One Recipe, Four 10-minute (or less) Meals: BBQ Pork

In college my roommates said they loved my signature BBQ chicken quesadillas. One of my roommates had a George Foreman grill and it made some bang-a-rang quesadillas. The thing I loved about those quesadillas was the combination of the sweet, smoky BBQ sauce and the fresh zing of chopped cilantro. I revived this winning combo with my BBQ pork quesadilla recipe.

This is a quickie entrée. A little slow cooker BBQ pork, a tortilla, some cheese, and a sprinkle of cilantro come together to make a flavorful dish.

BBQ Pork Recipe

3-4 lbs. pork roast
1- 12 oz. beef broth
2 cups BBQ sauce

Place the roast and beef broth in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Remove the pork and shred. Place the pork in a baking dish or large pot. Add the sauce and stir to coat the pork. Heat the BBQ pork in oven on 350 for 30 minutes, or on stovetop on low for 30 minutes.

Freezer meal preparation: place pork and beef broth in a gallon-size Zip Loc bag. Freeze. On the day of cooking, you can place the roast in the slow cooker frozen, just extend the cooking time by about an hour or a little more. Prepare as recipe above describes.

As you can see BBQ pork recipe calls for a 3-4 pound roast. That’s a lot of pork- much more pork than you need for quesadillas. What do you do with extra shredded BBQ pork?

Here are some of my family’s favorites…

Classic BBQ Pork Sandwiches

I love adding a little crunch with a lightly dressed coleslaw on the sandwich too. Bummer, we didn’t have any coleslaw on hand last Monday night for this sandwich.

Loaded Baked Potatoes

This is low prep meal. Seriously, I probably spent five minutes getting this meal ready, and it was scrumptious. Doesn’t get much better than that!

BBQ Ranch Chopped Salad

My husband loves this type of salad. I think about 50% of the times we go to a sit-down restaurant for dinner, Mikey orders a salad super similar to this one. So, it just makes sense to use some our leftover pork and make him feel like we’re out to eat. We’re fancy ‘round these parts.

We also love classic creamy ranch dressing at our house, but on special occasions I spiff up our dressing a bit, making a lime-cilantro ranch. Remember, how I loved my BBQ sauce/cilantro combo. This dressing plays right into that flavor profile. Get that recipe here.

Recipes:

BBQ Pork Quesadilla

(recipe for one quesadilla)

Tortilla + ¼ cup cheese + ¼ cup BBQ pork + ½ TBS chopped cilantro
Cook in butter coated skillet on medium heat
Loaded BBQ Pork Baked Potato

Loaded BBQ Pork Baked Potato 

(recipe for one potato)

1 large baked potato + ½ cup BBQ pork + 2 TBS shredded cheese + 1 TBS chopped green onion + a dollop of sour cream

Split your potato in half. I like use a fork to fluff the potato insides a bit and add a sprinkle of salt. Load up with all your toppings.

BBQ Ranch Chopped Salad

(serves 4)

1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1 batch of lime-cilantro ranch dressing, recipe from Our Best Bites
1 cup of Texas Caviar, recipe from AllRecipes.com
2 cups shredded BBQ pork
½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Optional: tortilla strips, BBQ sauce drizzle

Toss the lettuce in the dressing. Top with the veggies, pork, and cheese. You can add some tortilla strips or a light drizzle of BBQ sauce over the top of the salad.

All these meals started with one easy, slow cooker BBQ pork recipe. Who knew BBQ pork could be so versatile?! Which of these variations do you think will be your family’s favorite?