This recipe was our Easter meal this year for a large group of ten guests (four vegetarian, six meat-eaters). Both were experimental – we wanted to try an oven-roasted pulled-pork and to make something with jackfruit.
Both servings produce large portions and we all ate two full meals over a ten hour period and were picking at the noms throughout the afternoon.
It is a dinner-party dream as both meals are possible to prepare in advance and there is very little active time in both recipes. See the notes on timing for how we balanced the preparation!
Word of warning: Worcestershire Sauce is not vegetarian (No, I didn’t realise that either) but there are vegan alternatives – so make sure to pick up one of those.
Vegetarian recipe
Pulled Jackfruit
This recipe is for those making just pulled jackfruit. It uses the barbecue sauce recipe from the Serious Eats Pulled Pork (link in post) so if you are making both, just double the recipe for the barbecue sauce and set some aside for this.
Ingredients
- 1 batch Homemade barbecue sauce See: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/02/easy-oven-pulled-pork-recipe.html
- 4 cans Jackfruit in brine
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp Sunflower oil
Instructions
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Prepare the jackfruit. Drain the tins and rinse to clear the brine.
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Pull the jackfruit from its hard central core (it should be quite easy). Take the cores and chop them finely. Place all in a bowl, set to the side and cover.
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Heat a frying pan with oil over a medium-high heat. Lightly fry the jackfruit for a couple of minutes and then add the mustard. Stir to coat and cook for a minute.
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Add about 300ml of the barbecue sauce (or more if it looks too dry).
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Cook over a medium heat until the sauce has reached a nice thick gloopy texture (5-10 mins depending on how saucy you like it) - the jackfruit is already cooked, so you only really need to warm it through.
Recipe Notes
We paired this with a honey and mustard potato salad and our favourite slaw!
Meaty pairing on Serious Eats.
Non-vegetarian recipe
Easy Oven-Cooked Pulled Pork (Serious Eats)
Careful! Make sure to use a vegan Worcestershire Sauce!
Serving suggestion
We served with a potato salad (with wholegrain mustard and honey dressing) and coleslaw.
We had some BBQ sauce left over so we split that into two, added some of the meat juices (after removing the fat) to one to accompany the meat. To the vegetarian version we added a couple of rings of jalapenos and a squirt of lime (both optional).
Notes on timings
If you are preparing both of these meals like we were, they can be prepared one after the other. Both recipes share a barbecue sauce, so make that first in a double batch from the Serious Eats recipe. The pork is a long, slow roast (start to finish 6 hours), so we put that in first thing in the morning for a 2pm lunch. Then we made our salads and slaws. The jackfruit is a quick and easy and can be made right at the end before guests arrive.
If you are not making both and just want to try the jackfruit – it is super quick and easy, ideal for a mid-week dinner!