Apple Cider Slow Cooker Pork

Disclosure: This recipe was originally created for Pillsbury.

I’ve been cooking for nearly three decades, operating this lovely food blog for seven years (thanks Facebook for the reminder), and I have never used a slow cooker/Crockpot before in my life. Rather, I had never used one up until a couple of weeks ago. I was assigned this recipe for Pillsbury and was up for the challenge. Task #1: acquire a slow cooker. It was actually a lot easier than I thought—once again, I have Facebook to thank. A simple status update and I had no less than three Crockpots on offer.

For this cider-braised pork recipe, I seared the pieces of meat in a skillet first to help develop some flavor. The rest of it was pretty straight forward, very much a “set it and forget it” type of cooking experience. Apples and pork are definitely a classic pairing. I up the ante on the apple flavor by adding in some apple cider vinegar in with the shredded pork once it’s done cooking. It will look like a lot of liquid after you first shred the pork, but it will be absorbed by the meat as it cools.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Apple Cider Slow Cooker Pork

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours 15 minutes

Total Time: 5 hours 30 minutes

Apples and pork are definitely a classic pairing. The meat gets seared first to build some extra flavor before braising in apple cider in a slow cooker.

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Ingredients

• Vegetable oil, for searing
• 4 pounds pork butt or shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks
• salt and pepper
• 1 large white onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Place a large skillet over high heat and add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Season the pork with salt and pepper all over. In batches, sear the pork until browned, about 1 minute per side. After searing all of the pork, deglaze the pan with the apple cider, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan.
2. Add the sliced onions to the slow cooker, top with the seared pork, and pour in the apple cider. Turn the slow cooker to high and cook until the pork can be shredded with a fork, about 5 hours. Shred the pork, add in the apple cider vinegar, and season with more salt and pepper as needed.

 

Disclosure: This recipe was originally created for Pillsbury.