While Ben and I have the same views on important matters like family, religion, money management, and hugging, we have to laugh at how opposite we are regarding other parts of our lives.
He loves to skateboard, while I prefer to play tennis.
I’m a coffee drinking early bird, and he’s a hip hop listening night owl.
He hates heights, while I want to jump out of airplanes.
Fly/drive. Summer/winter. Cake/pie. I could go on for days, people!
Fortunately opposites do, in fact, attract, and let’s be real – I totally married up. Somehow I was lucky enough to find a guy who will chase after my misdirected tennis balls ’til blinded by sweat, lay with me when I fall asleep at 8pm, fly next to me over oceans, hold my hand in the sweltering heat when I need to hear the cicadas at night, and stuff his face with cake just to make me laugh.
The whole jumping out of an airline bit though? Non negotiable. I can’t get through to the man! ;)
Opposites also tastefully attract in food, which is easily proven by Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry-Peach Salsa.
Smoky chipotle pepper-laced pulled pork combines with sweet cherry-peach salsa in a juicy taco that Ben and I both agreed is absolutely mouthwatering. And I quote, “This is the best thing you’ve made in a long time.” followed by, “Omg I can’t wait to shove this in my mouth.” regarding his second taco, and “I’ve never had juicier pork in my life.” Cough, TWSS, x2.
These tacos were made even better due to the fact that they were cooked in the crock pot. All I had to do was throw everything in the crocker at night, set it on the base in the morning, then turn it on. The fresh, summery Cherry-Peach Salsa can also be made a couple days ahead of time, which means dinner can be on the table in the time it takes you to shred the pork. Love that!
Start the pulled pork tacos by assembling and prepping the ingredients for the pulled pork.
First slice 1 large onion into quarters, then separate the layers into the bottom of the crock pot. I used a 5 quart crock pot which fits this recipe beautifully.
Next, address zee butt. A 4-5lb pork butt! Pork butt is actually pork shoulder – a fact I recently learned after an incredibly confusing conversation between me and my aforementioned husband regarding a requested shoulder rub in which he kept saying, yeah I’ll rub your butt! Right. Moving on!
FIRST cut the pork into 5 or 6 big hunks, then liberally season each piece with salt & pepper. Per the pictures below, I forgot to cut the pork and put it in whole before removing and cutting up. Leaving it whole would have cost me hours in additional cooking time!
Next add a few ingredients that will make the pulled pork taste wonderfully smokey, with a hint of sweet: 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 2 Tablespoons adobo sauce, 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, 2 Tablespoons brown sugar and 20oz Dr. Pepper.
Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeno peppers and are more smoky than spicy, in my opinion. You can get cans of them packed in adobo sauce right in the international foods aisle. I generally only use 1 or 2 per recipe, then stash the leftovers in my freezer.
Pop the top onto the crock pot then either stash it in the fridge overnight and place it on the base in the morning, or put it onto the base now and cook on low for 8 hours.
Now, as I mentioned, not only can the pulled pork be prepped in advance, but the sweet Cherry-Peach Salsa that goes on top can be made up to 2 days ahead of time too!
To 1 cup each fresh chopped cherries & peaches, add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 minced jalapeno, the juice of 1 lime, and a dash of salt.
Mix everything together, then try to save some for the tacos. This is one of my favorite fruit salsas to date, and is seriously delicious on it’s own.
When the pork is cooked through, and fall apart-tender, shred it all up, place it into a bowl, then strain the juices from the crock pot through 2 layers of cheesecloth, and enough of it back in to cover.
Spoon the juicy pork onto a few fajita-sized flour tortillas, top with the cold cherry-peach salsa, then devour!
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Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry-Peach Salsa
Description
Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry-Peach Salsa are an insanely delicious way to enjoy tender pork and fresh fruit — a match made in taco heaven!
Ingredients
- For the pork:
- 4-5lb pork butt (may be called pork shoulder)
- salt & pepper
- 1 large sweet onion
- 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce + 2 Tablespoons sauce
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 20oz Dr. Pepper
- Fajita-sized tortillas
- For the Cherry-Peach Salsa:
- 1 cup chopped sweet cherries
- 1 cup chopped peaches (about 1 large peach)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- salt
- juice of 1 lime
Directions
- Cut onion into quarters then separate layers into the bottom of a 5 quart (minimum size) crock pot. Trim pork butt of excess fat then cut into 4-6 large pieces and season well with salt & pepper. Lay seasoned pork on top of onions then add chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, and Dr. Pepper. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until pork is tender enough to easily shred with a fork.
- Remove pork pieces from the crock pot and shred, then place into a bowl and set aside. Strain juices through a double layer of cheesecloth and add back to shredded pork. Serve with Cherry-Peach Salsa in flour tortillas.
- For the Cherry-Peach Salsa: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Make up to two days in advance.
Notes
- Pulled Pork Tacos slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
I was afraid the pork would be too sweet with the addition of BBQ sauce, Dr. Pepper and brown sugar, but it was perfect. Definitely not too sweet, because, wouldn’t you know it – while I love sweet & savory dinners, Ben’s all savory, all the time. Sweets are for dessert! Which he also doesn’t like. Come on! ;)
I also originally wanted to make just a cherry salsa to top the tacos with, as a wink and a nod to Cherry Dr. Pepper, but I’m so glad I threw chopped peaches in there too. Their scent and flavor is just outrageous right now, and guess what? Even though Ben’s a savory guy, he LOVED the fruity salsa. That’s a major win, people!
Knock the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce down a bit if you are sensitive to heat but as is, the heat level is only about a 5/10, and the cherry-peach salsa helped tone it down too!
~~~~~
Do you and your mate have opposite interests, or are you pretty similar? What do you like to do together?
While we definitely have a lot of opposite interests, Ben and I like driving in the country, planning for our future, cooking, and going out to eat together!
shirlee 01.06.2015
This is the first time that I have tried an online recipe and have it come out as good as it looks. Usually, they are okay to near gross. Peaches are out of season, but I bought the inexpensive store brand frozen peaches. These frozen peaches were fantastic and easy to cut while frozen, so I probably won’t go with fresh in the future anyhow. I am making your cherry and peach smoothie tomorrow. I have never tried almond milk, but decided to crack it open. It doesn’t taste like almonds (sad face.) Hope the smoothie turns out as good as the smoothie. Thanks.
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[…] You don’t have to take the Southern out of the recipe to make it healthy and low-cal with this delicious pulled-pork dish. Just add in all the ingredients before you head out the door in the A.M. and let the slower cooker do its magic. In eigh hours, you’ll have marinated, juicy pork that shreds right apart and isn’t fried, cooked in fat or served with heavy sides. Get the recipe from Iowa Girl Eats. […]
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Tammy Foley 09.22.2014
Any suggestions for what to replace the cherries with when they are out of season?
Kristin 09.23.2014
You could buy frozen sweet cherries then just thaw!
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Becky 07.05.2014
I made this and it was amazing! I loved the interplay between the smokiness of the meat and the sweet coolness of the fruit salsa!
I made it the day before I served it. I didn’t have cheese cloth, so I poured the juices through a fine meshed sieve and popped it in the fridge. I just scooped off the fat solids and reheated it in the microwave, added it to the pork, and reheated the whole thing! It worked great :)
I have leftovers in the freezer, too!
Sherry 06.09.2014
This recipe is so delicious!
! Thank you!
Kristin 05.19.2014
Hello! This might be a no answer question, but is there anything you can substitute for the Dr Pepper? I am into natural cooking and I love this recipe but wish it didn’t have soda in it. Thanks!
Kristin 05.25.2014
If you could find some local root beer or something, that’d be really good too!
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Rebecca 10.14.2013
This was so good! The cherry peach salsa really made the dish. Tip: since cherries are out of season, I used plums and it was still super delicious!
Kristen 08.08.2013
I just put it all in my crock pot. I hope my husband likes it! I’ve never used these peppers before. I bought the can and just put a few on top.
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AJ 03.23.2013
I want to try this recipe tonight.. It looks do good… But I have a question… Is the cheesecloth necessary?? Bc I don’t have that
Iowa Girl Eats 03.26.2013
If you have a coffee filter, that would work too, or even just a fine mesh sieve. You just want to get rid of as much fat as possible!
samantha 02.13.2013
Looks DELICIOUS but I’m a little nervous…doesn’t the sugar in the bbq sauce and soda burn when in the crockpot for 8 hours? The only time I’ve done BBQ in the crockpot was with chicken and it was charcoal by the time I got home.
Iowa Girl Eats 02.13.2013
Nope, it comes out looking just like the pictures!
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