Hickory Pork Tostadas with Jalapeño Slaw
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Happy June!!
I don’t how we got to June already, but here we are! And this is your 15th brand new recipe since I started this new space (which I am so in love with by the way!).
What’s Coming Up In This Week’s Newsletter:
Hickory Pork Tostadas with Creamy Jalapeño Slaw
I’m Going On Tour!!! 🥳
3 Brand New Recipes You May Have Missed! Pound Cake, Samoa Bars, and Instant Pot Salmon!
This space has given us exactly what I was hoping it would. A place to connect with you again, in a more personal way than social media gives us. I love our live Q&As, love answering your questions in the comment sections of the recipes, and LOVE our live personal chats. I also love getting to develop new recipes each and every week and email them directly to you. It’s been so, so fun.
I’m GOING ON TOUR!!!
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Granny’s Sauce - and the legend of the bone in pork chops
Have you been a reader for a while? Specifically back to my debut cookbook Against all Grain (red shirt book as we call it around here).
If you’ve been here any amount of time, chances are you know my famous Granny Sarella’s Spaghetti Sauce. Granny is my great grandma, and the recipe was taught to me by her daughter, Grandma Marge. Both of these incredible ladies are mentioned often in my writings, because they gave me my love for cooking and entertaining. And they were legends in the kitchen.
If you’ve made the sauce (which we now make as 6x batch because we go through it so quickly), you know you’re left with pork chops afterwards.
And the question has always been - what do you do with the pork chops after? They add an unbeatable flavor and richness to the sauce, so you do not want to omit them. Legend has it, the men of the Sarella family fought over who got to eat them with a big glass of bold red wine.
Honestly? I find them to be dry and fairly tasteless afterwards. So about 8 years ago, I took to morphing them into something entirely different for dinner. Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwiches. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been using that delectable, smoky and sweet pulled pork on tostadas with slaw. And that’s the recipe I’m brining you today.
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Other Recipes You May Have Missed:
Don’t have leftover pork chops?
No problem. As with all the recipes here on Substack, I’ve given you lots of substitute and shortcut advice just under the recipe, before the printable PDF!
Rotisserie chicken, a pork roast in the instant pot, and poached chicken are all options. It’s the sauce and the slaw that are the stars here.
If you make it with a substitute, be sure to come back and let everyone know in the comments! It’s always so helpful for others with various allergies or intolerances to hear how things played out for someone else.
Enjoy the recipe this week, friends!!
xo
Danielle
Hickory Pork Tostadas with Creamy Jalapeño Slaw
Servings 4 to 6
Printable PDF below!
TOOLS
Mixing Bowl
Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper
INGREDIENTS
For the Slaw
1 cup avocado oil mayonnaise
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 small head Napa cabbage, shredded
1 (8-oz) package shredded carrots
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 green onions, trimmed and chopped, white and green parts separated
1 jalapeño, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced
hot pepper sauce, for seasoning
fine sea salt and cracked black pepper
For the Pulled Pork
2 1/2 pounds leftover cooked boneless pork chops (see notes)
3 cups unsweetened ketchup
1 tablespoons BBQ Seasoning
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted chicken bone broth
3 tablespoons date syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
For the Tostadas
12 grain-free tortillas, such as Siete
2 teaspoons avocado oil
1 dash hot pepper sauce (optional)
METHOD
In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and honey. Stir in cabbage, carrots, red onion, white parts of green onions, and jalapeño and toss gently to mix. Season slaw with several dashes of hot sauce and salt and pepper, then toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large saucepan over low heat, combine pork, ketchup, BBQ seasoning, salt, broth, date syrup, and liquid smoke. Cover and let simmer for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread tortillas in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet. Brush with a thin layer of oil. Bake for 3 minutes, flip, and bake for 3 minutes longer, until crisp.
Using two forks, pull apart pork. Top crispy tortillas with pork and a spoonful of slaw. Garnish with green parts of scallions and a dash of hot sauce, if desired, before serving.
Substitutions
PORK:
We’re using 3 pounds of bone in pork chops from making a triple batch of my Granny’s Sarella’s Spaghetti Sauce. I call for 2.5 pounds of leftover pork, which is about what you’ll have after you discard the bones.
If you don’t have leftover pork chops from making Granny Sarella’s Sauce, you can take 3 lbs of bone-in pork chops or a pork butt and place them in the Instant Pot with 1 cup of bone broth. Cook on high for 35 minutes and then manually release. Discard the bones.
2.5 pounds shredded, cooked chicken thighs or a rotisserie chicken may also be subbed.
TORTILLAS
Grain-free hamburger buns, lettuce cups, or jicama wraps
Store Bought Shortcuts
Sub 3 cups of your favorite bbq sauce for the ketchup, BBQ seasoning, sweetener, and liquid smoke.
Sub 1 12-ounce bag of slaw mix for the cabbage and carrots.
MAKE IT AHEAD
Refrigerate pulled pork for 7 days. Freeze for 4 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and warm over medium-low heat.
Refrigerate slaw for 5 days.
PREP IT AHEAD
Shred cabbage
Mix slaw sauce
Chop green onions
Toast tortillas
This is what I love -- a whole-foods mealplan for the week that uses the meals in multiple ways, so I don't have to think about what to do for dinner for the week! Made the sauce Monday, pork chops with the slaw tuesday, today popped a spagetti squash in the oven and created frozen lunches with the squash and sauce, with enough left over for dinner tomorrow :-) I also have left over slaw, will add possibly some salmon or tuna to it tomorrow for lunch as well. Yum and Done.
Oh my gosh. SOOO delicious. We used leftover smoked pork shoulder. It was amazing. We loved the slaw and the crunchy tortilla! Flavors and textures, yay!!! Adding to my leftover pork rotation!