Slow-cooked pork with cider and apples, finished with a splash of cream. A lovely comforting casserole that uses inexpensive pork shoulder steaks.
Serve with mashed potatoes and green veg for a hearty Winter dinner.
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It’s still cold in the UK so I’m making all of the comfort food dishes. This one has been tested, then re-tested several times.
Not because it needed it.
Just because I like it 😉
We’re using a relatively cheap cut of meat and cooking it in the oven for about 2 hours altogether.
I’ve included some instructions on how to make this in the slow cooker too – check out the notes section of the recipe card.
📋 What do we need?
- I use pork shoulder steaks because they have a little bit of fat running through them – which keeps the pork lovely and tender. Cut off any large sections of fat, then slice the rest into large chunks (I cut each steak into 3 or 4 chunks).
- You can also use a boneless pork shoulder joint and chop into large chunks if you prefer.
- Pork loin steaks are ok – but they have less fat, so be careful not to overcook them, as they can go dry. I would cook them for 30 minutes less altogether.
- Cider – this is alcoholic dry cider. You can replace with dry apple juice if you prefer.
🔪 How to make this Pork and Apple Casserole
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the **end of this post**.
- Sear the pork in a pan with oil, salt and pepper.
- Add onions and mushrooms, cooking for a few minutes to soften the mushrooms. Then add in garlic.
- Stir in a little flour to coat the pork, then add in cider, stock and sage. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 90 minutes.
- After 90 minutes add in cream and 2 sliced apples. Cook for a further 25 minutes in the oven.
👩🍳PRO TIP You can add more apple and mushrooms to this dish to make it stretch further – serving up to 6 people.
Serve topped with a few fresh sage leaves. I like to serve mine with creamy mashed potatoes and roasted radishes.
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted Potatoes or Sautéed Potatoes
- Green Beans with Parmesan
- Fresh Pasta
- Homemade Artisan Bread
Don’t you just want to dive right in!
🍲 More fantastic Casseroles
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Creamy Pork and Apple Casserole with Cider
Ingredients
Creamy Pork:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 500 g (1.1 lbs) pork shoulder steaks chopped into large chunks
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 medium onion peeled and diced
- 12 button mushrooms sliced in half
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 240 ml (1 cup) dry cider
- 420 ml (1 3/4 cups) chicken stock
- ½ tsp dried sage (or 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage)
- 2 crisp dessert apples cored and sliced into thick wedges (if they're too thin they'll disintegrate) – I use Jazz apples but Braeburn or Pink Lady are also great options.
- 80 ml (1/3 cup) double (heavy) cream
To Serve:
- 6 fresh sage leaves (optional)
- 1 apple cored and thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170C/325F (fan).
- Add the oil to a large casserole pan and heat over a medium-high heat.2 tbsp olive oil
- Add the chunks of pork and sprinkle over the salt and pepper. Brown the pork on both sides – this should take about 5-6 minutes altogether.500 g (1.1 lbs) pork shoulder steaks, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper
- Turn the heat down to medium and add in the diced onion and button mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens.1 medium onion, 12 button mushrooms
- Add in the cloves of minced garlic and cook for a further minute.2 cloves garlic
- Sprinkle over the flour and stir it all in to coat the meat, onion and mushrooms.2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- Pour in the cider and the chicken stock. Add in the dried sage.240 ml (1 cup) dry cider, 420 ml (1 3/4 cups) chicken stock, 1/2 tsp dried sage
- Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, scraping up any bits that might have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Place a lid on the dish and place in the oven for 90 minutes. Check a couple of times towards the end of cooking and add a splash of water or stock if it's starting to look a little dry.
- Remove the casserole from the oven and add in the sliced apples and the cream.2 crisp dessert apples, 80 ml (1/3 cup) double (heavy) cream
- Stir together, place the lid back on the dish and place back in the oven for 25 minutes – until the apples are tender.
- Remove from the oven and serve. I like to top mine with a few fresh sage leaves and some very thinly sliced apple for a bit of crunch. I love to serve this dish with mashed potatoes, cabbage and roasted radishes.6 fresh sage leaves, 1 apple
Video
Notes
After this time, add in the sliced apples and cook for a further hour (for high or low heat setting).
Stir in the cream right before serving. If you don’t want to mess around with adding apples in the last hour of cooking, you can add them as soon as you add everything to the slow cooker. The apples will be softer and may fall apart a little, but it’s a little simpler and easier and will still taste great.
The total cooking time in the slow cooker will be 4 hours on a high heat and 6 hours on low heat.
I’d also serve with a very thinly sliced apple for garnish too – so you have a bit of crunch and good apple flavour in there. Ingredient swaps
- Swap out the cider for dry apple juice
- Add vegetables – such as baby carrots and/or courgette (zucchini) chunks. These can be added right before the dish goes in the oven.
- Add green beans – at the same time you add the apple.
- Add peas – just for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
- Swap out the cream for creme fraiche.
- Add a teaspoon of dijon or wholegrain mustard for a little heat kick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was first published in October 2014. Updated February 2021 with new photos, video, a few recipe tweaks and a bit of housekeeping.
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This is a killer recipe. My modifications were using Red Ajou pears, sautéed parsnips, and substituting 2 chorizo sausages for half the pork. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Thankyou so much for sharing this recipe is like that it also has a video to watch it’s now a family favourite and easy to do
(my daughter actually found this recipe to do as part of her food tech at school as has different types of cooking methods and prep work)
We add in baby corn, diced carrot and sugar snap peas and serve with roasted root veg and potato bake
Leftovers I tend to have for lunch with garlic bread sometimes ill add extra stock and reheat as a soup
I made this last night and it was a hit! Very tasty… I made it exactly as the recipe except I doubled it for leftovers. Next time I would maybe add some extra vegetables.
I made this with previously cooked, thick pork shoulder steaks and their juices.
I used white wine instead of cider and did it in slow cooker, adding apples half way through. I used more wine to get sauce and added stock cube accordingly to taste.
It was so nice that I didn’t add the cream and served with pot/sweet pot mash, carrots and greens.
I brought up to boil in pan, then in to (preheated) slow cooker on high for an hour, then low for 4 hrs. Was very good!
My family loved this dish. I omitted mushrooms and added a red and yellow pepper because my daughter dislikes s’hrooms. It worked very well. The apple works and balances out the dry cider.
It is a winner!
This looks amazing and can’t wait to try it. Only problem for me is I don’t have suitable oven proof dish. I do wonder if I could instead cook it on very low heat on stove top? I figure that’s how I do my beef stew instead of in oven or will I mess it up with the timings etc.
Delicious! I followed the recipe for the slow cooker option. The house was filled with an amazing aroma! Served with fresh bread and roasted vegetables. No leftovers.