Imagine walking into your kitchen and you smell dinner cooking. What do you smell? You smell a delicious fall-apart pork roast and fresh harvest veggies cooking in a fragrant gravy. Perfect! Make some brown rice or noodles to go with it and your Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Veggies and Gravy is complete.
Here’s one tip I have to share with you, if you don’t already know about these. Before you put anything in your slow cooker, first put in a slow cooker liner. They’re amazing and reduce your clean-up time by A LOT. Buy them where you buy foil and sandwich bags. All you do in put the clear bag inside the slow cooker, then fill it up and cook as normal. When dinner is over, throw out the bag. No scrubbing or stuck on food; a gentle wipe and you’re done.
Start your Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Veggies and Gravy by browning the roast in a large skillet or dutch oven. Dutch ovens hold in some of the splatter, so that’s my go-to. Turn the roast until all sides are browned with a nice color.
While the roast is browning, chop up your veggies. Cut everything into approximately 1/2-inch pieces and it will look nice and consistent. Place the veggies into the slow cooker. Sprinkle dry Minute tapioca on top of the veggies, which is great for thickening the gravy without adding fat.
In a small bowl, mix together the apple juice, water, the beef bouillon powder and spices. Whisk this together as cinnamon doesn’t always mix well, it seems to want to float on top. Pour this mixture over the veggies, then place the browned roast on top of everything. Time to cook it all.
Here’s when you have to decide when you want to eat. Do you want to cook it on high so you only have to wait 5 – 6 hours, or do you want it to be ready in 10 – 12 hours, in which case you need to set it on low? Either way, about 30 minutes before it’s done, you might want to make some rice or maybe egg noodles to go with it to complete the meal. Wait, what am I thinking?! This meal isn’t complete until there’s dessert. LOL
A word of caution, when you go to pull the roast from the slow cooker, it will likely fall apart on you. If you have one, try a slotted spoon, or a couple of them if you want to try to keep it all together. The slotted spoon is also good for getting the veggies out. Mine fell apart on me, but I took it as a good sign and grabbed a piece when nobody was looking. You can strain the gravy if you want to, but I like the little chunks of pork and veggies.
Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Veggies and Gravy
Materials
- 1 1/2 to 2 lb. boneless pork shoulder or butt
- 1 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 2 cups parsnips, chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 1 medium onion, chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 1 cup celery, chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 3 Tbsp. Minute tapioca
- 1 cup frozen apple juice, thawed
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp. beef bouillon powder
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Trim off fat from roast. In a large skillet or dutch oven, brown all sides of roast in cooking oil on medium heat.
- In the slow cooker, combine parsnips, green bell pepper, onion, and celery. Sprinkle tapioca on top.
- In small bowl combine apple juice concentrate, water, bouillon powder, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Whisk together and pour over vegetables. Place browned roast on top of vegetables.
- Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 - 12 hours, or on high heat-setting for 5 - 6 hours. Transfer the roast and vegetables to serving platter. Pour cooking juices into gravy boat and drizzle some over roast. Reserve rest of gravy for passing around the table. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Looking for some dessert ideas? I have some…try these Brown Butter Pecan Cupcakes or some super yummy Chunky Peanut Butter Brownie Bars. Rather have a cake? Ok…try this Pistachio Cookie Cake or one of my favorites, a Chocolate Banana Pudding Cake.
I hope you try this recipe and thoroughly enjoy your meal. Have a blessed day.
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Looks easy and yummy!