Transform your pulled pork leftovers into a delicious pasta dish with this easy recipe. Pulled pork pasta is perfect for a quick and tasty weeknight dinner.
I love BBQ pulled pork. But it tends to make absolutely loads, and we typically serve it on bread rolls, so there’s always quite a bit left.
While the same again is appealing, this pulled pork pasta makes a great alternative if you’ve got leftover pulled pork.
Alternatively, you can make this pasta with fresh pulled pork and have the leftovers on a sandwich the next day. It’s just a fantastic and easy recipe that you can adapt to suit what you’ve got, and that gives you options when it comes to using up your pulled pork.
What Can You Do with Leftover Pulled Pork?
Pulled pork is a delicious dinner, and the leftovers are great for using in other meals. The texture and addition of BBQ sauce mean that it doesn’t really dry out, and reheats really well.
Is leftover pulled pork pasta recipe is ideal, but you could also have pulled pork sandwiches, a pasta bake, or BBQ flatbread pizzas with leftover pulled pork.
Ingredients for Pulled Pork Pasta
When I make this pulled pork pasta recipe I typically use:
Cooking Spray – or olive oil
Pulled Pork
Red Onion
Garlic
Bell Pepper
Mushrooms
Penne
And that’s it! Most of the flavour comes from the pulled pork, so I just add some veggies to bulk it out and add nutrition for a healthier family dinner.
You could also add some grated cheese to the top, and other veggies like courgettes and extra peppers are great too.
Does it Have to Be Leftover Pulled Pork?
No. You could use my pulled pork recipe and serve it with pasta on day one.
But it’s an ideal recipe for leftovers if you haven’t got enough to do much with.
What Pasta Should You Use for Pulled Pork Pasta?
I use cheap penne pasta. You could use absolutely anything though.
Pulled pork spaghetti would be great. It really is an easy pulled pork pasta, so use what you’ve got, or what you like.
Do You Need to Make a Pulled Pork Pasta Sauce?
No, generally I don’t find you need to make a sauce for this pulled pork pasta, but it will depend on how dry the pork is, especially if you are using leftovers.
I just add a ladle of pasta water, which is mixed with the BBQ sauce on the pork and tastes great, without being overwhelming.
You could add some extra BBQ sauce if you wanted, or even simmer in a tin of chopped tomatoes if you want a pasta dinner with a tomato sauce.
Another option is adding 100ml or so of red wine.
How to Make Pulled Pork Pasta – Step-by-Step
This is such an easy dinner. You can get full quantities and instructions at the bottom of this post, as well as step-by-step instructions here.
Step One
Dice or slice the onions, mushrooms and pepper.
Step Two
Put a large pan of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
Add the pasta once the water is simmering and cook to packet instructions.
Step Three
Mist a large frying pan with cooking spray and warm over medium heat on the hob.
Step Four
Add the onions to the pan and fry for 5 minutes, stirring until soft.
Step Five
Stir in the crushed garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.
Step Six
Stir in the mushrooms and peppers. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often.
Step Seven
Add the pulled pork.
If you don’t have much, you might want to add extra veggies too.
Stir in well.
Step Eight
Scoop a ladle of pasta water from the saucepan, and ladle over the pork.
Stir well.
You could add some extra BBQ sauce, or a tin of chopped tomatoes if you want a dish with more sauce, but it isn’t necessary for taste.
Step Nine
Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the pork is piping hot.
Step Ten
Serve with the cooked pasta, adding cheese if desired.
Other Pasta Recipes
If you love pasta as much as I do, you might also want to try:
- Creamy Vegetable Pasta
- Chicken and Halloumi Pasta
- Chorizo and Prawn Pasta
- Fajita Pasta
- Spicy Sausage Pasta
Pulled Pork Pasta
Ingredients
- Cooking Spray (or olive oil)
- 400 g Pulled Pork (If using leftovers, as much as you’ve got is fine.)
- ½ Red Onion (Finely Diced)
- 3 Cloves Garlic (Crushed)
- 1 Bell Pepper (Diced)
- 100 g Mushrooms (Sliced)
- 200 g Penne (Cooked to packet instructions)
Instructions
- Mist a large frying pan with cooking spray and warm over medium heat on the hob.
- Add the onions to the pan and fry for 5 minutes, stirring until soft.
- Stir in the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Stir in the mushrooms and peppers. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often.
- Add the pulled pork and stir in well.
- Scoop a ladle of pasta water from the saucepan and pour over the pork.
- Stir well.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the pork is piping hot.
- Serve with the cooked pasta, adding cheese if desired.
Notes
- If your pork is very dry, or you want more flavour, add some BBQ sauce, or a tin of chopped tomatoes.
- If you are using leftover pulled pork and don’t have much, add more veggies.
- See the post above for more tips and advice.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
