Wine Braised Pork Roast is Worth the Wait

Wine braised pork roast is a succulent and flavorful dish that is slow cooked to juicy perfection.

This is a very simple dish to make but, it takes time to develop the flavors, including 8 hours (or overnight) to marinate and another 2+ hours of slow cooking. But, the result is a moist and tender pork roast with a delicious sauce to go along with it.

You can serve it with pasta, plain polenta (follow package directions) or try this Parmesan Mushroom Polenta.

Can you use a slow cooker or pressure cooker?

The recipe below is for slow cooking on the stove. If you want a little more hands off approach, you can use a slow cooker (a.k.a. Crock Pot) or pressure cooker (a.k.a. Instant Pot) as follows:

slow cooker: After browning the meat in step 5, put everything in the crock of a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 3.5-4 hours.

pressure cooker: Brown the meat in the pressure cooker (using sauté function for electric cookers) instead of a skillet and proceed through step 8. Close the pressure cooker lid and cook at high pressure for 45 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes then vent the remaining pressure.

Recipe

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Ingredients

 

marinade

• 2 cups dry red wine (such as Chianti)
• 1 large yellow onion (chopped)
• 3-4 cloves garlic (peeled and crushed)
• 4 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoons whole fennel seeds (crushed)
• 1 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 3 - 3½ pounds pork shoulder (trimmed and cut into 2 or 3 large pieces)

pork roast

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and black pepper (to taste)
• 14.5 ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (diced and undrained)
• 1 - 2 cups chicken broth

Instructions

 

• In a gallon sized zip to lock bag, add wine, onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, crushed fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes.
• Add pork chunks to bag, remove most of the air and seal tightly. Shake to mix everything and coat the meat. Place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Turn pork occasionally while marinating.
• Remove pork pieces from marinade. Pat dry with paper towels and set aside.
• Discard the woody herb stems and bay leaves. Pour off the marinade liquid into a glass or measuring cup. Reserve both the solids and the liquid.
• Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-duty skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the marinated pork and sear until evenly browned on all sides, approximately 8-10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste.
• Add the solids from the marinade and cook until onions are soft and translucent stirring frequently, about 5-10 minutes.
• Add liquid from marinade to skillet and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking until liquid is reduced to approximately one third of its original volume.
• Stir in tomatoes and 1 cup chicken broth.
• Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2 to 2½ hours, stirring every half hour or so. Add more chicken broth if needed during cooking.
• When pork can be pulled apart easily with a fork, remove from heat and let rest in warm juices for 10-15 minutes.

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