Italian Pulled Pork is a long time coming in my mind.

I live in the South where it’s more likely 99% of the time that when you eat pulled pork, the flavor profile is going to be sweet, spicy and smothered in barbecue sauce.

It’s time to change that and go all out Italian and sugar free with Italian Pulled Pork.

Pork butt, flavored with rosemary, thyme, sage, fennel seeds and garlic is a nice change from pulled pork with barbecue sauce. Now you might be thinking how could I throw shade on the beloved Southern style sweet saucy pulled pork? It’s not that I’m against it; I just don’t like sugar on my meat.

I like herbs. When I grill spareribs, I’m more likely to do a dry rub and maybe use some fresh fruit like these grilled spare ribs with peaches

In Italy, they eat a lot of pork, but it’s always savory, a tad salty, and flavored with the very same herbs that grow in my garden. Rosemary is especially good with pork, but so is oregano, sage and thyme. You can mix them up anyway you like, but use plenty with some diced garlic and a little olive oil. If you have fennel pollen, use it. If not thrown in some fennel seeds.

You can make Italian Pulled Pork in foil, in dutch oven or in a crock pot.

Slow roast Italian pulled pork  in a low temperature oven. You can wrap tightly in heavy foil or place meat in a dutch oven (in oven) or crock pot.

This is very easy to make. I wrapped the herb-laced pork butt in foil and cooked on a low 300 degrees wrapped in foil for two hours. Then I took the foil off and roasted it until the outside was nicely browned. You could put this in a covered dutch oven, or use this in a crock pot and get the same effect. Cool this off for about ten minutes, before using a fork to pull.

Take this fork tender aromatic Italian pulled pork and stuff it in between ciabatta rolls, or crusty bread and some arugula for a real treat, similar to the porchetta street sandwich. You can find a mock porchetta here, which is a little more complex.

I can see this as a wonderful paleo option with this sweet potato kale salad. 

If you love Italian food,  I have a dedicated Italian Food Pinterest Board.

More Pork Recipes Here

Mock Porchetta with Root Vegetables

Print Recipe

4.10 from 21 votes

Slow Roasted Italian Pulled Pork

Slow roasted Italian pulled pork with rosemary, thyme and sage, perfect as is or for sandwiches.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time4 hours hrs

Total Time4 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 8

Author: Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 3-4 pound pork butt
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh sage chopped
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon ground pollen or use 2 teaspoons ground toasted fennel seeds
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

• Salt and Pepper the pork
• Chop all herbs together.
• Rub olive oil on pork butt.
• Mix herbs with fennel pollen (or ground fennel seeds)
• Allow to sit out on counter for an hour to marinate if you have the time.
• Wrap in heavy duty tin foil. Triple wrap, as juices will drip. Put a baking pan in rack below to catch the juice.
• Bake for 3-4 hours, low and slow at 300 degrees F.
• Shred the pork with a fork.

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