Apple BBQ pulled pork
A deliciously more-ish take on bbq pulled pork using apples for natural sweetness
20 mins
3 HOURS
230 kcals
serves 6
APPLE BBQ PULLED PORK
We went to a gorgeous ‘apple day’ a couple of weeks ago at Parke, a lovely bit of National Trust owned Devon countryside- not only did they have Dartmoor ponies bringing apples down from the orchard to put into the traditional press for apple juice, but the amazing cafe there, Home Farm Cafe, had a very apple themed menu- it was so cosily autumnal! I had a pulled pork roll with apple chutney which was gorgeous, and set me thinking about actually adding some of these autumn apples into the pulled pork sauce. Most BBQ sauce recipes use either sugar or sweetener to take away the acidity of the vinegar used, so I wanted to try replacing this with apple to see if it would still work. I would usually add something spicy to a pulled pork recipe, but I was hoping that my girls would eat it, so I kept this one spice free (although I’m thinking I might add some of my new habanero Tabasco sauce to my next portion!). I thought it was delicious, it’s sweet and more-ish with a vinegary tang and subtle flavours added. Both my girls loved it too which is always a win in my book! I’d normally do something like this in the slow-cooker, but I actually did it in the oven this time, and the pork was moist and pulled apart beautifully.
Total cooking time 3 hours
Apple BBQ pulled pork
Ingredients
- 800 g approx pork loin joint
- 2 large cooking apples approx 200g apple (once peeled and cored)
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp garlic powder/granules
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp worcestershire sauce
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 200 ml chicken stock
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 160c
- Peel and core the apples, and chop into chunks. Add into a casserole dish with all of the other ingredients apart from the pork.
- Put sauce on the heat and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat.
- Remove all of the fat from the pork loin joint, and add it into the sauce, spooning some over the top to cover it.
- Pop the lid on, and put into the oven for 1.5 hours. Bring it out just to stir, break down the apple with a wooden spoon and recover the pork with more sauce.
- Pop back into the oven for another 1.5 hours. Once finished cooking, pull the pork apart with 2 forks, stirring thoroughly into the sauce.
