How to Reheat Pulled Pork

There are two situations that many of us find ourselves in come the weekend. Some are left with leftover pulled pork that can be used in delicious sandwiches the next day. Others have to cook way in advance in order to serve delicious pulled pork for a Sunday BBQ.

The question is, how do you properly reheat your pork, whether pulled or preserved whole, for the next day? There’s more than one way to do it. Some better than others, but you can use any traditional kitchen appliance and still maintain flavor, moisture, and tenderness.

It’s just a matter of using the right temperature, storing your pork properly before reheating it, and following some simple rules.

Photo Credit: Sarah Rose

Use a Microwave Oven

Microwaves are known for heating up food by targeting the water molecules. While this is a quick way of reheating food, it’s also a good way to eliminate moisture. Loss of moisture can turn pork chewy or even tough.

This is a big concern with leftover pulled pork, or pork butts that you prepare one day in advance. One way to avoid making the meat tough is to brush a generous amount of BBQ sauce on your meat before putting it in the microwave.

Here are some additional tips that should help prevent your pork from becoming dry when reheated:

  • Place the food away from the center of the microwave oven
  • Add a glass of water in the microwave so that it will create extra moisture
  • Use plastic wrap to cover the food bowl
  • Evenly separate your pulled pork so it cooks evenly and faster
  • While there may still be some issues with microwaving your pulled pork or precooked pork butts, using these tricks will go a long way towards preserving flavor and keeping the meat tender
  • Set your microwave to 100% power and reheat the meat for about three minutes.

Reheat It in a Traditional Oven

The recommended amount of time to reheat pork is around 40-45 minutes per pound. You may need less than that when reheating pulled pork because you’re not dealing with a thick piece of meat that’s hard to penetrate.

Set the temperature to around 350°. If you’re reheating up to 3 lbs. of pulled pork, 15 minutes should be more than enough. Especially when you let it steam.

If you want to do this with minimal flavor loss, put your pulled pork in a roasting pan. Add some water, no more than half an inch, and let the pork steam in the oven.

To enhance the flavor, you could use apple juice or apple cider instead of water. Unless for some reason you don’t like the apple and pork combination.

Use Your Charcoal Grill

You can reheat pulled pork and pork butts on the grill too. Use an aluminum pan, same as you would in the oven. Bring your grill to anywhere between 350-450°.

Add some water or apple juice, or apple cider to the pan to maintain moisture and add a bit more flavor to the meat. Up to 12 minutes should be enough to reheat the meat to serving temperature while preserving tenderness and flavor.

Don’t forget to cover your grill to maintain the temperature and run more smoke through the meat.

Boiling in a Bag

Another interesting technique is boiling the pork while it’s in a sealed bag. Some home cooks use hot water and others bring it up to boiling temperature in order to speed up the process.

There are some advantages to this method. For one, the heat isn’t as direct as when using a microwave or grill. This means that there’s less chance of the pork drying out during reheating.

The sealed bag helps retain moisture and doesn’t allow any flavor to escape either. Granted, it may take some time.

Probably one of the best ways to reheat whole pork butts or pulled pork leftovers is using a sous vide. Not everyone has one in their kitchen. But if you do, set it to 150° and let it work its magic.

That temperature setting should be more than enough to warm up the meat while also breaking up some fat. It will get your meat to serving temp but not to the point where you are risking drying the meat out.

Furthermore, when using a sous vide, you don’t have to constantly check the clock or worry about turning the meat, moving the pan around in the oven, and so on. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it reheating method.

Use a Slow Cooker

If you’re a BBQ purist you’re probably not that into slow cookers. But this appliance can do great things for your pulled pork. You don’t have to cook it in the slow cooker. Just use it to slowly reheat your meat the next day.

Slow cookers do a terrific job of retaining moisture and not hitting the meat with too much direct heat. Almost all of them have the standard three temp settings — low, high, warm. Add your meat to the slow cooker and put it on the warm temp setting.

It can keep it warm for up to four hours and it shouldn’t take more than two hours to bring your pulled pork to serving temp. Whole pork butts may take double to reach serving temperature. Either way, it’s very easy to time this.

You also don’t have to add much liquid. A splash of cider or a splash of sauce is more than enough.

How to Store Your Pulled Pork

Always store your pulled pork in an airtight food-grade container. This prevents any moisture from escaping and keeps the pork tender for the next day.

How you cook your pork also influences how it will taste and feel when reheated. First of all, cook it according to your favorite recipe until it’s tender. Then take it out and let it rest for about 10-15 minutes before doing anything to it. After it rests, grab your bear claws and pull the pork apart. Allow it to get to room temperature before you chill it in the fridge.

It’s tempting to also douse the meat in sauce before putting it in the fridge overnight. While this may add more flavor, it can also make pulled pork feel mushy the next day from all the excess moisture. Besides, pork butt already has enough fat so there should be plenty left to reheat it the next day and preserve most of the flavor and natural moisture of the pork.

Prepping Pork Butts One Day in Advance

If you’ve already pulled your pork butts, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, if you’re planning on serving them the next day, there’s a way to preserve even more flavor. After you’re done cooking the pork butts, let them rest and chill them whole.

Put them in separate pans, wrap them in foil, and then stick them in the fridge. The following day you can reheat them whole using the previously mentioned methods, and then pull the meat apart right before serving.

Cooked pork butts chilled whole break up just as easily the next day. It’s better than pulling the meat one day in advance as more of the juices and unrendered fat get preserved. Although the outer layer may get a bit hard, the rest of the meat will be very tender.

Furthermore, pieces of unrendered fat will help retain moisture and flavor as you reheat the entire pork butt the next day. Nothing will dry out.

Just note that the reheating time will vary depending on the size of the pork butt. If you’re doing this, then perhaps reheating on the grill will be better. It’s a slow and steady type of reheating, on indirect heat, and with some extra smoke action happening.

To Use or Not to Use Sauce Beforehand

This often comes down to a matter of personal taste. Some people add sauce to cooked pork while storing it in the fridge. Most of the time it’s because people are afraid of losing flavor. Others do it because they want the pork to remain flavorful and tender.

In reality, there’s nothing terribly wrong with this if you do it right. Adding a few drops of sauce and mixing it in with the meat is great. Just remember two things: Not everyone might be a fan of your sauce; secondly, you can easily overdo it. Too much sauce will cause pulled pork to get mushy and might overpower the taste of the meat. You never want to drown your pork in sauce while it sits in the fridge.

You can add more sauce to your pork if you’re chilling whole pork butts. Coating the pork butts in your BBQ sauce may actually help keep the outer layer tender and prevent it from going dry.

Since the sauce won’t penetrate the meat, this won’t be a problem the next day and the interior won’t turn to mush.

Reheated Pulled Pork Can Be Just as Great the Next Day

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to reheat pork. There’s also no right or wrong appliance to use, as long as you understand the principle of moisture retention.

Pulled pork will reheat faster than whole pork butts. But if you have the choice, do chill your meat whole overnight and pull it the next day. It seals in much more flavor than leftovers have.

While the sous vide technique may be the best overall, each other appliance has its own unique advantages. Try them all and figure out which works best for you.