Great moisture and taste in the easiest crock pot shredded port tenderloin EVER. While I love pulled pork, this will do anytime.
A lot of time, I just experiment with food, kind of like chemistry lab but without the risk of explosion. See my previous post with raw potatoes in a crock pot. You haven’t seen that before.
My plan was to trim the pork tenderloin, cut it into chunks, spiced it and then cooked it “dry”. Shred it and add it back into the liquid that came out during cooking.
So my logic for this was:
- A crock pot on high gets 200 plus degrees.
- Pork tenderloin is lean so low and slow is not needed. If you “overcook it” in a moist environment it will shred easily.
- The amount of moisture in the tenderloin (usually a moist meat) would be about the right about to moisturizer it at the end of cooking.
It works great.
Rating
A nice strong 4.
Full Speed Puppies at 6 1/2 months
Notes: The spicing is very nice for a BBQ pork sandwich. Feel free to mess with the spicing but with recipe; it does all end up on your plate.
PLEASE be sure you have a pork TENDERLOIN and not a pork LOIN. They are NOT the same. A tenderloin is about 1 1/2 pounds, long and thin. A pork loin is much bigger and thicker. They do not cook the same and the problems most people are having seem to be the wrong cut of pork. If you have a loin, then please see https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/crock-pot-pulled-pork-loin/
Crock Pot BBQ Recipes
Crock Pot Pulled Pork from Butt the Right Way
Start with a pork tenderloin. Trim off extra fat and the silverskin.
Cut into 5-6 about equal chunks.
Mix 2 teaspoon brown sugar, two teaspoon chili powder, one teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon each pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Mix well.
Add the spices to the tenderloin in a bowl and stir well to coat.
Place the meat in the bottom of a small crock pot. Cook on high for 2 hours.
Shred the meat after 2 hours and mix back into the liquid in the crock pot. Let it cook another 15-20 minutes on high and you are good to go.
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Easiest Crock Pot Shredded Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1 pork tenderloin - about 1-1/2 pounds
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Start with a pork tenderloin. Trim off extra fat and the silverskin.
- Cut into 5-6 approximately equal chunks.
- Mix 2 teaspoon brown sugar, two teaspoon chili powder, one teaspoon coarse salt, 1/4 teaspoon each of pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Mix well.
- Add the spices to the meat in a bowl and stir well to coat.
- Place the meat in the bottom of a small crock pot. Cook on high for 2 hours.
- Shred the meat after 2 hours and mix back into the liquid in the crock pot. Let it cook another 15-20 minutes on high and you are good to go.
Recipe Notes
Have a question or something not clear? Ask in the comments.
If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated.
Nutrition is for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
Rachel
Made it with pork tenderloin and was so easy and tasty that I tried it with chicken too.
Thanks so much!
Mary
Thanks for this recipe. It’s a keeper!
I’m confused about crock pots and your answer to the Wrong Temp post. If the only difference between high and low settings is the warm up speed, then why does mine have the option to switch to low after 2 hours on high? Did I misread something?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Mary,
Welcome to the blog.
I think I said exactly what I wanted to say.
I only have a couple of reasons your pot could have that setting. First, they aren’t using a thermostat (really a bad thing). Most do but some still don’t. Many old ones didn’t either. Without a thermostat to control it, they worked by applying different amperage to the heating element for low vs high. These are the type of pots that run horribly hot at times even on low since they are applying the same amperage and the temperature just keeps climbing.
The other possibility is that the marketing/design people have no idea of what their product actually does. But I suspect the first.
So the old “know your pot” applies. If it boils much, it is too hot. And buy a different brand next time. KitchenAid seems to win the testing at Cooks Illustrated a lot but they very by model. My All Clads seem very good also. And my Cuisinart 3.5 qt is stellar.
Thanks for the note, question and rating. I love to ramble on.
Dan
Terese
Excellent way to cook that doesn’t take 6 hours and it turned out great thank you
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Terese,
Welcome to the blog and sorry for the delayed response.
I do like this recipe. It is tender like all tenderloin and doesn’t make so much I need to freeze things.
Glad it worked well for you.
Thanks so much for the note and rating.
Dan
Mari
Hi! This looks amazing. I have a question… I roasted pork tenderloin last night and it’s dry! I don’t want to toss it, so I wanted to make this, how would you recommend I do it? Add a bit of water with the spices and maybe some BBQ sauce?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Mari,
Welcome to the blog.
You will definitely need to add some moisture. This recipe depends on the moisture already in the meat for the cooking.
If the meat is already cooked and dry, there may not be much rescuing it. Maybe shred and just add a few oz of chicken broth and the spices, then low for an hour and see if it comes back or if you just want to trash it. BBQ sauce just at the end.
That may or may not help.
Dan
Trish
Tried it. Add my own spices to it as well. Very moist and tender. Turned out fantastic!
DrDan
Hi Trish,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Jeanette
My sister makes this recipe all the time. It is a great recipe. I have a question though. I am making this pulled pork for 20-25 guests. There will be lots of other dishes. I will be using 6 pork tenderloins. Any idea on how long to cook?
DrDan
Hi Jeanette,
Welcome to the blog.
I don’t think this is the recipe for you really. You would need about 10 pounds for that many people, so 6-8 tenderloins.
I would suggest https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/oven-pulled-pork-from-pork-butt/. It will be real pulled pork (not “fake” like this one) and is great. Use two 4-5 pound pork butts and separate on the pan in the oven. About 10 hours plus or minus.
You can see all my Super Bowl Recipe recommendations at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/super-bowl-recipes/ which I just rewrote for re-publishing tomorrow.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Marian Manzo
I had a one and a half pound pork tenderloin in my freezer didn’t know what to do with it. Then I thought, I loved pulled pork let me see if I can do it with the pork tenderloin in the Crock-Pot.. I looked at several recipes on-line then I chose yours. It is absolutely perfect. I followed it exactly, except I did use a large crock pot but it did not change the cook time. The seasoning is absolutely perfect I will never make pulled. pork any other way! Thank you so much!!
Wrong Temp Setting
Your first assumption for your experiment is incorrect though, so the entire experiment is flawed. Crock pots or slow cookers are 200 on Low and 300 on High, or even higher if they have actual temp settings. Google it, and you get multiple results that all say Low is 200, High is 300, with some small variation of course depending on manufacturer, etc. Your recipe should be for cooking on LOW at 200 not HIGH which will overcook a tenderloin after 2 hours.
Most Crock-Pots and other slow cookers have a low setting which is usually 200 degrees F; the high setting is generally 300 degrees F.
DrDan
Your assumptions about slow cookers is both wrong and in some ways right.
Modern slow cookers should not boil on either low nor high. They should have a thermostat that keeps them under 212. It is just the time to reach a stable temperature that should be the difference. (6-8 hrs for low and 3-4 hours for high). The manufacturers will state that and independent testing (Cooks Illustrated for example) will confirm it except for a rare one without a thermostat.
Having said that, I have three crock pots of various brands (I use crock pot to equal slow cooker). Each has boiled at times (on high not low) and they shouldn’t. I have used at least 10 different pots in my life and they all do.
So why? Some of it has to do with the location of the heating elements which varies. Probable cheap or malfuctioning thermostats. And almost all old (I will arbitrarily say 20 yrs with no proof) lack thermostats and just depended on voltage adjustments. CrockPot brand mainly back then.
Since most crock pot recipes involve lots of liquid (think water) you will not “catch them” over 212.
You and I “know” we see boiling on high all the time.
I read articles (engineering articles) stating that 15-20 yrs ago when I started to get more serious about cooking . But none in recent years and I don’t have academic library access anymore. When measured with things other than water, back then most believe high is more like up to 250 on most pots. But a rare one have been seen at 300 given enough time. That is mostly the old CrockPots and ones without thermostats.
I’m not finding those references showing the higher (250-300) temperatures on crock pots other then unreferenced statements. But I believe those older articles have created this myth that goes on and on. I will even make some statements in recipe post where I don’t really think high is appropriate.
Here is a test study by Cooks Illustrate. https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/370-searching-out-the-best-slow-cooker showing how modern slow cookers should and do run.
To end with a story. As I was reading my way through Google results (your suggestion) the last of the 15-20 was a blogger (we all know you should trust bloggers… right) She was going on and on doing the “comprehensive” guide to crock pots (no references) and was telling how to test your pot. Fill with water and do low and high each for 8 hours and then check the water temperatures and low should be about 200 (ok…) And high should be 300. Apparently there is no boiling point on her planet or she sleep through all science classes.
So thanks for your comment. The recipe stands but your comment stays for people to see your feelings. (I’m violating my no anonymous comment rule). I feel it is the temperature curve that matters. Also, most recipes with whole pork tenderloins in crock pots are 4 hours low and 2 hours high.
Dan
Ann
My crockpot is 6qt. My pork is 2.77lbs. Keep with 2 hour cook time?
Thank you
DrDan
Hi Ann,
Welcome to the blog.
First be sure we are talking pork tenderloin and not pork loin. I have never seen a pork tenderloin that big. This will not work with pork loin.
Assuming you are using two tenderloins. Yep, use the bigger crock pot and double the spices. Cooking time will be about the same 2 hours on high.
Dan
Shannon Zamora
Your recipe says high for temp. My crock pot has temp settings and the highest setting is 400. Will that be too high for 2 hours?
DrDan
Hi Shannon,
I have never seen a crockpot like that. You may have a roaster instead. They tend to be bigger and use degrees not settings. But whatever,
On low most crock pots are about 200 degrees or at least under boiling. On high crock pots should run the same max temperature but just get there faster leading to faster cooking time.
For you, pick 225 and see what happens.
Dan
Lisa Kane
So glad I found this! I tried it last night and it turned out great :) The meat is tender and juicy and nicely flavored. We all like a different sauce in my house, one likes no sauce at all, so this is really perfect. We just finish on the bun with sauce if desired!
I used a larger crockpot for 2 tenderloins. I think it’s important to cut it into chunks and have enough room in the crock so they aren’t crowded. I mixed the seasonings in a bowl and rolled each piece of meat in them until they were all covered. Also, my crock has a “dual” setting, so it cooked on high for an hour or so then switched to low for the last few hours. I started it at about noon and didn’t get home until 4, it was perfect.
Deena
The nutritional facts, is that for the whole pot or what is an actual serving size?
Deena
Nevermind! found it.
Joanne
Left meat in for 2 hours still tough, so set for additional hour. Hope this works. Any advice?
DrDan
How big is the pork tenderloin and how big is the crock pot?
Lindsay
If I wanted to double the recipe in this size crockpot what would you suggest cooking time wise? Thanks great recipe!
DrDan
Hi Lindsay,
I violate the 2/3 full rule for crock pots here. I like this recipe to be mostly if not all in contact with the bottom of the pot. So I would use a 6-7 qt. pot for double.
Dan
Brianna
Do i need any liquids in to crock pot? Will it burn without liquids?
DrDan
No additional liquid needed. The liquid from the meat is enough.
DrDan
Stephanie
I’m wondering if the crockpot size is really important. I tried this in a bigger crockpot and the pork was far from shreddable after two hours
DrDan
I think the size is somewhat important probably due to heating the air faster. Cook it longer probably 30 to 60 minutes longer. Check it a few times. There is probably also some issues with variability between crock pots.
DrDan
Lindsey
Love this one as well. its a regular on our meal rotation
DrDan
Thanks for the note and rating. It does make a great sandwich.
DrDan
Laura R
This works great! One day a while back I accidentally discovered that pork tenderloin shreds nice after a sit in the crock pot. I like the spices you used, will definitely try that over my previous dumping of a bottled BBQ sauce. I bet the leftover meat would make great nachos!
Pat
This recipe looks yummy. Thanks!