Slow Cooker Pork Roast and Fresh Fried Apples (Recipes)

Would you believe this gorgeous, crispy-edged, fall-apart-tender pork roast took all of 5 minutes to prepare? 

When you start with good ingredients, you can keep things simple and allow the amazing flavors of pasture-raised pork to truly shine. 

Serve with a side of Fresh Fried Apples for a fantastic dish that celebrates the advent of Fall.

This is a slow cooker recipe so you need to plan time for the cooking, but there's hardly any prep time - especially since you can cook the roast from frozen!

We love both the bone-in Boston Butt (shoulder) roast and the boneless Picnic (arm) roast for this recipe.

The Boston Butt (pictured above) and the Picnic roast are equally delicious and are virtually interchangeable in any recipe.

Fresh fried apples, a tender-crisp twist on the traditional applesauce, make a lovely addition to a pork roast.

Actually, fried apples make pretty much any pork dish really sparkle. 

So don't forget to scroll down for that family-favorite recipe.

Easy Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Ingredients

3 lb Boston Butt or Picnic Roast

1 1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

1/4 C water

Directions

Remove frozen pork roast from plastic and place in your slow cooker. (If there is any film/paper covering the bone, make sure to peel that off, too.) 

If the frozen roast doesn't fit flat in the bottom, that's OK, though it's best if the lid can close completely. Check out the slow cooker tip below if the lid doesn't close all the way.

Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper. 

Pour water into the bottom of the cooker. 

Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-9 hours. 

Shred or slice the pork to serve. 

*You can absolutely use a thawed roast. You don't need as much cook time for a thawed roast but extra won't hurt it any. 

** Don't have a slow cooker? The internet says to use a tightly lidded heavy pan in a 325 degree oven for 3 hours. I suggest using an additional 1/4 cup liquid in the oven, and checking on it after a few hours, because it may not keep in the moisture like a slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Tip: If the lid won't close on your frozen roast, cover with a piece of aluminum foil, wrapping down the sides a bit. Place the lid on top of the foil. As the roast thaws and cooks it will fall down into the cooker, allowing the lid to close.

Fresh Fried Apples

Ingredients

2 large or 4 small apples*

2 T butter

salt

2 T brown sugar

Directions

Wash, core and slice the apples. I prefer to quarter the apples and then slice the short way across the quarters.

Preheat a frying pan over med-low heat. 

Melt about 2 T butter in the pan and add the apples. 

Sprinkle lightly with salt. 

Sprinkle with the brown sugar. 

Cook over med-low heat, stirring only occasionally, until the apples are just beginning to soften and turn translucent. 

Serve hot.

*Quantities are not important in this recipe. Use as many apples as you want though I find that if you get them more than 1.5-2" deep in your pan you're likely to have to stir them a lot and you'll end up with more sauce than individual fried apple slices - but that is tasty, too.

This week we enjoyed our pork roast and fried apples with the last of the garden's green beans (blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes) and new potatoes ("baked" in the instant pot in a total of 30 minutes). 

Low prep time and delicious, all around!

CLICK HERE to order pork to go with those tasty Fresh Fried Apples!