So Halloween is over and now I feel like we’re kind of in the calm before the storm that is Thanksgiving-the New Year. I’m in the mood for home-y comfort meals, especially if I can make them in my Crock Pot! This Crock Pot Apple Cider Pork Roast totally fits the bill–a little sweet, a little tangy, super easy, with a handful of ingredients I already have in my house.
To get started, you’re going to caramelize some onions. If you’ve never done it before or if you need a refresher, check out this post. You’ll need a medium white onion, sliced in half and then cut vertically, some butter, and some extra-virgin olive oil (I love using our garlic olive oil).
Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When melted, add the onions in a single layer and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden and caramelized. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.
For the roast, you’ll need a 2 1/2-3-pound pork sirloin roast, some apple cider (like the murky brown apple juice you can find in grocery stores and roadside stands all over the place in the fall, or Simply Apple the rest of the year), some mild coarse grain or Creole mustard, honey, salt, and pepper.
While the onions are caramelizing, season the pork roast on all sides with the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
When you have removed the onions from the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and add the pork roast (you may need to add another teaspoon or so of oil). Sear on all sides.
When the roast has seared, place it in a slow cooker. Top with caramelized onions.
In a 2 cup measuring cup, whisk together the apple cider, honey, and mustard. Pour it over the roast and cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours or until the meat can easily be shredded with a fork.
When the meat is done, remove the roast and onions from the slow cooker and shred. Pour the cider mixture into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. While the cider is heating, whisk together the cold water and cornstarch. When the mixture is boiling, whisk in the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add vinegar.
Serve the pork on top of mashed potatoes and topped with gravy.
Crockpot Apple Cider Pork Roast
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 onion, medium sliced vertically
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 2½-3 pound pork sirloin roast
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups apple cider the murky, brown stuff--it's widely available in the fall, but you can usually find Simply Apple year-round
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon Creole or mild coarse grain mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar again, the murky stuff, like Bragg's
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- mashed potatoes side, optional, see notes
Instructions
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When melted, add the onions in a single layer and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden and caramelized. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.
- While the onions are caramelizing, season the pork roast on all sides with the 1 ½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. When you have removed the onions from the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and add the pork roast (you may need to add another teaspoon or so of oil). Sear on all sides.
- When the roast has seared, place it in a slow cooker. Top with caramelized onions. In a 2 cup measuring cup, whisk together the apple cider, honey, and mustard. Pour it over the roast and cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours or until the meat can easily be shredded with a fork.
- When the meat is done, remove the roast and onions from the slow cooker and shred. Pour the cider mixture into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. While the cider is heating, whisk together the cold water and cornstarch. When the mixture is boiling, whisk in the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add vinegar.
- Serve the pork on top of mashed potatoes and topped with gravy.
Notes
- We recommend this method for mashed potatoes.
Nutrition
Questions & Reviews
I love this recipe! One of my favorites by you guys.. and I’m having a major surgery done in a few weeks and was wondering .. would this freeze well?
Definitely!! ❤️❤️
Would this work with a pork tenderloin?
I know some people cook pork tenderloin in the crockpot, but it’s not my favorite because it’s so lean and small that it tends to dry out. Maybe if you cut down on the cooking time?
Oh. Em. Gee. For real. I halved this recipe because of our small family size but wish I wouldn’t have! This was so delicious! My almost 4-year-old asked for more. I did make it *slightly* different though but still turned out successful. With HALF of the exact recipe, I roasted it in an 8×8 pan in a 300* (degree) oven for 2 hours. I cut it more like a roast rather than shredding it. My gravy turned out a little thicker than I like but I’m guessing that’s because of the recipe amount change (or I’ll just use less of a slurry next time).
Thank you!! We are adding this to our menu rotation.
Just wondering if we can use a much larger roast? We have 5 adults coming for dinner (and some kids) so I was going to use around 5 lbs. I’ll plan to double the recipe but I’d love to hear what you recommend for larger roasts. Thank you! This looks delicious!
Sure! Go for it! 🙂
This looks amazing! Adding to this week’s menu. I’m not sure if y’all did something different with the printing option on the recipes, but I love how they look when I print. Very clean and easy to read. Thanks for all the good stuff! 🙂
Can you use BRaggs for all of the apple cider…?
I’m a bit of a dummy on pork roasts. I really want to make this but I’ve gone to a couple of different grocery stores and they have pork “loin” roasts and “butt” roasts. I don’t see any that specifically say “sirloin” roast. I asked the butcher and he tried to talk me into the butt roast. It’s darker and much more marbled than the one pictured so I’m not sure it would come out as well. Can you advise me?
A butt roast will be delicious (it really is the tastiest pork roast out there), it just won’t be as healthy. But it’ll be delicious. 🙂
Thank you very much! I guess for one day we can be a little less healthy! 🙂
I just made this for dinner. It was fantastic! Everybody loved it. I ended up using a pork shoulder. Thank you for such a great recipe. I will definitely be making it again.
This was fantastic! 5 star reviews from everyone in the family, this is definitely going into the regular rotation. It was definitely worth tracking down the good apple cider and Bragg’s. Thank you so much!
I made this for dinner the other night and it won rave reviews from everyone including my toddlers. So delicious. Plan on making this for Christmas Eve dinner.
Made this tonight for a family dinner and it turned out wonderfully! Nice work ??