Do you need to reheat pulled pork?
I don’t know too many people that can chow down a ~5kg smoked pork shoulder all on their own. Scratch that, I definitely don’t know ANYONE that could do that (regardless of how good your “secret pulled pork recipe” is 😜). So, unless you invited a number of mates over to join your smoking session, you’re bound to have a fair amount left over, and will wanna reheat your pulled pork the next day. More likely, you’re even gonna freeze it and reheat it a few days later.
.. or maybe you were just awesome and bought some of my refrigerated or frozen pulled pork which I started doing during lock-down 😉
Yip, you can now buy frozen pulled pork and buy and build your own pulled pork burgers, and now want to know the best way to reheat it so that you can make your own pulled pork burgers at home.
4 Ways that I reheat Pulled Pork
The first 3 reheating options are all acceptable, but can dry out your pork during the process. In either of these methods I’d suggest adding a little bit of apple juice and/or your favourite BBQ sauce halfway through heating, and maybe even mixing in some more again at the end. Not too much though!… we don’t want to over-power the original taste of that delicious smokey pulled pork.
1 – Use The Microwave!
Open your frozen packet of pork and empty contents into a microwave-safe dish or container. Set the timer for a minute at a time (opening the microwave door and mixing the pork up after each minute) until you get an internal temperature of ~75 °C (~170 °F). Check the internal temperature using a meat thermometer… or your finger if you’re that good 😉
That’s how to reheat pulled pork using a microwave. This should be your least favourite option, but it works if you need it done quickly and/or don’t have any other choice.
2 – Reheat in the oven
Similar to heating in a microwave, except you’re gonna want to pre-heat your oven to ~110 °C. You can go hotter to speed things up, but it tends to dry out more, and I wouldn’t go lower than ~90 °C. Next up, open your frozen packet of pork and empty contents into a oven-safe dish or container, cover in foil and pop it into the over. It’s gonna take about 1/2 an hour… until you get an internal temperature of ~75 °C. Again, check internal temperature occasionally using an using a meat thermometer… or your finger if you’re that good 😉
That’s how to reheat pulled pork using the oven. Again, this should not be your favourite or go-to option, but it will work.
3 – Use steam to reheat your pulled pork
If you don’t have a proper steamer, you can use a chafing dish/bain-marie quite effectively… I do it often at smaller festivals. Fill the bottom dish with water and place over an open flame/stove top. Empty your frozen pork onto the top dish and let it slowly heat up… again, until you get an internal temperature of ~75 °C. If you’re using an electric bain-marie, then set it to ~75 °C and you can leave it there as you dish. If you happen to be catering for a festival, then scootch the warm pork over to one side of the dish and put new frozen pork onto the other side… mixing the two as the frozen pork thaws and heats up.
4 – Boil your Pulled Pork
SAY WHAT? Have you gone made BraaiBoy?
Hahaha… Fortunately not maatjies… bear with me and allow me to explain:
OK… so I used “boiling” just to get your attention… I’m assuming it worked if you’re still reading this. OK, so I’m not suggesting you BOIL the water, but rather make the water “really hot”. Almost a poor man’s sous vide: Using a large enough pot/cauldron (I’ve got a 1/2 drum with an open flame underneath ;)), heat up your water until “really hot”, leaving your pork in the vacuum bag I gave you the frozen pork in, pop it straight into the hot water. I use tongs to remove the bags from the water, because it’s too hot to touch… think of running just your hot water tap: it’s a hotter than that, but not boiling a kettle hot.
When I’m catering a festival or really large corporate function and I need to reheat pre-smoked meats, this is my preferred method of reheating for several reasons:
- It’s really convenient
- It holds the moisture inside the bag with the meat so that is doesn’t dry out or burn off while cooking.
- Less risk of over-cooking and continuing to break down the meat.
Heat & Eat Pulled Pork
There you have it… 4 ways that I use, and suggest you do too, to reheat any of the pulled pork that you got from me (or anywhere else).
Feeling Hungry Yet?
Order some Pulled Pork from BraaiBoy’s Braai Shop and try some of these recipes:
- If you do… drop me a comment below or hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok etc. … I’m there as @BraaiBoy on most of them… I love hearing the ways people use my Pulled Pork & CheeseGrillers.
This is a super practical guide—pulled pork is so good, but reheating it without losing that tender texture can be tricky. I appreciate how you’ve broken down the different methods with clear pros and cons for each. It’s nice to have options depending on the time or tools you have available.
I usually use the oven to reheat mine, but I might try the sous vide method next time—it sounds like a great way to keep the meat juicy. Do you think any of these methods work better if you’ve frozen the pulled pork first?