Making a leftover pulled pork sandwich is not as easy as it seems. Like salmon, one wrong move and your delicious, juicy pulled pork could turn into a dry mess.
For this reason, knowing how to reheat pulled pork is essential if you want to recreate the same delicious dinner using leftover pulled pork.
Contents
How to Reheat Pulled Pork
There’s no need to fret about ruining your leftover pulled pork. You can reheat pulled pork using 4 different techniques.
How to Reheat Pulled Pork Using the Oven
We all no reheating any meat in the oven is the best way to restore it to its former, tasty glory, especially if it is shredded meat.
To reheat your leftover pulled pork in the oven, heat your oven to 225°F.
Place your shredded pork butt or whole pork butt into an oven-safe dish.
Add 1/4 cup of water, chicken, apple juice, BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, or the reserved liquid rendered from smoking the pulled pork into the bottom of the dish.
Cover the pulled pork with a double layer of aluminum foil to seal in the moisture. Place the pulled pork onto the oven’s center rack.
Cook the pulled pork for 10-15 minutes until it is heated through and has a temperature of 165°F.
Partially remove the aluminum foil and cook the pork for an additional 5 minutes to add some crunch to the bark.
Shred the pulled pork if you left it whole, otherwise serve and enjoy!
How to Reheat Pulled Pork Using the Grill
When it comes to reheating leftover pulled pork on the grill, setting up indirect and direct grilling zones is best. 2 grilling zones will prevent the pulled pork from drying out.
The only exception to this reheating rule is a pellet grill, as it can maintain stable low temperatures.
To create a double cooking zone one a gas grill, turn on half of the gas grill’s burners and leave the burners off at the opposite end of the grill.
In contrast, to set up a double cooking surface on a charcoal grill, arrange the charcoal onto one side of the grill.
The side of the gas grill with the burners on or with the charcoal will be the direct cooking surface, while the free side of the grill or the part of the grill with the burners off is the indirect heat cooking surface.
Bring your gas grill or charcoal grill up to a temperature between 400°F and 450°F until the indirect grilling zone has a temperature of 225°F.
Remove your pulled pork from the oven while you are setting up your grill to ensure it is properly thawed and comes to room temperature.
Add 1/4 cup of water, chicken, apple juice, apple cider vinegar, BBQ sauce, or the reserved liquid rendered from smoking the pulled pork into the bottom of the dish.
Wrap the pulled pork in a double layer of foil and place it directly onto the indirect cooking surface.
Cook the leftover pulled pork until it has a temperature of 165°F. Unwrap the pulled pork and place it onto the direct heat grilling surface for 3-5 minutes to re-crisp the bark.
If your pulled pork is shredded, put it into a different pan, then place it onto the direct heat grilling surface for 3-5 minutes.
Remove the entire pulled pork from the pan, shred it and serve with any of the remaining liquid from the pan.
How to Reheat Pulled Pork in Using a Crockpot
Crockpots are the cooker of choice for many people and for a good reason.
All that’s needed is adding your food, set the cooker to low or high, and in 4-8 hours, dinner will be ready.
Furthermore, crockpots are the perfect way to reheat pulled pork.
To reheat pulled pork in a crockpot, you need to be strategic, so your pulled pork can be ready by dinner time.
While the reheating time can differ, pulled pork can take 2-4 hours to reheat on average.
In addition to this, make sure you save the drippings rendered from the pork butt while it was smoking in your offset smoker.
To reheat your pulled pork, add the meat to a crockpot along with the leftover pan drippings.
If you do not have pan drippings, you can use 1/4 cup BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, chicken or vegetable broth, or apple juice.
Set your crockpot to warm and cook it for 2-4 hours until it is thoroughly heated. Once the pulled pork has a temperature of 165°F, serve and enjoy.
How Do I Reheat Pulled Pork Using the Sous Vide Technique
Essentially, sous vide refers to a cooking method involving vacuum-sealed food in a hot water bath. Sous vide means under vacuum in English.
Although nothing beats the smoke generated by a pellet smoker, actually prepare pulled pork using a sous vide machine, then reheat it later.
In addition to this, you can also use the sous vide technique if you do not have time to let your pulled pork thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
However, you will need a vacuum sealer to package the pork to ensure no water gets into it.
To reheat your pulled pork using the sous vide method, heat your souse vide machine to 165°F.
Alternatively, you can heat your leftover pulled pork in a pot of water over low heat on the stovetop.
But you must ensure the water maintains a consistent temperature of 165°F.
Place your puled pork into the sous vide machine or pot and cook it for 45 minutes per square inch.
If you are reheating leftover pulled pork from frozen, cook it for an extra 30 minutes until it is thoroughly heated.
Final Thoughts
Is there anything as too much-pulled pork? Of course not.
Although it can be a bit challenging to reheat pulled pork, once you get the hang of it, you will never end up with dry leftover pulled pork again.
You might also be interested in:
I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.