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.
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 (1.1lbs) 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 of garlic - peeled and minced
- 2 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
- 240 ml (1 cup) dry cider
- 420 ml (1 ¾ 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 (⅓ cup) double (heavy) cream
To Serve
- 6 fresh sage leaves - (optional)
- 1 apple - cored and thinly sliced
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 170c/325f.
- Add the 2 tbsp of oil to a large casserole pan and heat over a medium-high heat.
- Add the chunks of pork and sprinkle over the ½ tsp each of salt and pepper. Brown the pork on both sides - this should take about 5-6 minutes altogether.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add in the diced onion and 12 button mushrooms that have been sliced in half. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens.
- Add in the 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook for a further minute.
- Sprinkle over the 2 tbsps of flour and stir it all in to coat the meat, onion and mushrooms.
- Pour in the 240ml (1 cup) of cider and the 420ml (1 ¾ cups) of chicken stock. Add in the ½ tsp of 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 80ml (⅓ cup) of 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.
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
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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Emma petersdon says
Amazing! Perfect autumnal comfort food. Loved by everyone!
Mandy Fenton says
Have just made this, it is delicious, I add mustard and carrots and left my chops whole, they were loin chops as this is what I had but they turned out great.
Bernadette Martin says
Gorgeous!
Elaine Paulson says
Fabulous winter warmer
Wayne says
For slow cooker Can i add the cream when the apples go in 1hr before serving , thanks
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Wayne, yes that should be fine, so long as you're using double (heavy) cream.
Jennifer Ireland says
Made this yesterday in my slow cooker, it was delicious and the whole family enjoyed it, will definitely be making it again.
Julie Brazier says
A family favourite, this is on our regular rotation whenever I can get hold of pork shoulder. (It's even better with free range, rare-breed pork!) I forgot the cream tonight, by accident, but no one even noticed, it tastes that good.
Sandra Bullock says
Absolutely delicious.
Is it possible to freeze
Diana says
Could I cook this on the stove top like a stew?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Diana, yes this would work on the stove, but you'll need to cook it slowly, give it a stir a few times, and possibly add extra liquid if it starts to look too dry. It may be ready 20-30 minutes sooner, you'll just need to keep an eye on the pork to see how tender it is.
Dominic John says
Excellent recipe - I supplemented veg with leeks, carrots and butternut and if you don't need the cream, it's not necessary
Linda says
Lovely, tried it this evening and will definitely be doing this again, really tasty.
Sheila says
Absolutely delicious! You have so many lovely dinner recipes on your website!
김국수 says
Perfect with a dollop of English mustard added with the cream.