Pulled Pork Sliders

Juicy and tender pulled pork tucked into soft slider buns—these pulled pork sliders have become our new favorite make-ahead camping meal.

Looking for a quick and easy meal to feed a crowd of hungry campers? Then these pulled pork sliders are perfect!

Let’s face it: after a long day of hiking, swimming, or just lounging around the campsite, you want a meal that’s satisfying and easy to put together. This pulled pork slider recipe fits the bill perfectly!

With the pulled pork made ahead of time using our handy Instant Pot Pulled Pork recipe and our mostly make-ahead coleslaw recipe, the only thing you’ll have to do at the campsite is reheat the pulled pork and assemble the sliders. 

Sounds simple enough, right? Trust us, it is!

Below, we share our tips for prepping these sliders, storing the pulled pork and coleslaw for your trip. With the heavy lifting done at home, assembling these juicy sliders at the campsite is a cinch!

Ingredients

Pulled BBQ pork: Made from shredded pork shoulder (a.k.a. pork butt) that’s been cooked with bbq sauce, apple cider vinegar, and spices until it’s falling apart. 

You can use our Instant Pot Pulled Pork recipe –it’s quick and easy to make and will leave you with plenty of leftovers to work with. Or you can use store-bought precooked shredded pork and add your own BBQ sauce to it. 

Slider rolls: Regular dinner rolls, brioche buns, or Hawaiian buns for an extra touch of sweetness. Use a serrated knife to slice the rolls in half, and, if possible, toast the insides of the top and bottoms. 

Barbecue sauce: Use your favorite BBQ sauce (we personally love Carolina Gold for pulled pork sandwiches).

Coleslaw: Make our creamy, tangy, homemade coleslaw or you can use storebought to serve with the sliders. 

Your favorite toppings: Pickles, pickled jalapenos, thinly sliced onion, avocado, mozzarella cheese or pepper jack cheese, cilantro, etc.

Make-ahead BBQ Pulled Pork 

If you’re planning on making these sliders for a camping trip, we HIGHLY recommend making the pulled pork ahead of time at home or using leftover pulled pork. Not only does it save you a ton of time and on-site cleanup, but the pork actually tastes better the next day (or the day after that!) when properly stored in a refrigerator or cooler. 

To make the pulled pork at home, we use our Instant Pot Pulled Pork recipe. Unlike using a smoker or slow cooker, the pressure cooking function of the Instant Pot speeds the whole process up and reduces active cooking time. So it’s easy enough to throw together even on a busy weekday night before your camping trip.

But, if you’re on a time crunch, you can purchase pre-cooked, sauceless pulled pork from the grocery store, and then add either store-bought or homemade bbq sauce. 

Crunchy, tangy, mostly make-ahead coleslaw  

While there are lots of optional toppings for sliders, we consider coleslaw to be semi-mandatory. A crunchy slaw pairs perfectly with the richness of the pork, offering a perfect balance of flavors and textures with each bite. It’s just wonderful! 

We like the cabbage in our coleslaw to be slightly softened but retain most of its crunch. It doesn’t take long for the salt and vinegar to start breaking down the cabbage, so it can be tricky to be fully made ahead of time.

So we developed our own mostly-made-ahead coleslaw recipe that we tailored especially for camping. 

At home, thinly slice all the cabbage, grate the carrots and chop up the herbs. Add all the vegetables to a gallon zip-top baggie and add them to your cooler. 

Separately, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing into a resealable container like a mason jar and pack it along in your cooler. 

At camp, when you’re about 1-2 hours away from mealtime, add the dressing to the zip-top baggie with all the vegetables. Massage the bag with your hands until all the vegetables are well coated. Return to the cooler until ready to serve. 

You can get all the details for our easy make-ahead creamy coleslaw here.

How to Make Pulled Pork Sliders at Camp! 

The sequence for making pulled pork sliders at a campsite is fairly straightforward, but seeing it broken out into the main steps can be helpful:

1. Add dressing to coleslaw mix (1-2 hours before meal time) 
2. Reheat the pulled pork (in a sauce pot) 
3. Toast buns (in a skillet) — optional!
4. Assemble,  add sauce and toppings, and serve!

Topping Options

There are a ton of different options for topping pork sliders but here are a few ideas to riff off of:

• Coleslaw 
• Pickles 
• Pickled jalapenos or pepperoncini
• Thinly sliced onion
• Avocado
• Mozzarella cheese or pepper jack cheese
• Cilantro
• Pork Rinds or potato chips (for crunch)