The recipe for my father’s hoppin’ john has been modified for this dish. The use of tomatoes is the only distinction between his and mine. It’s a fantastic recipe for the winter holidays (New Year’s) or anytime. There are several variations of this dish available, but this one comes together quickly so you can make it for the whole family after a long day at work!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 8 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
Ingredients
- 1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast
- 2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
- 1 (4 fluid ounce) bottle liquid smoke flavoring, or to taste
- 4 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Place pork roast in a slow cooker, rub with salt, and pour root beer, liquid smoke, and garlic over the top.
- Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours. Remove pork to a bowl. Strain liquid through a fine-mesh strainer; discard liquid or save for another use (see Editor’s Notes). Add garlic cloves back to pork. Shred pork using two forks. Serve with your favorite BBQ sauce.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of cooking liquid. The actual amount of cooking liquid consumed will vary.
- To store leftover pulled pork, add a little of the reserved cooking liquid and store in the refrigerator. Reheat in cooking liquid to keep pork from drying out.
Reviews
I used recommended root beer and 4-5 dashes of liquid smoke, it turned out excellent. Easy and delicious. Will make again often.
Followed the recipe to the “T” , cooked the pork roast 10 hours and the roast was not even close to pull apart, more like slice and eat tough pork. Wastes a good pork roast.
I made the recipe as written. I used A & W root beer and the whole bottle of liquid smoke. It was moist and flavorful! We loved it.
So easy and so good.
The meat was tender but taste was too bland…needs some pepper and salt while cooking. BBQ sauce should be a little spicy. Otherwise good.
Didn’t have it yet.
Whatever you do, do not use diet root beer especially the one that uses NutraSweet. NutraSweet during cooking because it will breakdown in wood alcohol and formaldehyde. I found that out after an attempt to bake banana bread using NutraSweet. It tasted horrible and i found out a day later on a TV cooking show about NutraSweet and what happens if you use it in cooking and baking to substitute for regular sugar.
Wish it had a little more flavor, but I also didn’t use the whole bottle of liquid smoke!
The recipe is great. Those who comment about it that it was “bland” have simply used the wrong Root Beer. If you use a mild Root Beer like A&W it would be better to just drink the Root Beer, great taste! If you want to use a Root Beer that will zing up the flavor level in this recipe then use one with a stronger Root Beer Taste. I use Dad’s Root Beer. There is no way that the Pulled Pork from this recipe should taste “dry” if you are following the recipe carefully. You should have a very moist Pulled Pork if you just follow the recipe. I will confess that I did not use a whole 4 ounce bottle of Liquid Smoke. One ounce was plenty. As far as the final result, the taste, is concerned… a great deal of that depends on the choice you make for BBQ Sauce at the end after you have “pulled” the pork. If you want a more spicy result then add a spicy BBQ sauce!! Seriously, this is a no brainer type recipe and ideal for the single person, especially for a guy who doesn’t want to thread through the needle of long and drawn out recipes that require lots of finesse. This one is about as simple as it comes. By the way, it doesn’t have to be made with Root Beer. Pepsi, Coke, RC and Dr. Pepper are alternatives.
This was excellent! I only used 1 tsp. of liquid smoke at the suggestion of the other reviews , and it was just right. Very simple……A definite keeper.
This turned out amazing! I was worried it would be too much liquid smoke, but I used the whole bottle and the flavor came out great! Definitely going to make this again
My first slow cooker recipe, fantastic! So delicious and filling, definitely going to get me through a few days of quarantine! I will make this again.
I felt like the pork came out a tad dry considering it was swimming in liquid. I’ll probably make this again.
The pork was super-tender and tasted slightly smoky. You’d think that adding an entire bottle of liquid smoke (which has a very powerful flavor) would make the meat far too smoky, but it really doesn’t! Can’t taste the root beer at all. I cooked for 8 hours, which was plenty. The meat definitely needs a sauce. We used KC masterpiece original, which was good.
I cooked this in my instant pot, it had very good flavor. I think I’ll try it with a different cut of meat next time. The cut I used was too fatty and had a lot gristle. Not the recipes fault.
This is super easy to make sometimes I use Dr Pepper, then shred and add my favorite BBQ sauce.
I used maple flavored cola. Covered pork in paprika and garlic powder. Made bbq sauce with ketsup and spiracha sauce. We like thing really spicy in this Texan’s house
Amazing! Did not add garlic though.
quest went back for seconds
Very, very, good made with root beer a slight taste of the soda
I’ve made this several times, everybody loves it, so tender and tasty.