Slow Cooker Coffee Crusted Pulled Pork Tenderloin

Pulled pork tenderloin is covered in the WORLD’S BEST coffee rub, then slow cooked in a crock pot. It’s delicious as a sandwich or stuffed in a roasted sweet potato! 

A pork tenderloin is as lean as a chicken breast, making this pulled pork recipe a healthy, low calorie option. It only takes a few minutes to prep this recipe in the morning, then the slow cooker will do the rest of the work for you!

If you’ve read the blog for a while, then you know about my obsession with Crock Pots. Yes, I own 13! The crock pot is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, for several reasons.

1. Recipes in the crock pot are quick and easy to prep. Just toss everything in the crock pot and let it do all of the work!
2. Slow cooking gives food a ton of flavor.
3. It makes the entire house smell amazing.
4. And most importantly, dinner is ready and waiting for you at the end of the day!

Pulled pork tenderloin is one of my favorite things to cook in a Crock Pot. Up until a few years ago, I had always used pork shoulder or pork butt to make pulled pork crock pot recipes.

Then I was introduced to slow cooked pork tenderloin. With 75% less fat than pork shoulder or pork butt, it’s as lean as a skinless chicken breast and the most tender cut of pork, making it fall off the fork perfect for pulled pork!

My first use of the delicious pulled pork tenderloin was in this recipe for Chipotle Honey Pulled Pork Tacos. This recipe has become a blog favorite and a Bond family favorite!

I then created Sweet and Sour Pulled Pork Tenderloin, seriously delicious served over rice or in lettuce wraps. Now I use pork tenderloin to make Pork Ragu and Dr Pepper Pulled Pork Sliders. It’s a versatile cut of meat, that when slow cooked and shredded, can make a variety of tasty meals!

Instructions

For the full detailed instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

1. Rub the pork tenderloin. Prepare this coffee rub (click the link for the recipe) then rub the mixture on a pork tenderloin.
2. Slow cook the pork. Place the seasoned pork tenderloin in a Crock Pot. In a medium bowl, whisk chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, honey and garlic together. Pour this mixture over the pork in the Crock Pot. Slow cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4 hours.
3. Shred the pork. After the pork has slow cooked, reach two forks or meat claws in the slow cooker and pull the pork apart in the crock pot.

Ways to serve the pork tenderloin

If you’d like to serve the pulled pork in a sweet potato, follow the steps below.

About an hour before serving the pork, place 4 sweet potatoes in the oven at 350°F on a foil-lined baking sheet for 45 minutes, or until soft to the touch.

Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and cool 10-15 minutes.

Slice the potatoes open and fill them with the scrumptious pulled pork.

Optionally top with diced green onions.

Want to make the sweet potatoes quicker in a microwave or air fryer? Check out this post for how to cook sweet potatoes 3 ways!

If you’d like to serve the pulled pork as a sandwich, simply toast 4 hamburger buns in a skillet on the stove, then serve the pulled pork on the buns.

Is pulled pork healthy?

When made with a lean pork tenderloin, pulled pork can be a wonderfully healthy part of a balanced diet.

This pulled pork recipe, served in a sweet potato, is only 292 calories per serving. It provides 25 grams of protein and more than 20 TIMES the recommended daily amount of Vitamin A. It’s also gluten free, when served in a roasted sweet potato.

The difference between pork loin and pork tenderloin

While their names sound similar, pork loin and pork tenderloin are two totally different cuts of meat and should not be substituted for one another.

Pork loin is thicker, larger and fattier than a pork tenderloin. A pork loin usually weighs between 4-5 pounds.  A pork tenderloin is extremely lean and tender and usually weighs around 1 pound.

While a pork tenderloin is a wonderfully tender and juicy cut of meat, since it doesn’t have the fat to flavor the meat, it requires a really delicious rub to give it the flavor. The Coffee Rosemary Rub in this recipe definitely does the trick. I wouldn’t call it the WORLD’S BEST rub for nothing!

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