Kalua Pork Sliders with Mango Blueberry Salsa.
Our pulled pork love here knows no bounds.
Please trust me enough to eat blueberries on top of your pork. Puhlease.
So! It’s been super hot this week and for the first time ever (really) I just don’t want to turn on the oven. At all. I could live on big bowls of fruit and tomatoes and basil but the thing is that Eddie deems all of those things to be “snacks” and not dinner. Plus, I guess Max really needs to eat too since he’s, you know, a baby human now.
Since we tend to save eating out for the weekends, I always try to have something for dinner every night that is can give us options and bonus leftovers. I keep tossing things in the slow cooker first thing in the morning because my productivity level is high!
Then it tanks after noon. Can I just make every dinner at 8am?
Want to know something HORRIFYING?
Years ago when people mentioned “kalua pork” I thought they were saying “kahlua” pork – like pork made with the coffee liqueur. I liked to think in my secret brain that everyone who was talking about this was legitimately insane.
INSANE.
Don’t worry. I eventually realized it was a method of cooking and not coffee liqueur flavored pork. Whomp whomp.
I still hadn’t tried the recipe though! At least, as close to the recipe as I could get, without an underground oven. Then, last year at one of my cooking classes, a participant was telling me how delicious the slow cooker recipe was and that I just HAD to get the red Hawaiian sea salt. So I did just that.
I don’t take much convincing, FYI.
BUT. You know I’ve rambled for years about how all food that comes out of the slow cooker tastes like “slow cooker,” – however in recent months I’ve found myself circling back around to using it because sometimes it’s struggle to make dinner. Especially in the summer when we want to be out in the sun and swimming. Especially when Max is dumping four boxes of crackers on my feet while I’m trying to sear chicken. He adds a couple bottles of water for moisture too. He’s smart.
Anyhoo. I make this pork now all the time. I alternate between this and the sweet and spicy pork shoulder I made last winter. You need no other recipe.
And I turned it into adorable little sliders and went.to.town.
Do they need a sauce? Part of me feels like they need a sauce, but the microgreens and salsa keep it rather fresh and light. Not LIGHT light, I mean it’s pulled pork. But you know what I’m saying. It’s not like there is mayo dripping out of the sides or anything.
(Perhaps there should be though.)
The pork is juicy and flavorful and melts in your mouth. The spicy microgreens, yes, are my obvious current obsession but also add the perfect touch of oh-so slight heat and a little crunch too. The salsa!
What can I say about the salsa.
You might remember that I’ve been a massive massive fruit salsa fan for almost my entire life, or at least since I first had it when I was, like, fifteen. This version uses ripe and sweet blueberries, the best mango I’ve found in months, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime and salt.
The combination of flavors may SEEM odd, but they taste fantastic. You’ll want to eat more than one.
And guess what! Since they are mini and cute, you totally CAN.
Kalua Pork Sliders with Mango Blueberry Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 (4-pound) pork shoulder roast
- 1 tablespoon coarse Hawaiian red sea salt
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- slider buns for serving
- spicy microgreens for topping
blueberry mango salsa
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 2/3 cup diced mango
- 2/3 cup halved blueberries
- 1/3 cup torn fresh cilantro
- 1 lime, juiced
- pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
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Place the pork shoulder in the slow cooker and cover it with the salt and liquid smoke, turning a few times to coat. Add the minced garlic cloves. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. After 8 to 10 hours, the pork will easily shred with a fork. Shred it and mix with the juice in the slow cooker. I like to turn my slow cooker on high and let it sit with the lid off for 15 minutes or so – I find that if it’s extra liquidy, some of the liquid will be absorbed.
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To serve, top the slider buns with a few handfuls of shredded pork, a few handfuls of spicy microgreens and a big spoonful of the salsa. DEVOUR.
blueberry mango salsa
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Stir everything together in a large bowl to combine. This can be made ahead of time or right before serving – and can be in the fridge for a few days. It is excellent with tortilla chips too!
Did you make this recipe?
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38 Comments on “Kalua Pork Sliders with Mango Blueberry Salsa.”
Ha!!! I totally thought coffee liqueur too. But it was ok (kinda) because I believe in you!!! :)
secretly glad it’s not kaluah kalua tho
haha right?! it would be… bad.
LOVE the combo of savory beef + fresh, crisp fruit, this looks delicious! xo
thanks christine!
Omg Girl, you had me at blueberries in the salsa!!! These are nearly too good to be true!
thanks tori!
lolol, they would be insane if they used kahlua in kalua pork (; though maybe it’s sort of like cooking pork in coke? i feel like it wouldn’t turn out, but it’d be funny to see what would happen anyways.
haha maybe?!
Pulled pork for LIFE. I usually trash it up with all the sauce, but the salsa looks a little more summery. I guess I can save all the BBQ for football season ;)
same!
Fruit salsa is the absolute best…..and maybe I made extra to eat as a “salad” yesterday after topping our tacos. (#sorrynotsorry). I kind of hate the slow cooker and thinks everything tastes pretty meh once it’s done but perhaps will need to give it another go because 100+F highs aren’t stopping and I refuse to turn on the oven.
i love it as a salad or even ON a salad!
Thanks for the post!!!!!
I mean, maybe we should try kahlua pork… I bet it wouldn’t be half bad!
it might actually be wonderful.
This looks perfect x
Jessica — WS Community
thanks jessica!
So pretty! I love how colorful these are! And microgreens are just my favorite – they just look so cool! These are totally beautiful and definitely going to need to happen in my kitchen soon – pinned!
thank you rachel! i love the micro greens so much.
Just finished “Here’s To Us” . . . every stinkin word . . . didn’t want it to end. Kept reading and found out about you! She loves you (and your baby!). So now I feel so lucky to have found your site and wonderful recipes.
ahhh thank you so much Marta! isn’t the book fabulous?! i loved it so much too!
WOW! I must have this.
Where do you get that salt?
i’m assuming its different than pink himalayan sea salt? I have that..
The ingredients for slow cooker look so simple!
Thanks for the blog!!!!!
hey girl this looks really good! Yummy!
I love anything with blueberries and am a huge fan of blueberry salsas. I will typically put them on salmon but like the idea off adding this to a pork slider.. Great recipe!!!
I thought it was coffee liquor until I read this. I learned something today.
This looks great. If only I could convince the husband that fruit salsa is a good thing.
Gotta admit, I almost deleted it right from my inbox because I read it as KaHlua, which i Hate! I have not seen spicy micrograms in my store. Where do you find them?
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I don’t actually eat pork but those colors I’m so in love with are gonna make me do something bad. Like eat one of those, because you know if it is pretty I gots to eat it lol
Amazing! I’m so glad I tried this recipe! I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough flavor but boy was I wrong! The outside of the pork became slightly caramelized and the salt/liquid smoke/garlic was just perfect. I used peaches in my blueberry salsa and it was FANTASTIC. Something about the salty pork and blueberry…I couldn’t get enough!!! So much flavor with very few ingredients.
Tried this last night and OMG! The only problem….we didn’t want to stop eating! We just kept shoveling it in. Great flavor. Juicy. Perfection. Thank you!
Made these last night and have a few things to say: 1) You were our Monday hero (because Mondays are the worst); 2) whyhaveiwaitedsolongtobuyliquidsmoke?!?!; 3) THAT SALSA THO :) Thank you!
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Coffee on pork doesn’t sound TOO bad lol.
Is the Red Hawaiian Sea Salt really that much better? I’m definitely curious but I also have a pound of Himalayan salt cozy in my kitchen. Curious on what you seen to be the difference :) Thanks Jessica!