Moroccan Spiced Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder
A big pork shoulder (or pork butt) is one of my favorite things for feeding a crowd. It’s a great way to cook up a large pile of food for a reasonable price, and even though they are very easy to cook it always seems impressive and gets rave reviews. I usually get them at Costco, although occasionally my local store has them on sale for a great price.
One of my favorite ways to cook a pork shoulder for a crowd is with a Moroccan inspired spice rub. It takes just a few minutes of work to season the pork and then it’s entirely hands off for many hours. Throw in some roughly diced veggies for the last hour or two of cooking, I think it’s great with more firm veggies that hold up to roasting like potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squashes, califlower. Throwing some onions and garlic cloves in there can also add an extra flavor boost. Serve the roasted meat and veggies with couscous, flat bread, and maybe some sauces like tzatziki.
It’s a great complete meal to feed a crowd, with amazing flavors, that doesn’t have you in the kitchen for hours.
One of these days I will actually take a picture of this meal before we devour it. But this is real family cooking I’m sharing here, I’m not cooking food just to stage photos of it. Having a house full of hungry people isn’t always conducive to photography, so you’ll just have to use your imagination.
What you need to make Moroccan Spiced Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder:
One large pork shoulder roast, or sometimes called pork butt, usually 6-8 pounds
Several cups of chopped veggies (sweet potatoes, squash, cauliflower, onions, garlic, etc.)
How to make it:
Put the pork roast in a large and deep oven safe baking dish and season on all sides with the Moroccan seasoning mix. You want to get it really well coated. It’s best if you do this the day before and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Cover with foil and put in a 300 degree oven for at least 6 hours. The cooking time is going to vary depending on the size of your roast, but I’ve found that at least 6 hours is needed for that really falling apart melt-in-your-mouth to your meat. If your roast is on the bigger side you might want closer to 7 or 8 hours. Plan to put it in the oven by 11:00 in the morning to have it ready by dinner time.
Meanwhile, chop up all your veggies and toss with a little olive oil, more of the Moroccan seasoning, and a little salt.
If you are roasting veggies with the meat you can do this two ways: The first way is to put all your chopped veggies in the pan around the meat for the last hour or more of cooking. The time is going to depend on what veggies you are cooking and what size pieces you like. Firmer vegetables like sweet potatoes or winter squashes will take a little longer than an hour at 300 degrees. The second option is to take the meat out of the pan when it is cooked to your liking, put it in a separate dish covered with foil to keep warm, and then put your veggies in dish the meat was cooked in, with all the meat juices and spices, and turn your oven up to 375 or 400 to roast the veggies a little faster. Then when the veggies are mostly cooked you can add the meat back in to heat back up and brown a bit. You can of course also roast the vegetables separately, but there’s nothing like cooking veggies in a pan full of pork fat for amazing flavor.