Hawaiian Kalua Pig

The brined turkey was juicy and wonderful, but what really made the Thanksgiving feast memorable was the kalua pig. No, not Kahlua pig (there’s no coffee liqueur in this dish, and if one more person says that to me....) Kalua pig, as in ka lua (literally, the pit in Hawaiian—this refers to the method of cooking the pork in an underground earthen oven called an imu.) Since we are now city dwellers who don’t have a yard, a crockpot is one way to replicate this traditional dish. I used to think crockpot cooking was lazy cooking—the dump a can of soup and meat and you’ve got a meal kind of cooking. But after biting into this succulent dish, I’m forever changed.

Crockpot Kalua Pork
Recipe courtesy of E/S

4 to 5 pounds pork butt or shoulder
2 cups apple cider
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
2-3 tablespoons Hawaiian salt (regular sea salt will work)

The night before the big feast, rub pork with Hawaiian salt, liquid smoke and place in crockpot. Add apple cider. Turn crockpot on low and leave it to cook for 10-12 hours, flipping pork over halfway through. Take meat out of crockpot and shred with two forks. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 hours
Yield: Makes 6-8 servings

Don’t have a crockpot? Here’s my oven version, courtesy of the Food Network:

Oven Kalua Pork

4-5 lb pork butt
3 tablespoons Hawaiian salt or kosher salt
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
8 ti leaves (or 2-3 banana leaves)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make several slashes along the surface of the pork butt. Rub with salt, then liquid smoke. Prepare ti leaves by removing the rib. Lay out a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, and place 4 ti leaves on top. Place pork on leaves and wrap them around the pork. Cover with remaining leaves in the opposite direction until pork is completely wrapped. Wrap the foil tightly around the pork to make a watertight seal.

Place package in a large roasting pan. Fill with two inches of water and cover pan tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Lower temperature to 325 degrees F and cook for 3-3 1/2 hours or until tender. Unwrap pork from package and shred before serving.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Yield: Makes 6-8 servings

For a local-style meal, serve with rice, macaroni salad, lomi salmon, sweet potatoes and poi.

Got leftovers? Serve on Hawaiian sweet bread for the best pork sandwich you ever had.

Don't eat pork? Works with chicken!

Comments

[Alan Vespie]

My Hawaiian Aunt made this for me 20+ years ago and I couldn't recall the recipe. Thanks for putting the recipe on the web. It helps me recapture some pleasantries of my past and keeps a strain of my culture alive in my kids.

When you have kalua pig at your fingertips, why bother eating BBQ ribs? ;-)

[Jackie]

Hi I would like to make this but I live in Fl.I am fr. Hawaii.I can not get Hawaii sale here,any suggestion?

[cld]

Hi Jackie,
Coarse sea salt is a fine substitute. Kosher salt also works. Enjoy!

[Betty]

I ordered a whole kahlua pig for my son's wedding four years ago and it was in South San Francisco, CA; now a friend of mine is throwing a birthday party for her 78 year old mother coming out from Chicago and she is anxious to order this kahlua pig as the main excitement, dish; but I forgot the name of the place; can you help? Are you them? Thanks!

[Espi Zepeda]

I live in Whittier, Calif. Where can I find a place that will make the pig for me? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Michelle]

Fresh Hawaiian Style Guava's - where can I buy some on the mainland? I need to get my hungry little hands on some.

[donna marie]

I'm considering making Kalua Pig for my students' holiday party this Thursday, December 16th. I've been on the mainland for 10 years, and have only made it in the oven - with banana leaves (had to substitute for ti). You say "If you don't have a crockpot..." I do, and it would be easier than the oven. Does it taste the same and/or differ in the outcome?
mahalo, and Mele Kalikimaka :)

[mando]

i need a recipe on how to cook a whole pig under ground.

[lani]

mahalo nui, no ka information....i just moved to fl.and dying to eat local food....thank you jesus i have ti leaf....just for other island mainlanders ....they call it ty leaf...took me forever to find...untill one day a storm blew a broken branch my way...ever since then i treasure that wee plant ...that now has brother and sister growing from it...soon at my da kine dinner table i can "PASS THE KALUA PIG"...thanks again for the recipe ,and memory lane...theres no place like HOME!!!!
aloha nui loa Lani

[soso]

hi,
where can someone order kalua pig....would love to try some...thanks

[Marcus]

I am looking fior a step by step instructions on how to cook a pig in the ground for my wedding party. I also need a recipe for the pig. Can you help??? Please Please Please.......

[Steve]

Nice detailed crock pot recipe for the pig, thanks for posting this crock pot recipe-Steve

http://www.easy-crockpotrecipes.com

[rosa]

need to know where to get lava rocks and leaves for our pig roast i live in col. please help need in eight days thank you

[Susan White]

I know the recipe calls for Liquid Smoke, but there's mesquite and hickory. Which one do I use??
Mahalo

[Laura]

Do you have a recipe for bar-b-que pulled pork sandwiches?

[Julie]

Susan: That would be hicory liquid smoke.

[Julie]

Oops! Make that hickory.

[carole]

thanks for including the side dish meals . my husband told me there were some but could nt remember what they were. thanks again

[carole]

thanks for including the side dish meals . my husband told me there were some but could nt remember what they were. thanks again

[brian]

The liquid smoke needs to be hickory and you can use more liquid smoke at a time, even the whole bottle if you are brave. The best cut of meat is a butt roast and never, never substite Hawaiian rock salt for anything else if you have ever eaten good Kalua pig. Aloha and mahalo for reading this.

[Colleen Gabrielle]

I would like to try the slow cooker version of the Kalua Pig but I need to order the Hawaiian sea salt. I looked at a couple of sites to order the salt from and there are two different grinds, coarse and fine. Which one do I use for the slow cooker version of the recipe?

[Ronnie Maiden]

I'd use Mesquite Liquid Smoke. Not only is it milder, but the wood that is often used for the fire in the Hawaiian imu (and for many other barbequed meat in Hawai'i is often kiawe--a.k.a. mesquite. I think this helps the kalua pork taste more like traditional kalua pig (mmm, makes me think of lu'au at auntie's). In fact, kiawe has been favored for outdoor cooking in Hawai'i for decades; take this from an old kama'aina.