5/09/13

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Tender, juicy pulled pork recipe seasoned with a delicious but simple dry rub recipe then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.

JUMP TO RECIPE

I have a handful of recipes I always always ALWAYS go to when we’re having company over… and this is one of them!

I put it on in the morning, spend the day getting ready for my company and then when everyone gets here, I can relax because I know the hard part is done!

Crock Pot Pulled Pork! Pulled pork seasoned with a dry rub then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.

I think this combination of spices is PERFECT with pulled pork and I’ve yet to feed this to somebody who didn’t ask for the recipe. Definitely take the time to season the pork the night before because then the flavors really get into the meat.

And the stock?! Lawzamercy you never had better Greasy Rice than what you get when you use this stock! Sometimes I toss a couple handfuls of the pork in the rice pot then we have two main courses.

Once I chop up the meat, I toss it back into the slow cooker then just set out buns, pickles and a variety of BBQ sauces and call ‘er done. I love to serve this with potato salad, deviled eggs and, if I have time, good ol’ Southern-Style Green Beans.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork! Pulled pork seasoned with a dry rub then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.

I don’t know why I decided to name this rub after Husband’s pet name for me. Maybe because it sounds fun and silly and not (ever) too serious... and, well, that's how I like things :)

I have no idea why he ever started calling me Buzzy, but he has for as long as I can remember and he never, ever, never calls me anything else. I’m Buzzy. Always.

Try these other 'Fix It & Forget It' slow cooker recipes great for feeding a crowd!

  • Crock Pot Pulled Chicken - Pulled chicken made in a slow cooker plus a recipe for Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce, a white barbeque sauce popular in Alabama.
  • Slow Cooker Hawaiian Ham – A super easy crock pot recipe with ham, brown sugar and pineapple. Serve as-is or make Hawaiian Ham Sliders!
  • Crock Pot Carnitas - Delicious tender, crispy pork carnitas made easy by seasoning a pork roast or Boston butt with Mexican spices, cooking in the slow cooker then getting those famous crispy bits by placing under the broiler.

Recipe for Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Crock Pot Pulled Pork! Pulled pork seasoned with a dry rub then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork with Buzzy’s Butt Rub

Crock Pot Pulled Pork with Buzzy’s Butt Rub
Yield: 12 Servings
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 8 HourTotal time: 8 H & 10 M
Tender, juicy pulled pork recipe seasoned with a delicious but simple dry rub recipe then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.

Ingredients

Pulled Pork:
  • 1 4-5 pound pork shoulder or butt roast
  • 1 batch Buzzy’s Butt Rub (recipe below)
  • 3-4 drops Liquid Smoke (optional)
Buzzy’s Butt Rub:
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients for the rub then mix well; set aside.
  2. Rinse butt roast with cold water then pat dry with paper towels. Using your hands, rub roast with seasoning until evenly coated.
  3. Cover rubbed roast with plastic wrap then refrigerate overnight if possible. It’s not a deal-breaker if you can’t but it’s SO much better if it can soak up the flavors of the rub overnight.
  4. Place the roast in a crock pot, cover then cook on high for 4 hours. Do not add water.
  5. Add Liquid Smoke to the broth that has been created from cooking the roast (not directly onto the roast). Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 4 more hours.
  6. Remove broth from crock pot to make Greasy Rice or freeze for later use. Turn crock pot off and let roast rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
  7. Remove roast from crock pot. The meat will “pull” away from the fat and blade bone (if bone-in) in sections. Discard fat, bone, etc. and shred or cut the sections of meat as preferred. Toss or serve with barbeque sauce if desired.
pulled pork, boston butt, pork shoulder, slow cooker, crock pot, crockpot, barbeque, barbecue, bbq, best, easy, how to, buzzy's, butt rub, seasoning, rub
dinner
southern, american
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72 comments:

  1. Looks and sounds delicious. I just put a pork roast in the crock pot for dinner. I will defiantly try this one next time. I pinned it so I can find it when I am ready. Thanks again evelyn

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  2. Made this tonight! I used a smaller Boston Butt because, you know, it's just me here, and it turned out great! I made my Dad's famous homemade BBQ sauce and everything was delicious. Thanks!

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  3. Sounds very yummy! And looks amazing! I just put my butt rubbed roast in the crockpot a couple of hours ago. It smells incredible! Can't wait til it's done.

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  4. Can this be altered for a 3 pound pork loin? If so, how? Thanks!

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    1. I'm of the opinion that you can't cook a loin like this because there's not enough fat and connective tissue to withstand the cooking time. But that's my opinion :) I think you could season the loin with the rub, sear it on all sides in a hot skillet with olive oil, then bake in the oven at 350, covered, for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven then let rest, covered, for 15-20 minutes. That should work!

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    2. try it works every time, crock pots are great for the butt

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    3. I make pulled pork with dry rub in the crock pot from pork loin all the time. There is usually a pad of fat on the loin (at least the way I buy it in bulk) and that is plenty (P*L*E*N*T*Y) of fat for making the pulled pork.

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  5. Thanks, Mandy! I wondered about the same thing. The loin is *very lean. I appreciate the advice! :)

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  6. I've been thinking about making this for a while now and just got around to it this past Saturday. I knew it would be good, but oh my goodness I had no idea just how good, I went whole hog and even made the greasy rice with the crock pot drippings! It was so amazing and awesome that I went to the store today to buy another butt roast to make again! I have seasoned it with your rub and have it in the fridge now waiting on tomorrow to throw in the crock pot. I plan on making the greasy rice again too but I am gonna cut way down on the amount of fat I allow in as I put too much the first time and grease puddled in the bottom of my pot. Yes, I read that you think it's about 1/3 of a cup but I just poured it all in! LOL

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    1. LOL!! Well, I'm glad you liked it!! Thanks for letting me know!

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  7. I have tried every pulled pork recipe out there...by far the best.
    Also so very easy...also made your rice..another 5 star recipe...looking forward to trying the chicken next

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    1. Oh, WOW! I think that's the first time anyone's ever described one of my recipes as "5 Star". I literally just did a fist-pump (in slow motion... with Queen playing in the background) :) Thank you!!!!

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    2. Hi Mandy! My kitchen smells incredible right now. Just finished shredding this delicious butt of pork! It is amazing! I made this to deliver tomorrow to volunteers at a local free clinic in my town. I have separated the fat from the juices. How would you handle it at this point? I am thinking of pouring the broth over the shredded meat and refrigerating overnight to be warmed up in the crockpot in the morning before delivery. ??? Thank you again. This is The Best!

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    3. Apples, that would be a great idea!

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  8. Mimi Koberlein7/26/13, 1:42 PM

    Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this recipe! So easy and SO SO GOOD! I made this for extended family while we were in Hawaii. We spent the day at the beach while the pork did its thing, and when we came back, the prep was a piece of cake and we were eating in minutes. This is important when there are 6 kids under 13 and two teens staring you down for dinner!

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    1. Oh, Mimi, thank you for letting me know! I'm so glad everyone liked it!

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  9. We had this last night and it was fantastic! My husband said it was the best he's had in a long time and I agree. Thank you so much for posting! I added a little brown sugar because my Carolina mustard sauce has a little sweet to it. I am usually not a fan of rubs, but I was feeling adventurous. This turned out so good, it is my new go to. If Winn Dixie still has Boston Butts on sale, I am going to get another! I pinned it so I can find it again in the near future. Thank you!

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  10. We could not believe that a recipe like this with NO ingredients other than the roast turned out so well, but it did(well, we did use a rub.) So delicious. We made it for a party and are going to do so again this weekend. A question for you Buzzy: for the last party I did this in two batches so we would have enough. I was afraid to crowd the pot. Do you think it would be OK if I jammed a couple roasts in the same crock pot so I do not need to spend two days making it twice?

    Thanks. Denise in Pittsburgh

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    1. Glad y'all liked it! You can totally jam them in there together! I think they cook better in tight quarters anyway :)

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  11. OMG!!! I tried this in the crock pot with chicken and it was awesome! I'm going to post the link of my facebook page. www.facebook.com/nomoregrannypanties

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  12. Sounds soooo good. I will have to try it. If the bone isn't thoroughly stripped, if there is a little meat on it, I would freeze to throw in a pot of beans later.

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  13. This recipe is fantastic! Made it a few months ago and it was a hit! Making it again tomorrow for Labor Day. I also add some white and brown sugar to the rub so that it caramelizes a bit and its awesome!

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  14. 11 months out of the year I use my Christmas light timer to make my cheapo non-programmable crockpot start when I want it too!

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    1. That's the best thing I've heard all day! Love it!

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    2. Ha I never thought of that love it.

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  15. My husband made this for us yesterday and my 13 yr old is very picky. She loved it! Ate it as leftovers today too and everyone that knows her knows she must really like the food to eat it as leftovers. It's a new favorite recipe in our house. Thanks!

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  16. I made this today and it is AMAZING. I ate 1/2 of it while shredding the meat. Melt in your mouth good! Thank you for posting this recipe!

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  17. Hey Mandy, this looks great. I'm in the process of making this and have the Buzzy's Rub on the Butt in the Fridge. My question is: Can you cook the butt on low for 8 hours rather than splitting it up 4 on High and then 4 on Low? Would you need to add liquid in that case?

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    1. Depends on how big your roast is. If 6-7 lbs. you'll need to cook it about 10-12 hours if you're cooking on low the whole time. If it's smaller, you can probably cook it in 8 hours. You'll just want to make sure it's cooked long enough to "pull" apart very, very easily with a fork. Good luck!

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    2. Thanks for the quick reply! I'm new to all of this so I appreciate the help. It's about 4lbs. I'm going to leave it in for 9 hours. Is there a downside to leaving it in for an hour or two longer?

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    3. No problem! I think 8 hours will probably do the trick!

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  18. I have made this twice and all I can say is.. awesome! My family pretty much lick their plates! do you have a homemade bbq sauce or anything you serve on the pulled pork..like in the picture?? I hate to use the bottle stuff if you have another way.. thanks.. Kim

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  19. Hey! This sounded so good, I had to try it for my party this weekend. It is in my crockpot now - I jammed in the whole 10.5 lbs. For a roast this big, how long do you suggest I cook it?

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    1. That is AWESOME! Just jammed it in there! I'd say high 4 hrs, low 6 hours or low for 12 hours. When you look at it hard and it falls apart, it's ready!

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  20. I'm going to be honest here I don't like bbq at all, but my fiance does so I bought him a nice 6lbs roast and left it last night to soak up the seasonings. Its been in for about two hours now and the house smells Great! He keeps going to the kitchen to inspect our crock pot. I hope it turns out as good as everyone says it is because normally I can't pull bbq off and he loves it. Fingers crossed!

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  21. Omg amazinq! I use two 2.5lb boneless pork buts I had and I couldnt have picked them up to take out, it literally broke apart as I was spooning out the grease

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  22. I have 6 kids, and for the past year I have been buying larger, cheaper meats to slow-cook, but still don't have it down! I can't tell you how many posts have said that it's almost impossible to mess up a big, fatty piece of meat, but I've done it, a lot. I threw away my first two crock pots, because they began boiling everything after a couple hours. Now I have a Ninja Cooking System (fancy crockpot), and it seems to work pretty well, but meats still don't come out like I'd like most of the time.

    The picture of the pork butt above looks awesome. One of the main problems I have is that I really don't like wet, soggy meat. I'd much prefer a crisp outer layer, while pull-apart tender on the inside. At first I was told that I had to pretty much drown the meat in liquid, but that didn't get me the results I wanted. In fact, even putting most meats in with NO liquid leaves a whole ton of melted fat in the pan, and the meat is either falling apart (but dry!), or tough. My dream? To be able to get a less fatty roast tender, looking like the picture above. Do you brown it in a separate oven? Before or after slow cooking? I spent $25 on a fancy leave-in thermometer, but when it reached 190, the meat was still tough. Also, the cord for the thermometer keeps the lid from closing tightly. Aaagh! Any advice would be much appreciated!

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    1. I have some opinions about crock pot cooking (but what's that saying about opinions and a-holes?? lol)

      1) I think you can only cook large, fatty meats (chuck roasts, pork shoulders, whole chickens, etc.) for as long as most people want to cook things in crock pots (8-10 hours, while we're at work usually).

      2) I say never, ever add liquid (so long as you're using the types of meat above). The meat will render enough liquid on its own and if you have added liquid, the meat will just boil and that isn't the same thing as the slow-roasting you're going for.

      3) I only cook on high until things are simmering and then reduce to low.

      As far as a crisp outer layer, that's hard to get in a crock pot. My pork ends up that way only on the parts that aren't swimming in liquid and it's not really crisp but does have somewhat of a bark from the rendered fat.

      Forget the thermometer for crock pot cooking. To get that tender, pull-apart meat you have to cook it longer than it takes to get to what's considered done (or "safe" internal temps). If you cook something 8-10 hours, it's gonna be done :)

      I have an old crock pot with no fancy features. I have to monitor it from time to time. If things get to boiling, I reduce mine to "keep warm" until it settles down a bit.

      To get that crisp layer you're talking about, you can remove the meat and broil or grill it a bit if you like. Read this article from Serious Eats. It's about carnitas but it talks about cooking in liquid vs. not and other good things to know. P.S... I LOVE this site. I've learned a LOT from their food lab articles.

      http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/07/the-food-lab-how-to-make-crisp-and-juicy-carnitas-without-a-bucket-of-lard.html

      Good luck to you!! Keep trying! You'll get it like you want it eventually!

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    2. Oh, and I often remove some of the liquid after a while if whatever I'm cooking puts out too much (I use my turkey baster to draw it out and then save it for greasy rice).

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  23. How long would you suggest cooking a 4.5 pound roast?

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  24. I made this recipe today and it was absolutely delicious!!!!

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  25. Mandy, When roasting a pork butt/shoulder I always put the fat-side up. Why, in the crock pot, is the fat-side down? Thanks for all your great recipes! --Yvonne W.

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    1. To protect it from the heat in the bottom of the crock pot.

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  26. Well...we were going to do our Boston butt in the smoker using Alton Brown's recipe. I prepped the butt using his recipe (12 hours in a brine and then his rub recipe) but ran out of time to smoke the thing. That's when I found you, Buzzy...The hog is in the crock pot as I type this - can't wait to see how it turns out! Thank You!

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  27. How many people will this feed? I need to feed 9.

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    1. You can usually figure 2 servings per pound.

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  28. I made the mistake of buying a BEEF shoulder instead of Pork. Any idea/suggestions on the cook time? I will post my results on here regardless.

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    1. If it has a lot of marbling and/or a bone, I'd cook it the same. If it's very lean you may need to add a little broth or water then reduce cooking time by an hour or two. Just watch it. When you get to a point that you can shred a chunk of it off it with a fork, it's good to go.

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  29. Is this rub spicy? My children do not like spicy food.

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  30. I too leave early for work......6:30am to be exact. I solved the too long in the crock-pot problem by freezing the meat ahead of time. Then I put the frozen meat in the crock pot, then I put the whole crock-pot in the refrigerator over night. I then take a lamp timer and set the time I want it to turn on and off, I then plug my crock-pot into the lamp timer, turn my crock-pot to the "low" setting and then plug the lamp timer into the wall. Because the crock-pot is cold from being the the refrigerator all night it acts like a cooler and keeps the meat fresh. Sometimes I only partially freeze the meat. It works like a charm.

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  31. So, when I made this for my family -- about 7 pounds -- it was perfect but tomorrow I'm cooking for a crowd! I bought a 17 lb Boston Butt this morning... It's Buzzy-rubbed and in the fridge as we speak! :)

    Clearly, I will have to cook it in the oven but I have no idea at what temp or for how long. Any ideas?

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  32. Ok so I'm down for cooking in the crock pot this way , but want a nice crisp crust . Any suggestions ?

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    1. Take it out of the crock pot (it will start to fall apart but do the best you can to keep things whole). Place it on a baking sheet, fat side up, and broil until crispy :)

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  33. Can you please tell me approx. how many sandwiches a 6-7 pound roast will make. I want to serve this at my Christmas party?

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  34. Hi there! I have a question in regards to the liquid smoke. In the receipe it is listed as optional. I was just wondering if you use it when you make the recipe. And what is the difference in flavor, if any, with or without it. Lastly, have you ever added brown surgar to the rub as most pulled porks rub contain it. Thanks! And look forward to an answer.

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  35. Made this the other day. WE LOVED IT! We will now be using it this coming weekend for our wedding! Yes it was THAT good

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  36. Can you put potatoes and carrots in the crock pot with the pork?

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  37. LOVED IT, WILL YOU MARRY ME

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  38. I'm making this today. Can substitute Worcestershire sauce for the liquid smoke. I've noticed lately the when we smoke meat it gives me indigestion. Liquid smoke does this to me as well

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    1. Sure, or you can just leave it out! It will till be delicious!

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  39. Hi Mandy! I'm making this today with a 2lb boston butt. Any modifications I should be aware of?

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  40. Made this today! So good! I used almost a 7 lb butt and was worried one batch of rub wouldn't season it enough, so tripled it. Delicious!

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  41. This is such a delicious recipe. I doubled the spice for a 5lb buttand it was to die for. Everyone loved it and complimented it multiple times throughout dinner. This is my go to from now on. Thank you!

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  42. Can you just cook on low for 8-9 hours with no liquid smoke? Or do you need to cook on high first then low??? Making tomorrow morning so would love to know!

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  43. Oh my , oh my, oh my! 2 nd time making this. *** kissing fingers** Sooooo good. Added a little herb de Provence, thyme,live garlic, chopped onion and finished it off with some sweet baby rays bbq sauce. Long sigh... oh my, oh my, oh my! ���� Absolutely delicious!

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  44. This is my first time cooking pork shoulder and I followed your recipe exactly as written. We loved it!! Lucky for us, I had to cut it in half to fit in my crockpot. So we get to do it all over again. Onward to greasy rice.

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  45. This is, by far, the best Boston butt! If you start with the buzzy butt rub, you can cook it just like that or add a couple of things just to your liking. It is no fail and delicious.

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  46. Oh lord that was fantastic! Just made this for my 3 guys! I ended up marinating it for 2 days as I had no time to crock it. Amazing, everyone ❤ loved it!

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  47. I have made this many times! LOVE it, and always get an empty dish back when I take it to ICU potlucks (hospital people KNOw how to eat!) always do it up with the greasy rice too- that is my favorite rice dish and people can’t stop eating it, even when I tell them it’s all the fat and all the fun…

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Hi there! While I’m not able to respond to every comment, I try hard to answer any questions that haven’t been addressed in the post, recipe or in other comments.

I can tell you now 1) I have no idea if you can substitute Minute Rice or brown rice in my recipes because I’ve never used them and 2) If I know how to convert a recipe to a Crock Pot version, I will make a note about it (otherwise, I don’t know).

And though I may not respond to them all, I do read each and every comment and I LOVE to hear from you guys! Thanks, y’all! - Mandy