pork’s surface, covering every inch.
- Return pork to oven. Roast for 15 minutes until sugar caramelizes into a rich, deep brown crust.
- Remove from oven and let rest for 20 minutes before slicing or shredding your perfectly roasted meat.
Notes
- Always choose a pork shoulder with good marbling to ensure maximum tenderness and flavor during the slow roasting process.
- Salt and sugar brining the night before helps break down muscle fibers and creates a deeper, more complex taste profile for the meat.
- Basting every 30 minutes keeps the pork moist and helps develop a rich, caramelized exterior during the long cooking time.
- For gluten-free or low-carb diets, replace brown sugar with a keto-friendly sweetener like monk fruit or erythritol to create a similar caramelized crust.
- Prep Time: Overnight brining (12 hours)
- Cook Time: 5 hours 15 minutes
- Category: Roasted
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 523
- Sugar: 9 g
- Sodium: 1450 mg
- Fat: 35 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 19 g
- Trans Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 8 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 43 g
- Cholesterol: 140 mg