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 š
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.
š 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.
šŖ 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.
š©āš³PRO 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.
š½ļø What to serve it with
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted Potatoes or SautƩed Potatoes
- Green Beans with Parmesan
- Fresh Pasta
- Homemade Artisan Bread
Don't you just want to dive right in!
š² 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
ā Notes
After this time, add in the sliced apples and cook for a further hour (for high or low heat setting).Ā
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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Kathy says
Absolutely delicious, melt in the mouth pork. Use the Aspall cider rather than a cheaper one. We had with roasted crushed baby potatoes and veg. Can't wait to try this in my new slow cooker x. Love the Utube videos by the way, will try them all eventually!
Nhan Le says
Thank you so much, Nicky! I made this last Sunday and everyone was very happy. I used 1,5 kg for 5 people instead of 500g for 4 as you said. But we managed to finish it completely!
Kathy says
Absolutely gorgeous, served it with creamy mash and carrots, will defo be making again! I used the same cider, think it makes a difference to use a good cider. X
Sarah says
Very tasty , soft tender meat with soft sweet apples in a delicious sauce. Everyone loved it !
Kathy Rainbow says
After trying the Lancashire Hotpot (gorgeous), I thought I would give this a go. Wow .. it is so tasty. The pork was extremely tender and the creamy sauce had a cider flavour (not overpowering) which was lovely and creamy. I served with fluffy roast potatoes which mashed into the beautiful sauce. Not a morsel left on my (& my husband's) plate. Amazing. Now I have to decide what next.
Olive Yanelli says
This recipe was delicious will definitely make again
Shaun Silson says
I cooked this for my wife and son. I made it in a larger pot so increased the amount of topping and used cooking apples instead of Jazz. There was plenty for four people but surprisingly the pot was emptied as we all wanted seconds. Unlike a lot of one pot dishes this recipe has lots of contrasting flavours which really make it interesting to eat. I would be happy to serve this to guests. It was delicious.
Going to try the Swedish Meatballs next.
Nicky Corbishley says
Fantastic! So happy you enjoyed it Shaun š
Susan Verdeyen says
Delicious had to substitute some bits we didnāt have cider but there was some moscatel in the cupboard, I used coconut milk had no cream and trying to reduce dairy, used ordinary breadcrumbs as I canāt get panko in Portugal and sweet corn instead of peas, it was fab and enough for two nights a win win
SC says
Great alternative to a Sunday roast yesterday.
Tina says
Oh my word I used 500ml of stock as I didnāt want to waste the 100ml from the carton & used a whole 200g tub of cream. Not only did it smell amazing it was so delicious that I had seconds will definitely be making it again.
Britney says
I used angry orchard traditional dry cider and heavy whipping cream. This was a great fall recipe!!!
Nicky Corbishley says
Thanks for coming back and letting me know how it turned out Britney. Glad you like it š I made it for 12 people last night. I had to prepare it ahead, so I added the crumb topping at the last minute and it worked great š
milkandbun says
What a lovely and comforting bake for the dinner! And I do like one-pot meals! š
Cheers, Mila
Nicky Corbishley says
Me too! Less washing up is always a bonus š