This simple Thai-inspired Peanut Pork melts in the mouth and is all cooked in one pan, with the oven doing most of the work.
The pork is slow-cooked until it's fall-apart tender, in a delicious sauce packed with Thai-inspired flavours and finished off with fresh beansprouts and coriander.
It's perfect comfort food as the evenings are getting cooler.
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Whilst not exactly diet food, this Thai Style Peanut Pork is homecooked and extra tasty, the slow-cooked pork is beautifully tender and mouthwatering.
📋 What do we need?
I find that pork shoulder works really well in this dish as it has nice fat running through it which renders down as it's cooking and becomes really tender and juicy.
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- First of all we're searing the pork shoulder in the pan.
- Then we're adding an onion and some spices along with garlic and ginger.
- Next we're adding in those Thai inspired flavours with the Coconut Milk, Peanut Butter, Lime and Fish Sauce.
- Bring to a simmer and place the lid on
- Cook in the oven at 170c/325f for 90-120 minutes.
- Finish off by adding some lime juice and fresh beansprouts
👩🍳PRO TIP I like to use a heavy cast-iron casserole dish for this recipe.
Top with some fresh chillis and coriander before serving and everything will be ok with the world again.
It’s a lovely comforting dish to look forward to after a long day at work (and leftovers, warmed up in the office microwave is the best idea ever!).
I was looking at the recipes on Kitchen Sanctuary that are proving to be most popular at this time of year – and they ALL seem to be meaty, slow-cooked comfort food type dishes like:
So it seems like you guys are with me on this, its time for slow-cooked comfort food 🙂
🍽️ What to serve it with
I like to serve this delicious Thai peanut pork with boiled rice, steamed tenderstem broccoli, and a dollop of Sweet Chilli Sauce but it would also go well:
- with some homemade fried rice , or
- As a filling for a jacket potato or is that a bit weird?
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Thai Style Peanut Pork Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) diced pork shoulder
- 1 onion - peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp. ground coriander
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cups) chicken/veg stock - (use vegetable bouillon for gluten free)
- 400 ml (14 oz) can full fat coconut milk
- 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter - check if you need it to be gluten free, it usually is though
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- Juice of 1 lime
- 100 g (1 cup) beansprouts - (these can be fresh, or canned beansprouts that have been drained)
To Serve:
- Boiled rice
- Fresh coriander - cilantro - roughly torn
- Green chillies - I use Fresno chillies, chopped
- Chili flakes
- Steamed tenderstem broccoli - (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 170c/325f, Then heat the oil in a large casserole pan on a high heat until hot.
- Add the pork, and brown on all sides - takes about 6-8 minutes.
- Turn down to a medium heat and add the onions. Cook for 5 minutes, moving around the pan regularly, until the onions soften.
- Add the coriander, cumin, ginger and garlic salt and stir.
- Add the stock, coconut milk, peanut butter, and fish sauce. Stir and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Then place a lid on the pan and place in the oven to cook for 90 minutes to 2 hours until the pork is fall apart tender. NOTE: Check a couple of times in the last hour, if its looking a little dry then you can stir in a splash of water.
- Once the pork is tender, remove from the oven and stir in the lime juice, then add the beansprouts.
- Stir and place back in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and stir. Serve over boiled rice, garnished with fresh coriander. Add some chopped fresh chillies and/or dried chilli flakes if you like a bit of heat.
Video
✎ Notes
Nutrition
🍲 More fantastic Thai Inspired Recipes
We love cooking with those iconic Thai flavours. Here are some more of our favourites.
This post was first published in January 2017. Updated Sept 2021 with new photos, improvements to the recipe, a video showing the process. Updated March 2022 for housekeeping reasons.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
Jane says
Easy and delicious. Turning into a favourite for when I have guests for dinner.
Alex Rawlinson says
Hi Nicky,
Are your oven temperatures Fan or not? So I'm now cooking your Thai style Peanut Pork at 170 fan. Is this correct or should it be 170 normal or non fan?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Alex, it's 170C fan.Thanks, Nicky
Pamela says
I am new to your website. This is the 2nd thing I have made and it is awesome. The first thing I made was the Chrispy Sesame Chickin with Sticky Asian Sauce, which I have already made twice! My family loved both. Thank you!
Carol says
This was good! We had it over rice with blistered shisito peppers on the side.
Susie says
Do you think this would this work in the slow cooker please, if so how long would you recommend cooking it for and any adjustments necessary?
Nicky Corbishley says
Yes, I think this would work (although I haven't tried it). I'd recommend frying everything off first - as per the recipe, then transferring to the slow cook for a minimum of 3-4 hours on high, or 6 hours on low.
You may find the oil from the peanut butter separates a bit and rises to the top. You can stir it back in or spoon it off if it does.
Susie says
Brill thank you, I'll give it a go!
Mia says
Hi Nicky,
I’m very keen to try this. Can the leftovers be frozen successfully?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Mia, Yes it freezes really well - although the beansprouts do lose any crunch (I don't mind that though). Just cover and freeze, defrost thoroughly in the refrigerator, then heat through in a pan, or covered, in the oven, until the pork is piping hot throughout (you might need to add a splash of hot stock to loosen it up).
Brian Wood says
Delicioso!
Ian Wright says
Love your recipes Nicky. Looking forward to trying this one out. Stay safe Ian (Ottawa Canada)
Erin says
Hi Nicky,
If I upped the temp to 350 would that help break down the pork a bit faster and reduce the cook time?
Thanks!
Mandy says
When you say 2 Tbsp of coriander. Is that coriander seed? Or the fresh version “cilantro”?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Mandy - no the ground coriander is the coriander powder - you should find it in the spice aisle.
Juniper says
This recipe looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it out next time it’s my turn to cook!! Can you use pork loin instead of shoulder? And have you tried vegetables other than broccoli?
Chris Corbishley says
Hi Juniper,
You can use pork loin that will work fine.
Cauliflower and green beans work really well if you are not into broccoli.
Thanks
Chris & Nicky
SC says
I didn't think I liked peanut butter, until I tasted this dish, now I find out I do. Thank you.
Ramona says
Hi I have just discovered your website and I love it!! I am trying to do just now the Thai style peanut pork but I don’t have lime ..can it be replaced with lemon ? Also don’t have bean sprouts so I won’t put those in.. would it matter? I will let u know the result
Finger crossed!!!
Nicky Corbishley says
Thanks Ramona, did you try it with the lemon? I'm not sure it would work as well, but I could be wrong 😀
LeeAnn Adams says
What is a kg of pork shoulder?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi LeeAnn - it's a kilogram - or 2.2 pounds. I've updated the recipe to reflect that now.
SFlood says
Sounds delicious! Is it possible to cook in a slow cooker? I just got one and so I'm on the look-out for recipes! Also, would this recipe work with beef?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hiya,
Yes, it should work fine in the slow cooker. I'd suggest browning the pork first, and cooking for 3 hours on high or 4-5 hours on low (that's approx, you basically want to cook until the meat just starts to fall apart).
Yes, I think it will work great with beef. It'd probably take an hour or so longer for the beef to be nice and tender.
SFlood says
Great! Thanks a million Nicky! I'm going to try it out this weekend!