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Holiday Apple Cider Pulled Pork Tacos are an easy meal to make at the holidays. Use a crock pot or slow cooker to cook pork flavored with spices and Martinelli’s Cider or Apple Juice. Serve it on tortillas with apple matchsticks, dried cranberries, arugula and honey for an offbeat, festive holiday meal.
Whenever the holidays roll around, my mom and I always discuss menus. We talk about which meals we’re going to eat at home, what time, who will be there, how many people, who will eat what, what we’ll eat, who’s going to cook what, et cetera, et cetera.
We’re not just talking a big Christmas feast. We’re talking dinners and breakfasts and lunches and snacks to have on hand. Not to mention cookies, especially a classic sugar cookie, because you can’t forget those around this time of year.
All of this discussion goes into the master grocery list. No one ever wants to volunteer to run out for just one ingredient at the height of the busy holiday grocery shopping season.
This year, I want to make things easy for one of the meals I make. I decided to try cooking pork with Martinelli’s Cider, because pork and apples go so well together, so I knew this would be a perfect pairing.
I decided to try a slow cooker pulled pork recipe. I recently bought myself a new slow cooker after years of pinning recipes designed specifically for them. They are so handy for prepping mostly effortless food and having a hot meal ready at dinnertime.
As a native North Carolinian, I have a huge love for pulled pork. It’s our thing. Pork in a slow cooker is so easy because it gets moist and saturated with flavor, and the pork literally falls off the bones, making it easy to shred and pile onto plates, buns, tortillas… whatever suits your fancy.
I put the apple cider pulled pork on tacos, for something totally different than the usual holiday meals. Besides, who doesn’t love tacos? Give me a taco and a margarita any day and I’m a happy camper.
To make them, you’ll trim the fat from a pork shoulder or pork butt. Place it in the slow cooker and top with the apple cider. Season it with cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper and turn the slow cooker on high.
Let it sit for 6 to 8 hours while you work, go Christmas shopping, wrap gifts, whatever. Then, come home to a wonderfully smelling house and a meal (almost) ready to eat.
Shred the pork and remove any fat, and serve it on warm tortillas. (I used gluten-free corn tortillas.) Top them with thinly cut apple matchsticks, dried cranberries, arugula leaves and a drizzle of honey, not barbecue sauce. Honey and apples go beautifully together, too — just ask this Apple Pecan Salad! Roll them up and enjoy.
This recipe makes a lot of pork, so this is a great meal idea for a larger crowd. If you don’t eat it all the day you make it, the pork will keep for a week in the fridge and longer in the freezer. Heat it up in the oven or microwave.
Thankfully for my my mom and me, this recipe will really make menu planning easy this year. At least for one meal! // susannah
Pin this recipe for later!
Watch the video below!
Video by Chris Henry Co.
Apple Cider Pulled Pork Tacos
ingredients
For the pulled pork
- 8 pounds pork butt or shoulder
- 2 ½ cups Martinelli’s Cider or Apple Juice divided
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
For the tacos
- 2 apples
- 24 corn tortillas taco-sized
- 1 pound pulled pork
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup arugula leaves washed and dried
- honey for drizzling
instructions
- Trim excess fat from the meat. Place in a slow cooker. Top with 2 cups Martinelli’s Cider or Apple Juice. Sprinkle with cinnamon, cloves, salt and peppers. Drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup cider/juice. Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours, until pork is cooked and falls off the bone.
- Transfer to a baking dish. Use two forks to shred pork. Remove any excess fat.
- Cut apples into matchsticks — to do this, quarter then slice them vertically and horizontally to get long and skinny pieces.
- Warm tortillas. Fill with pork and top with apple matchsticks, dried cranberries and arugula leaves. Drizzle with honey. Serve immediately.
video
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