Cider-Braised Pork

Cider-braised pork is braised in apple cider, soy sauce and spices, creating tender, flavorful meat and a rich sauce that's delicious spooned over shredded pork.  Shredded pork shoulder can be turned into several different dinners throughout the week.

this recipe

This recipe for cider-braised pork is an exercise in slowing down. Sometimes, it's rather nice spending a long afternoon at home with something in the oven and the aroma of dinner filling the house, don't you think?

This pork is flavored with a blend of flavorful and aromatic ingredients. The braising liquid - a combination of apple cider and soy sauce - reduces into a deeply flavorful sauce for the meat. You'll love the savory and slightly sweet flavor of this pork!

Just because cider braised pork needs time, doesn't mean it also requires a lot of work. Making braised pork is surprisingly easy and straight-forward. Best of all, a large cut of meat can usually provide more than one meal during the week.

You should also try Instant Pot pork butt, a really easy, hands-off recipe for incredibly tender and flavorful pork.

Ingredients

Buy a 4 to 5 pound pork butt or pork shoulder, which feeds anywhere from 5 to 8 people, depending on how many sides you're serving with the meal (and how big the appetites are).

You'll also need ingredients for the spice rub and braising liquid:

Step-by-step instructions

Season the Meat: Rub the meat all over with a paste of brown sugar, Dijon mustard, smoked paprika, fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Ideally, season the pork the night before so the flavor has time to soak in.

Add Apple Juice or Cider: Add the apple cider/juice to the roasting dish, to prevent the spice rub from burning to the sides while the meat browns at a high temp.

Start at a High Temperature: Heat the oven to 475 F. Cook the pork uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes to brown and crisp up the top.

Go Low and Slow: Add soy sauce. Cover the Dutch oven with a tight lid. Reduce the temperature to 300 F and braise the pork 4 to 5 hours, or as long as it takes for the meat to become tender and easily pull apart with a fork.

Shred the meat: The meat should fall apart easily with forks or you can slice it. You can shred and eat the pork immediately, but it tastes even better if it's allowed to cool in the braising liquid first, ideally for several hours or overnight. Also, letting the entire roasting vessel chill out in the fridge congeals the fat so it's easier to skim off.

Tip: I like to cook pork shoulder in a Dutch oven. Dutch ovens are heavy cooking vessels with tight lids, perfect for braising meat. A Dutch oven holds heat well, helping food cook steadily and evenly. I own two Dutch ovens, from Lodge and Le Creuset.

Braising liquid

The best braising liquid for pork depends on what type of flavor you want. This recipe for cider-braised pork uses apple cider/juice and soy sauce as a braising liquid. It's a sweet-salty combination that creates a rich and flavorful sauce.

Plan to add 2 to 3 cups of braising liquid, to rise halfway up the meat. Pork can be braised in a variety of liquids, including:

Beer: I like using a basic inexpensive lager (Budweiser, Miller, etc)

Wine: Use white or red. For the best flavor, combine wine with broth.

Broth: Vegetable, chicken or beef broth

Lime juice or orange juice: Add as an additional flavor along with another braising liquid. Try 12 ounces beer with 1 cup juice.

Canned tomatoes: A 14-ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes can be combined with wine and/or broth

Tip: Fat from the meat will drip into the braising liquid as it cooks. The braising liquid turns into a flavorful sauce for the meat. If you want to remove some of the oil immediately before serving, then a fat separator is a handy tool (look for one in the kitchen supply aisle at a store like Target). Or, let the meat and braising liquid chill out in the refrigerator overnight. The fat will congeal on top and is easy to scrape off before reheating the dish.

Sides and leftovers

Once you've spent an afternoon braising a big cut of meat, your work is done and the meals you serve with the leftover meat should be fairly simple. I try to get at least 2 or 3 meals out of one pork shoulder.

Roasted veg: Roast a few sheet-pans of your favorite vegetables to serve on the side

Greens: Healthy greens are a welcome side with this meal. Lightly saute beet greens, kale, spinach or Swiss chard in olive oil. Or, try Instant Pot collard greens.

Beans: A batch of Instant Pot black eyed peas is a perfect side dish.

Cabbage: A crisp slaw, like broccolini slaw with honey mustard yogurt dressing is refreshing with this meal. Or serve comforting Instant Pot lemon and parsley braised cabbage.

Polenta: A perfect topping for creamy oven-baked polenta.

Pasta: Toss with buttered noodles, or simmer the meat briefly in red sauce.

Tacos: Pile the shredded meat in a tortilla with your favorite toppings, like beans and shredded cabbage. You can also add the meat to easy and fast oven-baked tacos.

Sandwiches: Pile shredded pork on a hamburger bun or stuff it into pita bread

Pork butt vs pork shoulder

Pork shoulder and pork butt are very similar cuts of meat and can be used interchangeably. However, I see pork butt recommended most often in recipes because it typically has more fat marbled throughout the meat, which means more flavor and tenderness.

Both the pork butt and pork shoulder come from the same part of the pig (the upper and lower shoulder). Both are tough and fatty and are best cooked at a low temperature for a long time. Both are sold either boneless and bone-in - which you get often depends on where you shop.

Both cuts should have fat across the top, which is good for flavoring the meat as it cooks. Sometimes pork shoulder also has thin layer of skin attached to the fat. If the skin is attached, then it's best to brown the roast in a saute pan to get the skin crispy before putting the roast in the oven.

Apple juice vs apple cider

I usually buy apple juice for this recipe because it's easier to find in stores than apple cider. The two are very similar, and for this recipe it doesn't matter which is used.

Apple juice has been filtered and apple cider is usually unfiltered and has a cloudier appearance. Here's a longer explanation of apple juice vs apple cider.

Hard cider is apple cider that has been fermented into alcohol. You don't need to spend extra money on hard cider for this recipe.

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