this is the dish that frankie would marry me for.

as in, I'm 99% sure if I told him that I wouldn't make it again until we were married… he'd be dragging me to the nearest city hall within the hour.

it really is out of this world – and pulled pork is one of my favorite foods.

This one is just SOOOOO easy and flavorful and quick. plus using the slow cooker in the summer is like foodie tip #1, ain't nobody got time for a hot oven. Reason number one it's easy: I use tenderloin instead of bone-in. i actually experimented earlier this year in making this with a shoulder or different roast that had the bone and it wasn't that different. When you make it with tenderloin it's faster and less work for you.

Reason number two it's so easy: four ingredients. thats it. nothing hiding or lurking. you don't even need to salt/pepper that sucker. just go with it.

HOOKAY. you caught me, one of the ingredients is… soda. WHICH i've sworn off of for the whole year. whiccchhh is why i made sure I bought a soda that didn't have corn syrup and the label consisted of ingredients I could actually read. you guys do you, I've made this pork so many times with all kinds of different root beers (I even did it with that 10 calorie root beer once and it was still phenom… lesson: you really can't mess this up).

I do feel a moral obligation to require Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce though. It is the ONLY kind of barbecue you'll find in my apartment, let alone what I'll use in this pulled pork.

I guess if you really can't get your hands on a bottle of this deliciousness, you can probably substitute with your next favorite barbecue… but i really haven't made this with anything else so I can't make any promises on the flavor if you change it up!

I just lost my train of thought because, um, ^^^^^^^^^^

I'm swooning again and i just don't know what to say about that. when you pull it out of the slow cooker it FALLS APART – which are my two favorite words in the english language, especially when paired together. so tender. so. tender.

also. this is so so so easy because it's freezer friendly! I almost ALWAYS have some in my freezer for those nights where I just don't have a plan or time or… i'm just tired. barbecue pulled pork and buffalo chicken are my go-to meals when I have no drive to be in the kitchen.

Because this stuff makes GREAT sandwiches (our go-to), pizzas, nachos, salahds, etc. you get the jist (if you don't the buff chix post above has a list of my favorite ways to use pulled/shredded meats and it totally applies here)

Root Beer Pulled Pork

Author: Ashley Renee
Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 480
Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes

Scale

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin (approx. 2 pounds)
12 ounces root beer
1 + 1/2 cups your favorite barbecue sauce, divided
1 packet of lipton onion soup mix

Instructions

Remove the pork from the plastic and trim any fat that you see and place it in your crock pot. If you have a small slow cooker, you may need to cut the tenderloin in half (don't worry, I did it with mine and it doesn't change a thing about the taste/flavor/tenderness).
In a bowl, combine the root beer, 1 cup of barbecue sauce, and half the lipton onion soup mix. Sprinkle the remaining soup mix directly on the pork. Pour the root beer mixture into the crockpot.
Cook for 7-8 hours on low or 5-6 on high (I recommend doing it on low!).
After the pork is cooked remove it from the crock pot, shred with two forks, and return to the crockpot to soak up the remaining root beer/barbecue mixture. Add in the additional 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce and mix together.
At this point I usually let it heat through again, the pork tends to cool off when I'm shredding it, for about 20 minutes on low. Then you just serve it however you want!