I cannot emphasize enough how helpful it is to have a great, reliable slow cooker protein recipe that you can turn to when life is busy. Make a giant batch and turn it into many, many meals and it saves you so much work. And thought. This Salsa Verde Pulled Pork is at the very top of my favorites list — incredibly flavorful but very easy to make, it’s succulent and zesty and it goes well with just about anything. Want tacos? That works. How about a pulled pork sandwich with a little bit of a twist? That works too. Use it on a salad, use it for nachos, use it to top off a baked potato… this stuff tastes good anywhere.

This is a workhorse of a recipe, the kind of thing I can make to rely on when I’m not quite sure just what I’ll be making for dinners during the week ahead. I’m generally not a big leftovers person, but with something like this, I can use it in a dozen different ways and I don’t feel like I’m eating the same meal over and over again. (This pulled pork is delicious enough that I probably wouldn’t mind eating it over and over again just as is, to be honest.)

You don’t need a ton of ingredients either. Just a pork shoulder, an onion, a jar of salsa verde, a couple of cans of chopped green chiles, some cumin, some oregano, and some coriander. Tuck that all into your trusty crockpot and let it do all the work for you — in five hours you’ll have juicy pork that falls apart at the touch of a fork. Stir in some cilantro and serve it up any way your heart desires.

I love that the spice here is really mild and approachable, really more of a zestiness than something that’s going to make your eyes water. That means that my whole family loves this and we often use it for taco night, tucking it into a tamale pie, or just serving it simply alongside some rice and beans. It’s a good one and definitely a go-to!