The Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder Recipe – delicious baked pork shoulder for pulled pork with a crispy crunchy crust – makes the best pulled pork ever!
When you think of pork shoulder, you usually think “slow and low”.
It’s the way we’ve been told to make pulled pork forever – cook it for a very long time at low heat to let the fat render, and meat soften and get incredibly tender.
It’s the most popular way to make pulled pork for a reason – but we’re upping the flavor in this recipe big time by creating a crispy, crunchy crust outside of our tender, delicious pork shoulder that cooks slowly to perfection.
This pork shoulder is delicious in sandwiches, wraps, salads, tacos, burritos – or just straight off the plate – and goes with BBQ sauce or any other type of sauce you’d like.
This pork serves a crowd and is SO easy to make – for the perfect easy keto crunchy pork shoulder dinner that even beginner cooks can master the first time.
And if you’re looking for other easy gameday classics, be sure too check out my oven baked ribs, easy instant pot ribs, slow cooker ribs, easy smoked brisket, smoked pulled pork, or Crunchy BBQ baked chicken drumsticks, best crunchy baked chicken wings recipes!
Just Take Me To The Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder Already!
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As a commitment to my readers, I put a lot of information into my posts to help everyone feel at home in the kitchen – if you’d rather skip over all that, and get straight to the recipe, please click the “skip to recipe” button in the top left corner or scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find the easy printable recipe.
How To Get Crunchy Baked Pork Shoulder
This recipe is incredibly easy because it doesn’t require many ingredients (just salt, pepper, pork, and optional spices) – OR kitchen equipment (a baking sheet, oven, foil, and roasting rack/metal rack) are all you need.
To get this pork to come out perfect – juicy and tender with a crunchy crust – you need to follow the method below.
Just remember – cook slow and low to perfection – then hot and fast for a perfect crispy crunch!
- With the oven rack in the middle of the oven, preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet or roasting pan with foil.
- Set a wire cooling rack or roasting rack over foil lined baking sheet or roasting pan.
- Season pork liberally with salt, pepper, and optional spices or pork rub.
- Place seasoned pork on rack and place in oven. Roast until you can easily pull meat by gently twisting with a fork when inserted into pork shoulder, about 8 hours.
- Remove pork from oven and tent with foil, at least for 20 minutes but up to two hours if prepping ahead of a party.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Let oven fully preheat. Add pork to oven and let skin puff and get crispy – rotate every five minutes to make sure you get an even blister around the pork shoulder.
- When pork is crunchy around all sides, after about 20 minutes, remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Pick/shred/pull pork meat and serve immediately.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to six days in the refrigerator, or up to four months in the freezer.
Keto Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder
Pork shoulder is a great option for people following a low carb diet – but you do need to be sure to watch any pork rubs, seasonings, and even sauces after your pork is cooked, since they can add hidden carbs.
To make your crunchy baked pork shoulder keto, please follow these tips:
–Golden monkfruit sugar can be used as a brown sugar substitute at a 1:1 ratio. It isn’t an exact replacement since you won’t get the rich caramel flavor – but it works and keeps your macros in check.
-Reduce garlic and onion powders in a rub mix if you are strictly limiting carbs, as they can contain more than other spices.
-Watch BBQ sauce when serving – BBQ sauce can be loaded with carbs and sugar.
Make sure to grab a low carb sauce (vinegar and mustard based sauces often have less carbs, as does Alabama white sauce – make sure to grab a keto approved version of Kansas City style sauce if you want a traditional pulled pork sweet BBQ sauce.)
How To Serve Crunchy Pork Shoulder
To serve this crunchy baked pork shoulder, I usually just treat it as pulled pork – shredding it and serving with buns, sauce, coleslaw, and other toppings for guests to make pulled pork sandwiches.
Pulled Pork Sandwich Toppings
If you’re making this crispy pork shoulder for a party and serving pulled pork sandwiches, I’m listing some of my favorite pulled pork sandwich ideas below:
- Korean BBQ pulled pork sandwiches – toss pulled pork with Korean BBQ sauce and top with kimchi or favorite asian slaw.
- Combine pork with green chili enchilada sauce and top with monterey jack cheese, shredded lettuce, and jalapeños for a spicy pulled pork sandwich.
- Toss pulled pork in BBQ sauce and top with crispy fried onion strings and shredded iceburg lettuce and a slice of tomato.
Pulled Pork Recipe Ideas
This pulled pork is so delicious, you’ll want to eat it right out of the oven – but I’m sharing some of my easy meal ideas with pulled pork:
- Pulled pork hash browns – combine hash browns, a diced onion and diced bell pepper, and pulled pork and pan fry for a delicious pork breakfast skillet. Top with a fried egg for even more flavor!
- Pulled pork mac and cheese – top creamy and delicious mac and cheese with shredded pulled pork!
- Pulled pork tacos – add pulled pork, hot sauce, salsa, beans, and cheese for meaty pulled pork tacos.
What to Serve With Crunchy Baked Pork Shoulder
This pork shoulder goes with your favorite BBQ classics – but I’m sharing some of my favorite sides to go along with this crunchy pulled pork I think you’ll love:
what to serve with crunchy baked pork shoulder
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The Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder Recipe
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The Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder Recipe
The Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder Recipe - delicious baked pork shoulder for pulled pork with a crispy crunchy crust - makes the best pulled pork ever!
Ingredients
- 1 whole pork shoulder - about 8-10 lbs
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt or kosher salt
- optional:
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp adobo seasonings
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- With the oven rack in the middle of the oven, preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet or roasting pan with foil.
- Set a wire cooling rack or roasting rack over foil lined baking sheet or roasting pan.
- Season pork liberally with salt, pepper, and optional spices or pork rub.
- Place seasoned pork on rack and place in oven.
- Roast until you can easily pull meat by gently twisting with a fork when inserted into pork shoulder, about 8 hours.
- Remove pork from oven and tent with foil, at least for 20 minutes but up to two hours if prepping ahead of a party.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
- Let oven fully preheat.
- Add pork to oven and let skin puff and get crispy - rotate every five minutes to make sure you get an even blister around the pork shoulder.
- When pork is crunchy around all sides, after about 20 minutes, remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Pick/shred/pull pork meat and serve immediately.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to six days in the refrigerator, or up to four months in the freezer.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 35Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 10mgSodium 250mgCarbohydrates 0gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 3g
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Lindsay Jones
That picture is HORRIBLE! I thought it was cancerous skin when I was flipping through.
Kathleen
Wow! Looks scrumptiously delicious. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
Katie
Made this for the family and it was a hit!
Matt Taylor
This pork shoulder recipe looks incredible! I need to try this out sometime. Thanks for sharing!