Katie Lee's Easy Method For Pulled Pork Changes Everything

The beauty of whipping up weeknight dinners in your slow cooker is that they require little prep and are almost completely hands-off, allowing you to enjoy a delicious, hot meal that cooks while you go about your busy day. Celebrity chef Katie Lee, Food Network star of "The Kitchen" and author of the cookbook "It's Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day," knows a thing or two about whipping up effortless, flavorful meals. Static Media, parent company of Foodie, caught up with Lee recently at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival and got some serious wisdom about a perennial family fave: slow cooker pulled pork.

Lee dropped the bombshell that she doesn't add liquid when cooking pork in her slow cooker. "I usually just do it like a barbecue," she said. "So I'll just season the pork, put it in the slow cooker. I don't add liquid" When pressed by our incredulous staffer, Lee explained succinctly that "I don't even brown it first." Could it be that we were all making slow cooker pulled pork way more complicated than it had to be?

The reason that you can toss a piece of pork in the slow cooker with no oil or liquid, explains Lee, is the fat in the cut of meat. "There's enough [fat] in there that you will get a good amount of broth that actually creates its own" without adding anything extra, she says. The pork "[cooks] in its own liquid."

After about eight hours in the slow cooker — a programmable slow cooker like this 6-quart model by CrockPot ensures that you never overcook your pork, which is one of the top mistakes you are making when cooking the white meat — you can simply mix that flavorful, succulent broth with your sauce of choice. Lee favors barbecue sauce, but we've also been known to go in an Asian direction with a satay-style sauce that uses an empty peanut butter jar. Add your meat back in and shred it with two forks. Voila! Now you've got juicy, delicious pulled pork that required even less prep than you previously thought.

Just don't let "easy" become the enemy of "safe" — leaving your slow cooker on overnight isn't always the best idea, so maybe stick to cooking Lee's perfect pulled pork in a supervised or programmable pot.