This sweet and spicy Jamaican Jerk Pork recipe is a breeze to prepare thanks to the trusty slow cooker or crockpot! This tender, juicy pork is bursting with piquant Caribbean flavor and finished with a simple tropical pineapple salsa! Extremely flavorful and mostly hands off to prepare, this recipe will become a highly requested family favorite!
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Jerk Pork
This pork recipe is outrageously delicious and insanely easy to make!
Rubbed with a fragrant Jerk seasoning and slow cooked to perfection, this pork is bursting with savory, spicy and slightly sweet Caribbean flavors! With a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth tender interior and a delightfully crispy-edged exterior, this jerk pork is incredibly moist and loaded with succulent Caribbean flavor in every bite!
Finished with a juicy tropical salsa packed with pineapple, jalapeno, red onion and cilantro, this dish is like a warm island vacation for your tastebuds!
Mostly hands off to prepare thanks to the crockpot or slow cooker, this 5-star flavored pork is maximum in taste with minimal effort! Just throw the ingredients into the slow cooker, let it do all the work and come home to a delicious, ready to serve dinner that your whole family will love!
What is Jamaican Jerk pork?
Jerk is a style of cooking in which meat is rubbed or marinated with a unique hot and smoky spice mixture known as Jamaican jerk seasoning. The meat used in jerk-style cooking is traditionally pork or chicken, however fish, seafood, beef, vegetables and even fruit can be used.
Traditionally, meat is slow smoked or barbecued over pimento wood, however jerk-style food can also be cooked in the oven, slow cooker or on the stove-top.
Where did it originate?
Jerk cuisine originated with the Taino, or Arawak Indians, who were the indigenous people of the Caribbean. They developed the cooking method and later taught it to African slaves who adapted it into jerk cooking.
Jerk cooking and jerk pork is native to Jamaica but can be found throughout the Caribbean.
What goes with pork?
Wondering what to serve with your juicy, succulent jerk pulled pork? Jamaican pork goes well with a variety of side dishes, but keep in mind that jerk is on the spicy side. It will pair best with a fresh, slightly sweet or tangy side to tame the heat!
Sides to serve:
- White Rice
- Coconut Rice
- Rice and Peas
- Red Beans
- Tropical Salsa
- Fresh Fruit
- Fried Plantains
Vegetables to serve:
- Caribbean Corn
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Jamaican Callaloo or Collard Greens
- Coleslaw
- Caribbean Seasoned Grilled Vegetables (peppers, onions, zucchini, squash or zucchini)
How to season jerk pork?
For the best flavor, you should season pork with Jamaican jerk spice mix. The piquant, hot spice mixture gives pork a uniquely delicious Caribbean flavor.
Jerk seasoning can be found as a dry-rub or wet marinade and traditionally consists of all spice and chili peppers. Other ingredients used to season jerk pork may include cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme, garlic, scallions, brown sugar, ginger and salt.
Temperature to cook pork?
Traditionally jerk-style pork is smoked or grilled over medium-low indirect heat. While you won’t be getting any smoke flavor in this slow cooker method, you will still be getting incredibly tender, fall-apart meat by braising low and slow. This recipe cooks jerk pork at the low temperature setting for 6 to 7 hours.
How to make jerk pork?
This tropical jerk pork saves you time and effort by practically cooking itself! All you have to do is dump the ingredients into the slow cooker and go! This is an easy, fool-proof dish that anyone can create at home!
(Scroll down for the detailed measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page)
- Season pork: On a clean work surface, pat cubes of pork dry with paper towels. Transfer pork to a large bowl and drizzle with oil. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the pork with jerk seasoning and salt. Use your hands or tongs to mix and toss the pork until thoroughly coated. (NOTE: You may want to wear gloves as the mixture will be spicy. Don’t touch your face or eyes until after you wash your hands!)
- Marinate: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or transfer the pork to a large zip-closure bag. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or preferably overnight.
- Add to slow cooker: Remove the pork from the refrigerator and allow the meat to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you prep the other ingredients. Transfer pork to the bowl of a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Add the onions, garlic, peppers, ginger, orange juice, lime juice, sugar and soy sauce.
- Cook: Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours, or until the pork is fork tender and falls apart easily.
- While the pork is cooking, make the salsa: Combine all the ingredients for the salsa in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Skim fat & strain liquid: Skim and discard the fat from the top of the cooking liquid in the slow cooker. Strain the cooking liquid into a measuring cup or bowl.
- OPTIONAL to Crisp Pork: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to a large rimmed sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Arrange oven rack to the upper-middle third of the oven. Preheat the oven to BROIL.
- OPTIONAL – Broil: Add ¼ to ½ cup of the strained cooking liquid to the pork and gently toss to coat. Broil 3-5 minutes or until crisp. Remove from the oven, flip the pork and toss with another ¼ to ½ cup cooking liquid. Broil and additional 3-5 minutes. NOTE: Watch the oven carefully as pork can go from golden brown and crispy to burned very quickly!
- Serve: Transfer pork to a serving bowl and drizzle a bit of cooking liquid over the top. Serve hot with salsa in your favorite tacos or over rice! Enjoy!
How to make jerk pork in the slow cooker step by step photos:
Can I prepare it in advance?
Pork can be marinated up to 24 hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Either store pork in a zip-closure bag or place pork in a dish covered tightly with plastic wrap.
How long will pork keep?
Allow leftover jerk pulled pork to cool to room temperature. Transfer to a zip-closure bag or air-tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days.
Can you freeze jerk pork?
Jamaican jerk pulled pork freezes beautifully!
Pork in its marinade can be frozen, in a freezer-safe zip-closure bag, for up to 1 month. When ready to use, allow pork to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Pro-tip: When thawing, place the bag of pork in a large bowl to catch any leaks.
Alternatively, cooked jerk pork can be frozen. To freeze, allow pork to cool completely before transferring to freezer-safe zip-closure bags. Frozen pork will keep for up to 2 to 3 months. When ready to eat, allow pork to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Pro-tip: Package and freeze pork in small, individual servings to have on hand for quick and easy meals!
How to reheat it?
Leftover pork is perfect for quick lunches and dinners! Or, you can shred the pork and add it to tacos, stir it into rice, or use it to as a protein topping for slaw!
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the pork into a baking dish along with any accumulated juices. If pork seems dry, add a couple splashed of orange juice, stock or broth. Cover tightly with foil.
- Reheat until the pork is heated throughout and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Is jerk pork healthy?
This recipe utilizes a boneless pork butt. While this cut of pork does contain protein and beneficial essential vitamins and minerals, it also has a good amount of calories and fat. You can reduce the fat content by trimming any hard, visible fat from the pork before cooking. Also, make sure you skim and discard any the fat from the top of the cooking liquid. However, pork butt should not be consumed daily as part of a healthy diet.
For a healthier jerk pork recipe, substitute boneless pork loin (also referred to as pork roast or center cut pork roast). Pork loin is leaner and has less saturated fat than pork butt.
How many calories?
The exact number of calories and carbohydrates will depend upon the precise measurement and ingredients used. This easy Jamaican Jerk Pork recipe serves six and has approximately 384 calories and 10 grams of carbohydrates per serving.
This dump and go pork requires minimal prep beforehand – simply throw it in the crockpot, walk away and come home to an utterly delicious meal you and your family will love!
Until next time, friends, cheers – to lazy weeknight dinners!
XOXO
Cheyanne
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The best Jerk Pork recipe👇
Jerk Pork Recipe
Recipe can be scaled up or down by using the slider if you hover your mouse over the number of Servings.
Equipment
- Large Bowl
- Slow Cooker or Crockpot
- Large Rimmed Sheet Pan (optional)
Ingredients
- 3 Pound Boneless Pork Butt – trimmed of fat & cut into 2-inch chunks
- 2 TBS Neutral Oil – such as canola or vegetable (SEE NOTES)
- 4 TBS Jerk Seasoning – homemade or store-bought (SEE NOTES)
- Kosher Salt - to taste
- 1 Bunch Green Onion – cut into 3-inch pieces
- 3 Cloves Garlic – smashed & peeled
- 1-2 Jalapeno or Habanero Peppers – stemmed & roughly chopped (SEE NOTES)
- ½-inch Piece Fresh Ginger – peeled and sliced
- ¾ Cup Fresh Orange Juice - (from about 4 oranges)
- ¼ Cup Fresh Lime Juice – (from about 2 limes)
- 1 TBS EACH: Dark Brown Sugar and Low Sodium-Soy Sauce
Pineapple Salsa: (yield about 2 cups)
- 1 ½ Cups Fresh Diced Pineapple
- 1 Jalapeno – stemmed, seeded & finely diced
- ¼ Red Onion – finely diced
- 2-3 TBS Cilantro Leaves – chopped
- 2-3 TBS Fresh Lime Juice
- 1 tsp Honey
For Garnish: Sliced Scallions, Microgreens, Fresh Thyme
For Serving: Lime Wedges, Slices of Avocado, Rice or Slaw
Instructions
- Season pork: On a clean work surface, pat cubes of pork dry with paper towels. Transfer pork to a large bowl and drizzle with oil (SEE NOTES). Toss to coat. Sprinkle the pork with jerk seasoning. Season with salt to taste. Use your hands or tongs to mix and toss the pork until thoroughly coated. (NOTE: You may want to wear gloves as the mixture will be spicy. Don’t touch your face or eyes until after you wash your hands!)
- Marinate: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or transfer to a large zip-closure bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or preferably overnight.
- Add to slow cooker: Remove the pork from the refrigerator and allow the meat to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you prep the other ingredients. Transfer pork to the bowl of a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Add the onions, garlic, peppers, ginger, orange juice, lime juice, sugar and soy sauce.
- Cook: Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours, or until the pork is fork tender and falls apart easily.
- While the pork is cooking, make the salsa: Combine all the ingredients for the salsa in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Skim fat & strain liquid: Skim and discard the fat from the top of the cooking liquid in the slow cooker. Strain the cooking liquid into a measuring cup or bowl.
- OPTIONAL to Crisp Pork: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to a large rimmed sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Arrange oven rack to the upper-middle third of the oven. Preheat the oven to BROIL.
- OPTIONAL - Broil: Add ¼ to ½ cup of the strained cooking liquid to the pork and gently toss to coat. Broil 3-5 minutes or until crisp. Remove from the oven, flip the pork and toss with another ¼ to ½ cup cooking liquid. Broil and additional 3-5 minutes. NOTE: Watch the oven carefully as pork can go from golden brown and crispy to burned very quickly!
- Serve: Transfer pork to a serving bowl and drizzle a bit of cooking liquid over the top. Serve hot with salsa in your favorite tacos or over rice! Enjoy!
Notes
- While I prefer to make my own seasoning, you can use prepackaged. If using store-bought recommend either the brands Walkerswood or Grace wet Jerk Seasoning which has a paste-like consistency. If using a paste or marinade jerk seasoning, omit using the neutral oil. For recipe to homemade jerk seasoning click HERE.
- If you don’t like a lot of heat, use 1 jalapeno pepper. Make sure you remove the seeds and ribs from the pepper before proceeding with the recipe instructions. If you like mild heat, use 2 jalapenos and leave the seeds in the pepper. If you like medium heat, try using a habanero pepper, you can either discard the seeds for a mild to medium heat or leave the seeds for a spicier medium heat. If you like things spicy, use 2 habanero peppers.
Nutrition
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Can this be made in an instapot for a shorter period of time
Hi Jay,
Great question! Unfortunately, I have only tested and made the recipe according to the instructions. However, I’m sure you can make this Jerk Pork in the Instant Pot. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out! Cheers!
Simple and delicious!!!!
Hi Lou,
I’m happy to hear you found the recipe simple to follow and so thrilled you enjoyed the Jerk Pork!! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how it went over!
Delightful! As I probably mentioned in your previous post, I always thought that Jamaican jerk spices most commonly are used for chicken, so thank you for these educational posts! This jerk pork looks splendid, and I won’t mind having some for my dinner right now…even though it’s only 10 am
This jerk pork looks SO juicy and the pineapple salsa to go with it? Sign me up! Beautiful too, which can be a challenge with brown dishes. So excited to try this, Chey!
We love jerk seasoning Chey! And we enjoy pork at least once a week for dinner! This is the kind of healthy meal we need on our menu too. Can’t wait to give your recipe a go! Pinned!
I love jerk anything, so I’m going to be all over this pork version! And that pineapple salsa is just the perfect foil for the spicy pork. Will be putting this on the menu soon 🙂
How delicious and moreish! I probably would end up eating the whole batch myself :-))