What to Make With Pork Shoulder: 7 Recipes, Slow-Cooked or Sliced Thin

Seven Savour recipes show what to make with pork shoulder, and they cook it two ways: slow-cooked in big chunks for pulled pork and carnitas, or sliced thin for a stir-fry, a sandwich, a wrap or a stew. By total time the quickest are Japanese ginger pork at 35 minutes, kimchi jjigae at 55 minutes and spicy pork bulgogi at 1 hour 2 minutes; the two slow cooker dishes take over 8 hours on LOW.

Each recipe names pork shoulder on its ingredient line (the ginger pork also accepts loin), and four add its other name, pork butt. Chops, tenderloin and ground pork are other cuts and stay out; chops have their own page, pork chop recipes, and a guide to how long to cook pork chops.

What to make with pork shoulder: 7 recipes compared

Sorted by total time as stored. The last column is each recipe's pork line, in its own units.

The four pan dishes count marinating in their totals: 15 minutes for the ginger pork, 30 for the bulgogi and banh mi, 60 for the gyros. Their stored cooking times run from 10 to 20 minutes. Two of the 7 are Korean recipes and two are slow cooker recipes.

Slow-cooked pork shoulder: pulled pork and carnitas

Both slow cooker recipes trim a large boneless shoulder, cut it into chunks and cook it on LOW for 8 to 10 hours or on HIGH for 5 to 6 hours, until it pulls apart easily with a fork. Their tips give the same reason for the cut: its fat and connective tissue melt over long cooking, while lean cuts such as loin turn dry and stringy. Their 5 to 6 hours on HIGH is not half the LOW time; the slow cooker low vs high guide compares both settings across Savour's slow cooker recipes.

Slow Cooker • Mexican

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

8 hrs 30 mins10 servings

Slow cooker pork carnitas use the most pork of the 7, 1.8 kg in 5 cm chunks, rubbed with salt, cumin, oregano and pepper and cooked over onion, garlic and bay leaves with orange and lime juice. The shredded pork is then broiled on a rimmed baking sheet with some of the juices and skimmed fat until the edges crisp. It serves 10 at about 325 calories and 32 g protein per serving (estimate), and it is the only recipe here that lists a gluten-free diet; check the labels on the tortillas and salsa verde if you need them to be. The carnitas also fill one of the two longest days in the slow cooker meal plan for a busy week.

Slow Cooker • American

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sliders

8 hrs 20 mins20 sliders

Slow cooker pulled pork sliders rub 1.5 kg of shoulder with brown sugar, smoked paprika and spices and set it on sliced onion, with apple juice (or chicken broth) and cider vinegar poured around it, not over it, so the rub stays put. The shredded pork is stirred with barbecue sauce and about 120 ml of the cooking juices and fills 20 sliders. Both dishes are in Super Bowl recipes.

Thinly sliced pork shoulder recipes: stir-fries, sandwiches and a stew

Five recipes slice the shoulder 2 to 5 mm thick instead. The bulgogi and banh mi tips give the reason: pork shoulder has enough fat to stay juicy at high heat.

Stir-fries: ginger pork and spicy bulgogi

Japanese • Easy Dinners

Japanese Ginger Pork (Shogayaki)

35 mins4 servings

Japanese ginger pork (shogayaki) is the quickest, "Total 35 min (10 prep + 10 cook + 15 marinate)" for 4. The 500 g of thin slices marinate in soy sauce, mirin, sake and grated ginger for 15 minutes, no longer than 30, and are seared in two batches beside softened onion. The leftover marinade then boils with the pork for 1 minute, because it has touched raw meat, until the pork reaches 71°C (160°F).

Korean

Spicy Pork Bulgogi (Jeyuk Bokkeum)

1 hr 2 mins4 servings

Spicy pork bulgogi (jeyuk bokkeum) marinates 600 g of 3 mm slices in gochujang, gochugaru, soy, garlic and ginger for 30 minutes to 24 hours. The pork is seared in a single layer, then stir-fried with onion and carrot until the thickest piece reads 71°C (160°F), and served with rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping. It serves 4 at about 515 calories and 28 g protein per serving (estimate).

Sandwiches and wraps: banh mi and gyros

• 

  Vietnamese

  Lemongrass Pork Banh Mi

  1 hr 10 mins4 sandwiches
• 

  Greek

  Greek Pork Gyros

  1 hr 40 mins4 servings

Lemongrass pork banh mi marinates 500 g of 5 mm slices in lemongrass, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar, then sears them in batches in a very hot cast-iron skillet or grill pan, 2 to 3 minutes per side, to 71°C (160°F) in the thickest slice. Its 30 minutes of waiting cover both the marinade and the quick pickled carrot and daikon. It makes 4 sandwiches, at about 660 calories and 33 g protein per serving (estimate).

Greek pork gyros use the most sliced pork, 700 g trimmed of thick fat, cut 5 mm thick and marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic, oregano and paprika for at least 1 hour. The pork is seared a third at a time until the edges crisp and the thickest slice reads 71°C (160°F), then wrapped in pita with tzatziki, tomato and red onion. At about 740 calories and 44 g protein per serving (estimate), it is the highest of the 7 on both.

A stew: kimchi jjigae

Korean

Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew with Pork and Tofu)

55 mins4 servings

Kimchi jjigae uses the least pork, 300 g of 5 mm slices browned in the pot before sour kimchi, onion, garlic and gochugaru are stir-fried with it. The stew then simmers for 20 minutes, which the recipe says takes slices this thin well past 71°C (160°F), and tofu goes in at the end. It is "Total 55 min (15 prep + 40 cook)" for 4, at about 355 calories and 26 g protein per serving (estimate).

How do you slice pork shoulder thin?

Four of the five sliced recipes suggest firming the meat in the freezer:

• Japanese ginger pork: 30 to 40 minutes, then slice 2 to 3 mm thick across the grain.
• Spicy pork bulgogi: 30 to 45 minutes if the pork is soft, then cut against the grain about 3 mm thick.
• Lemongrass pork banh mi: 30 minutes, for thin, even slices.
• Greek pork gyros: 20 minutes if it is hard to slice.

To skip the knife work, the ginger pork tip names packs labelled thin-sliced pork, shabu-shabu pork or pork for shogayaki, and the bulgogi tip says many Asian grocers sell shoulder already sliced for hot pot.

Then cook in batches. The ginger pork tip says a 30 cm skillet holds about 250 g of thin slices in one layer, so 500 g at once will steam; the gyros tip says crowded pork turns grey instead of crisp.

How much pork shoulder do you need?

From each ingredient line, with the raw weight per serving worked out by dividing by the servings:

• Kimchi jjigae: 300 g for 4, about 75 g each.
• Japanese ginger pork: 500 g for 4, about 125 g each.
• Lemongrass pork banh mi: 500 g for 4 sandwiches, about 125 g each.
• Spicy pork bulgogi: 600 g for 4, about 150 g each.
• Pulled pork sliders: 1.5 kg for 10 (20 sliders), about 150 g each.
• Greek pork gyros: 700 g for 4, about 175 g each.
• Pork carnitas: 1.8 kg for 10, about 180 g each.

The sliders tip adds a cooked-weight guide: about 100 g of cooked pork per person, or 2 sliders each when there is plenty of other food.

One large boneless shoulder can also cover several sliced dishes: adding up the lines, 1.8 kg is the bulgogi, gyros and banh mi amounts together. Two of those freeze the pork raw in its marinade, the bulgogi for up to 3 months and the banh mi for up to 2 months, thawed overnight in the fridge before cooking.

Can you use pork loin or pork belly instead of shoulder?

Pork loin works in thin slices if it is not overcooked, and not in the slow cooker:

• Japanese ginger pork lists loin on its ingredient line; its FAQ says loin works sliced 2 to 3 mm thick and not overcooked.
• Spicy pork bulgogi says lean loin dries out quickly, so pull it off the heat as soon as it reaches 71°C (160°F).
• Greek pork gyros says boneless pork loin chops work too, cooked a little less so they do not dry out.
• The pulled pork sliders and carnitas say loin turns dry and stringy over long cooking.

Pork belly is the classic cut for kimchi jjigae, says its tip, and makes a richer, oilier broth at about 580 calories and 21 g protein a serving (estimate); the recipe's own figures, about 355 calories and 26 g protein, are for shoulder, without rice. The bulgogi variation uses thinly sliced belly and says to pour off some of the rendered fat before the vegetables go in.

Chicken thighs. Four recipes swap the pork for boneless chicken thighs, cooked to 74°C (165°F): the ginger pork and bulgogi (sliced thin), the banh mi and the gyros. Savour has more chicken thigh recipes.

No pork. Kimchi jjigae suggests 200 g sliced shiitake or oyster mushrooms with vegetable stock (most kimchi is made with fish sauce or salted shrimp, so check the label for a vegetarian stew), or a 150 g can of tuna, drained, added with the tofu. The banh mi marinates extra-firm tofu instead, with soy sauce in place of the fish sauce.

Beyond the swaps, the variations turn the pulled pork into tacos, the carnitas into burrito bowls over rice, and the banh mi and gyros pork into bowls.

How long does cooked pork shoulder keep?

Each recipe has its own note, and the limits differ:

Five of the fridge notes say to refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. To work ahead, the sliders FAQ shreds the pork up to 3 days early, the carnitas FAQ up to 2 days, and the banh mi FAQ cooks the pork and pickles up to 4 days ahead, building each sandwich the day you eat it.

Five recipes reheat the pork until steaming hot and 74°C (165°F); the ginger pork and banh mi reheat it in a pan until steaming hot. The carnitas and sliders both say not to reheat cold leftovers in the slow cooker.

Browse every slow cooker recipe