Kalua Pork aka Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I've spent a little over three years in Illinois and gone through numerous recipes and homemade meals. But no other recipe has been so shared, versatile or craved as Kalua pork. This Hawaiian dish has been a staple of my home state. We ate it at family gatherings, school lunches, even weddings.

Traditionally, the process includes digging a hole ("imu") in the ground, lining the hole with hot coals and banana leaves, lowering a whole pig into the imu, covering the pig with more hot coals and dirt for several hours to cook in the ground. Thanks to modern production, Kalua pork is now packaged in ready-to-go containers in the freezer section of most grocery stores in Hawaii.

Due to a wonderful appliance called the slow cooker, even Mainland (what Hawaii residents call the continental US) dwellers like me can make Kalua pork. This recipe has high payoff for minimum effort. All you need is a slow cooker and 10-13 hours.

This recipe can feed a small army. My first Thanksgiving in Illinois, we fed roughly 15 people and they went for seconds. Kalua pork is also perfect for freezing in small batches and breaking out for individual portions during the work week.


Kalua Pork

1 6-7 lb pork butt/ pork shoulder
1-2 tbsp sea salt/ Hawaiian salt
1-2 tbsp liquid smoke
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
4-6 garlic cloves to taste, crushed or minced (optional)


Place pork butt in slow cooker. Pierce pork with sharp knife on all sides to tenderize and allow flavors to penetrate the meat. Salt and pepper pork on all sides massaging into meat. If garlic is minced, massage into meat on all sides. If garlic is crushed/ whole, insert into holes made by knife. 

The long list of ingredients

Place meat with fat side facing up. The liquid smoke is very potent so be careful when covering meat. Pour liquid smoke over pork. If you like, you can massage the liquid smoke into the roast. I recommend gloves if you are going to massage the pork at this point. If you touch the liquid smoke with your hands, they'll smell like jerky for a day or two. Cover slow cooker and set to low for 12-20 hours, depending on size of roast.

Cooking in juices

When the pork is done, the fat at the top of the roast will have either melted or become soft. The pork will be so tender it will shred with a fork. The meat will be cooking in it's own juices, there will be a lot. (PS: I keep the juices to cook the pork in)

Professional shredder, not the Ninja Turtle kind

Pull pork with fork and store for future use or heat up in saute pan with juices, salt, pepper and garlic.

Traditionally, the pork is either served on it's own with some white short-grain rice or sauteed with chopped green cabbage, sliced onions and rice. But this Hawaiian pulled pork goes with everything.


Additional Kalua pork recipes to come.

-Akemi-chan