Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Pork

You had me at BBQ sauce and pineapple...

Nothing says 4th of July like pork in the Crock Pot right? Okay, maybe not but I tried this the other night and just had to share.

Many of my cooking inspirations come from Pinterest. It’s like one-stop shopping for great recipe ideas. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that site. But I digress. The other day, someone posted a Crock Pot recipe with only three ingredients: BBQ sauce, chicken, and a can of pineapple. They had me at BBQ sauce…and the pineapple was the icing on the cake.  Plus, who can pass up such a simple recipe with so few ingredients?

Well, I didn’t have any chicken on hand (Gasp! When does that ever happen?), but I did have a pork tenderloin that needed to be used. So I threw it in the Crock Pot, added a few veggies to the mix, and now here I am sharing this slightly-altered variation with you folks.

Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Pork
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1.5-2 pounds pork tenderloin
1 cup carrots, coarsely chopped
½ medium red onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks with juice (not heavy syrup)
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite BBQ sauce (I used the sale brand Sweet n’ Spicy)

Directions:
Place tenderloin in Crock Pot. Layer veggies on top. Dump in canned pineapple with juice. Pour the entire bottle of BBQ sauce over the top. Cook on low 6-8 hours, until pork shreds easily with a fork.

Healthy “Swap”tion:
The obvious health swap here is to make this dish with chicken instead of pork. (Although clever marketing would have you believe that pork is the “other white meat,” that’s not the case…this little piggy is still considered red meat by the USDA.)  I would suggest keeping the amount of veggies and pineapple the same but using 2-3 boneless chicken breasts and maybe half the bottle of BBQ sauce. The chicken will also cook faster. Typically around 5-6 hours on low.

The Result:
How can these ingredients not yield something yummy? It smelled scrumptious in the house all day while this was simmering and it didn’t disappoint. We spooned it over a little brown rice and had a spinach/strawberry/glazed walnut/Mediterranean herb feta cheese salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing on the side. DELISH!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4^th of July holiday.

Until next time,
Ryann