Do you know what makes buried in a foot of snow better? Jerk pulled pork flavored with Caribbean spices thrown in a slider roll and topped with pineapple salsa. If you can’t look outside and see palm trees and warmth, you can at least taste it in your mouth…amirite?

I probably couldn’t have timed this any worse, or better, depends on how you look at it. Regardless we’re about to get slammed with snow and now is the time to start thinking about your snow day menu and hit the oh so crowded grocery stores. 

I actually had no idea a snow storm was coming so this slow cooker thing is a total coincidence. My mom recently went to Jamaica and brought me back a Jamaican Jerk marinade that I threw in the crockpot with a pork roast a few weeks back. I FELL IN LOVE. Jerk anything is delicious, it’s spicy yet sweet and filled with warming spices like allspice and nutmeg, and balanced with spicy scotch bonnet peppers and tangy citrus. 

My first time making this was my first ever time making pulled pork in the crock pot. I’ve always kept it low and slow in the oven, and I have plans with the smoker as soon as it’s tolerable outside. This.was.perfect. The pork was fork tender, the au jus made it perfect for basting and dipping, and the exterior of the pork was beautifully charred, just as if it came out of the oven or smoker. I am too excited. 

This recipe has two components: the pork and the marinade. 

Whether you want to make this for the weekend storm or serve this for Superbowl Sunday, this is perfect for entertaining or a simple weekday dinner that you can get started hours ahead. I’m only feeding my household of 4 so I went ahead and bought a 2.5 pound pork shoulder (AKA Boston Butt). To make life easier, at the bottom of the post I whipped up a chart guiding you in how big of a pork butt you’ll need. 

As far as the prep, all you have to do is trim any excess fat then throw it in a bag of marinade. SPEAKING OF. 

Let’s just pretend that picture is pretty, k?

When you first look at the ingredients you’re probably going to be like woah, that’s a ^%#@ ton of ingredients. After REALLY looking at it, you’ll realize it’s nothing more than staple ingredients (brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, onion, etc). Traditional Jerk marinade is made up of a few important ingredients like scotch bonnet peppers, all-spice, ginger, thyme, and often soy sauce. I found that scotch bonnets were ridiculously hard to find so I used a combination of habanero, jalapeno, and serrano. You can do whatever combo you’d like! 

Marinade the pork for a few hours, stick it in the crockpot, set it on low, and come back 6-8 hours later. Set it and forget it. And then realize how life changing a crockpot is and yell at yourself for not using it more often. 

The pork is incredibly tender as you can see above. I used two forks to shred it in the pot then swirl it around in alllll its flavorful juices. It’s ready to eat as is OR…

…buy some King Hawaiian roles, store made pineapple salsa, coleslaw, and build yourself some Jamaican Jerk Pulled Pork Sliders. I liked this. A lot. 

As you can guess from the marinade, the pork itself is spicy, has a touch of sweetness, and a tang of citrus from the orange and lime.  This is delicious and sure to warm you up – I can’t wait for you to make this. 

To all my east coast friends, be safe, stay warm, and enjoy!