Gochujang Korean Pulled Pork
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Win over the whole family with this flavor-packed Korean pulled pork. Slow-cooked in a bold mix of gochujang, soy sauce, honey, and chicken stock, it turns irresistibly tender with almost no effort thanks to the slow cooker.
This Korean pulled pork has everything I love about classic, fall-apart pulled pork, but with a bold Korean-inspired twist. It’s slightly sweet, smoky, and just a little spicy, with all the flavor coming together as the pork slowly simmers away in the slow cooker. The result is tender, juicy pork that practically shreds itself and works just as well as a main dish as it does piled onto pizza, noodles, tacos, or bowls.
The ingredient list stays refreshingly simple, but each one pulls its weight. Gochujang brings deep umami and gentle heat, soy sauce adds savory depth, honey balances everything with a touch of sweetness, and chicken stock keeps the pork moist and flavorful as it cooks. Using pork shoulder or butt ensures a rich, melt-in-your-mouth texture that makes this recipe so hard to resist.
Is this an authentic Korean pulled pork recipe?
This recipe features tender, pulled pork wrapped up in my favorite Korean flavor – gochujang. It is quite different than bossam, traditional Korean boiled pork. Bossam is made by boiling a braising cut of pork in a flavorful broth and then thinly slicing it to serve. My Korean Kitchen has a great bossam recipe you should check out.
While my recipe for Korean pulled pork is not authentic, it is a fan favorite made with the flavors you associate with Korean food – sweet, salty, spicy, and delicious!
What cut of meat to use for pulled pork
For the best pulled pork, look for pork shoulder, which is also called pork butt or Boston butt (despite the name, it comes from the upper shoulder, not the rear). This cut has plenty of marbling, which keeps the pork juicy, tender, and full of flavor as it cooks. You can use bone-in or boneless — bone-in adds a bit more flavor, while boneless is easier to shred and fits more easily in a slow cooker.
It’s best to avoid pork loin for pulled pork. While it’s a lean cut, it doesn’t have enough fat to stay moist during long cooking, so it can dry out easily.
How to serve Korean pulled pork
Gochujang pork shines as a standalone main, served alongside some fluffy basmati rice and Asian vegetables, such as my garlic sauteed bok choy. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, or green onion slices before serving.
This pulled pork is delicious on this Korean-style pizza. You can also pile it in my Korean pulled pork sandwhich or try rolling it up in my Korean burrito with quick pickled veggies.
Gochujang Korean Pulled Pork Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ⅓ cup gochujang
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 5 lb pork shoulder or butt
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the chicken stock, gochujang, soy sauce, and honey.
- Put the pork into your slow cooker and then pour the sauce over the top.5 lb pork shoulder or butt
- Cook the pork for 4-6 hours on high heat or 8-10 hours on low heat.
- Remove the pork from the slow cooker and place it into a baking dish. Pour the juice that is in the slow cooker into a small pot and bring it to a boil. Let it boil hard until it thickens and becomes saucy. Pour or scoop the fat off of the sauce.
- While the sauce is reducing, shred the pork using 2 forks. Pull it across the grain to make long strands rather than short chunks. When the sauce is finished, pour it over the pulled pork and gently toss so everything is well coated.
Nutrition
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Out of this world good. Paired this with your Asian slaw. Flavor b0mb. Big win.
I’m so happy that you love the recipe!!
Made exactly as written (new for me🤣) and it was marvelous. No heat from the gochujang though, that was disappointing but it was Delicious. My husband Raved, put it on top of the Asian salad I made and said ‘Leave me alone with this’. Success with the easiest recipe I’ve ever made!
Haha I love your husband’s comment! The best!
If my pork is only 2.5lbs, should I half the sauce ingredients?
I would keep the sauce amounts the same as you want to make sure there is enough sauce in the slow cooker.
Definitely! I made only a small (1.5 lb.) batch for my trial run of the recipe. I didn’t cut back on the sauce, figuring it’s always better to have more sauce than not enough – and I’m glad I didn’t!
Would this work with a pork scotch fillet roast?
Hi Nicole! I’m not familiar with that term, and a quick Google search gave me conflicting answers. For this recipe, you want a cut of pork that is fatty, well marbled, and has some connective tissue. Tough cuts of meat are perfect as they become tender with a long cooking time. If this sounds like what you have, then it will work. On the other hand, if the cut you have is lean, then it’s best to save it for another recipe. I hope that helps!
Great recipe! I used 1.75 lb of pork butt and didn’t have honey so I used sugar instead. About 2 tablespoons? I eyeballed it. I also added chopped garlic and white onions and course red pepper. 3 hours on high heat. I made it into sandwiches with bollilo rolls from the market and dressed with cilantro and chopped white onions. Could be made into tacos. The flavor was awesome! My family loved it!
I bet those were the best sandwiches ever!
Cannot wait to make this. Looks amazingly delicious. Will make this in the next day or so. Thank you.
I made this tonight, and the only adjustment I made was a wee bit more honey to make it a tiny bit sweet. I served it over a deep fried corn tortilla for crunch with an Asian slaw and Gochujang mayo, cilantro and fresh lime squeezed over top. It was bloody amazing. We couldn’t get enough. 🤤 I can easily see this becoming a family favorite.
Would it be possible to make this the day before and reheat it the next day for a party? If so, how would you recommend reheating it?
Absolutely you can! You can warm it up over low heat on the stove. Even a microwave should work, too.
Hi, this recipe is amazing! The pork turned out very tender, smokey and delicious. I have some leftovers and want to serve it in steamed buns. Which vegetables would you recommend to pair it with? Thanks for a great recipe! 🙂
I like this with Asian-style vegetables like our garlic snap peas.
This recipe sounds lovely. However, I’m European. Any chance the meisurement in cups can be given in grams too? Don’t want to mess things up 😄 Thanks!
Sorry but we don’t have weights at this time.
So easy. So delicious. Have done it just before Christmas for the family. Minimal effort and so versatile.
Absolutely perfect meal !!!! This is now my husbands favorite. I had to use an 8 pound shoulder so I doubled everything and it was fabulous… thank you so much for sharing this treasure of a recipe
I used an 8lb bone in pork butt (I’m not actually sure as one label said butt and the other said shoulder, but I think the bone was a shoulder blade). I read the comments and wanted to instant pot it to save on time and electricity, so based on other instant pot recipes I read, I instant potted it for 1 hour 55 minutes. My instant pot got to pressure and then warned me it was burning— I opened it and there was enough liquid and realized the large piece of meat didn’t have any of the liquid underneath it so I lifted it and let the liquid flow under. Solved the problem. I love the sauce but it was a bit too spicy for me so good thing the meat takes in a lot of the flavor but not the spicyness. I jarred the sauce as an option on the side. Overall, it was super delicious and easy to make. I’ll add less gochuragang next time.
I must’ve done something wrong bc there was barely any liquid in the pot after cooking. The recipe says to cook the sauce down to two cups. I don’t even HAVE two cups to cook down.
I always find that the pork releases a lot of liquid as it cooks. Sounds like you get to skip the step of reducing the sauce!
I just someone’s post regarding cooking it on high; I did and it is perfect in five hours.
I made this for my husband today and he loves it. Today he is having over rice, tomorrow is pork sliders with kimchi or Korean slaw, and Tuesday will be tacos with pineapple salsa.