Asian Inspired Pulled Pork Salad

I always used to think putting meat in a salad was weird. Well, except for chicken in a Chicken Caesar Salad, that was okay.

But any other meat...Nooooo...no...no..no.

And then I discovered the Cheeseburger Salad . 

I was then convinced that putting meat into a salad was a brilliant idea. 

Thus I came up with this Pulled Pork Salad. I love the Asian spin on the pulled pork. It is fabulous over rice as well as on this salad. If you have any leftovers OR if you have family members that aren't fans of salad, then serve the pork over some rice. 

Asian Inspired Pulled Pork salad

Ingredients

Pork

4 to 5 lb pork shoulder roast

4 cloves garlic, cut in half

1 pkg Lipton dry onion soup mix

1 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup white wine (or sherry)

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce

2 Tbsp cornstarch

Salad

4 cups spinach, torn

4 cups lettuce, shredded

1 yellow pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 cup carrot, shredded

1 cup sugar snap peas, cut in thirds

1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Directions

Pulled pork - Take pork roast and make several small slits into the meat. Push the pieces of garlic into the slits as far as you can. Place pork roast into crock pot and sprinkle with the dry onion soup mix. Pour the 1 cup of water on top.

Cook until meat is done. (In my slow cooker, on HIGH, it took a little over 4 hours. My slow cooker cooks fairly fast so it is helpful to know your slow cooker and how fast it cooks.)

When meat is done, remove from slow cooker and, using 2 forks, shred the meat into fine strands. Place back into slow cooker. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, wine, broth, oil, sugar, chili sauce, and cornstarch until smooth. 

Pour over the meat in the slow cooker and stir. Turn heat to high and cook until sauce has thickened - about 15 - 20 minutes. (Again, this will depend on your slow cooker.)

You only need 1/2 cup for each salad you are making so you can eat the rest over rice OR you can also place it in an airtight container and freeze the rest and simply bring it out and reheat it as you need it. 

Make salad - place 2 cups of spinach and 2 cups of lettuce onto your serving plates.

Top with peppers, carrot, peas, and alfalfa sprouts. 

Top each with 1/2 cup of the pulled pork and sauce.

Sprinkle each with 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds.

I made one for dinner and the other I put into a container for lunch the next day. I just put the meat in a separate container so I could heat it up when I was ready.

You can, of course, put more meat and/or veggie into your salad as per your preferences. I just used these measurements to figure out the nutritional count (using Myfitnesspal):

Per serving (recipe makes 2) - 285 calories, 34 carbs, 5 fat, and 28 protein.

I found that the sauce from the meat was enough of a "dressing" that I didn't add any extra. If you find you need a salad dressing I recommend Kraft's Light Asian Toasted Sesame or something similar. 

Adding meat to a salad definitely help me to feel like I've had a complete meal instead of "just having a salad" for dinner. 

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