Crockpot Chipotle Dr. Pepper Pork

Easy, flavorful and tender pork slow-cooked in Dr. Pepper with spicy chipotle peppers, potatoes and onions. The soda makes the pork melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the chipotle peppers add so much flavor you will never believe how easy it is!

HI!!! I missed you guys, and I feel like I have so many things I want to tell you. Things over here have been crazy. I’m in tech week for my third show in less than three months, and this is the biggest one. I successfully completed my first triathlon (more on that coming this week, but OMG I LOVED it!). I traveled to California for The Big Traveling Potluck with a couple of my favorites, and then also met some amazing new friends. Oh, and I’ve cooked maybe 2 meals in the past month.

So that’s the quick catch up on life. Oh that and I have an embarrassing new addiction to….Gossip Girl. All of my students told me I need to watch it, and these are the same kids that share my undying love for Breaking Bad so I trusted their taste, and turns out it is as trashy as I was expecting. And equally addicting. It’s like if they expanded Cruel Intentions into an entire series and I can’t get enough. Although, lately it’s been more like get home at 8:30, eat cereal for dinner, then fall asleep by 9:15 half way into an episode.

Thank goodness for my crockpot. And leftovers. I don’t remember the last meal I ate at home that didn’t come from the crockpot (minus my brother’s birthday dinner). A lot of people have mixed feelings on slow cookers, and I’ve heard people say that they suck the flavor out of a dish. Maybe it’s my heavy hand when it comes to seasonings, but I’ve never experienced that! In fact, I feel like the crockpot is a fool proof way to deliver big flavor and the most tender meat. Leaner meats like pork tenderloin or chicken breast can be challenging to get juuuussssttt right. Ya know that point where the meat is cooked, but so soft it falls apart with the touch of the fork? That’s what I’m talking about! And you don’t need a fatty cut of meat to make it happen.

Now, before you think I’m nuts for putting soda in my meat, let me explain…When you cook meet with soda in a slow cooker, the acidity of the soda breaks down the meat and makes it even more tender. Depending on what else you put in, you will get a hint of the flavor, but it won’t over power the dish. This being said, you could also use root beer, coke, etc. I mean, I wouldn’t suggest sprite or 7-up, but any dark soda should do it. I’ve also tried it with both regular and diet, and honestly I love it both ways. If you’re not a diet soda person, you may get a hint of that diet soda taste and prefer to use regular. Even if you use regular soda, it has less than half the calories of an equal amount of barbecue sauce, so it’s not going to kill the dish health-wise, ya know?  With the soft and tender pork and smokey chipotle peppers, this simple dish will be one you make over and over again!