This Spicy Pineapple Pork is sure to become a new family favorite. Fresh pineapple and spicy jalapeno are paired with toasted sesame oil, five-spice powder, creamy peanut butter, and fresh cilantro for a rich and flavorful combination.
Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. Other than the five-spice powder, you are probably familiar with all of the other ingredients.
If you don't have the five-spice you can use:
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon crushed anise seed
- ¼ teaspoon crushed fennel seed
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
One important tip: be sure to trim as much excess fat as possible from the pork butt roast prior to cooking. Otherwise the juices will be quite greasy at serving time.
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small yellow onion (diced)
- 16 ounce fresh pineapple (cut into 1” chunks)
- ¼ cup low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2-3 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
- 2 teaspoons five-spice powder
- 1 medium red bell pepper (cut into 1” chunks)
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper (finely diced)
- 2 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4-5 pound pork shoulder butt roast (trimmed)
- Salt and black pepper (to taste)
- ¼ cup fresh pineapple juice
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
Instructions
- Combine onion, fresh pineapple chunks, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, sesame oil, garlic, five-spice powder, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, and peanut butter in a 5 or 6-quart slow cooker crock.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season trimmed pork roast on all sides with salt and pepper, to taste. Sear roast on all sides, approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer seared pork to slow cooker crock.
- Reduce heat in skillet to medium and add the fresh pineapple juice. Use a spatula to scrape up flavorful brown bits from bottom of pan. Remove from heat and pour pan juices into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook over high heat for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8.
- Stir in fresh cilantro and transfer pork and pineapple mixture to a serving platter with a slotted spoon.
- Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch (arrowroot) and ¼ cup of juices from the slow cooker. Pour remaining juices from the slow cooker to a saucepan and heat over medium-high. Whisk in the arrowroot slurry until well combined. Cook for several minutes or until sauce is reduced and thickened.
- Serve the pork over rice topped with sauce.
Notes
Other slow cooker favorites:
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome
Oh Audrey that looks and sounds so good! And easy!! I'd be honored if you shared this post at our What's for Dinner party!
http://www.lazygastronome.com/whats-for-dinner-sunday-link-up-166/
Amy
This slow cooker spicy pineapple pork looks fabulous. Thank you for sharing at happiness is homemade.
Mary Colson
Here is a tip. You removed the extra fat from the meat before cooking. Everything looks good at the end of cooking, so you add the cornstarch slurry to the juices. But before you can pour the gravy into the serving bowl grease begins to collect on the surface! You did nothing wrong. Sometimes there can be more fat in the meat than you expected. The solution is to mix 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of baking powder with a tablespoon of water, then stir it into the gravy. It will foam up a little, but reheat the mixture while stirring till it smooths out. Then serve; the grease won't separate again. Works for roast beef and poultry too.
Audrey
What a handy tip.