Crock Pot Pork Roast

I'm a firm believer that every cook needs a crock pot. Cooking every night can be exhausting, but a crock pot makes it feel like you've put together a complicated or tasty meal without doing a whole lot of work. It provides a little bit of a break from standing over the stove every night.

You'll find various crock pot recipes on my blog as I continue to write, but this pork roast in the crock pot is one of my favorite meals for when the weather here in Chicago gets a little gloomy and cold. This is a simple meal: the main part of it (meat) has less than 10 ingredients and requires very little prep work up front. Depending on what you want to add to it in terms of sides later, it can continue to be simple. I usually serve this meal with mashed potatoes and a veggie. It also requires you to make gravy, but making a homemade gravy is not as challenging as one may think. I'll teach you how! Here's what you need and the options you've got to finish off this meal.

Crock Pot Pork Roast
Prep Time - meat: 10 minutes
Prep Time - gravy: 15 minutes
Prep Time - mashed potatoes: 25-30 minutes
Serves: 4-5


1.5-2 lb. pork loin roast
1 medium onion
3/4 cup hot water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper for top of roast.
4 potatoes
Butter
Milk
Sour Cream
Flour
Water

Meat Instructions:
1. Cut your onion in half through the stem and root and peel outer layer. Lay onion flat on your cutting board and slice (so you have half circles). Cut entire onion. Lay half of sliced onion on the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Place roast on top of onions. Salt & pepper the top of the roast generously.
3. Mix hot water, soy sauce, and minced garlic. Pour over/into crock pot. Add bay leaf.
4. Cook roast on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. The roast should separate and shred nicely. This is when you know it's totally done. Before you shred, take out roast and strain out liquid. Add roast back into crock pot with onions to keep warm.

This is how your roast should look when finished. Yes, it may shrink and that's ok! Take it out and set it aside so you can dump all those yummy roast drippings into a sauce pan to make your gravy. See steps and instructions below! 

Add your roast back to the crock pot after you've dumped your liquids for your gravy. This is what your roast will look like once you've shredded it up. I don't shred it into tiny pieces like you'd have for pulled pork, but larger shredded chunks, if you will :)

Potato Instructions:
1. Peel and cut 4 medium potatoes into chunks. Place into a pot of water.
2. Boil water and cook potatoes. They're done once you can easily poke a fork into a chunk of potato.
3. Drain potatoes and put back into the pot or into a large bowl.
4. Mash potatoes by hand first (with a potato masher if you've got it or a slotted spoon).
5. Add about 2-3 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup milk, and a couple large spoonfuls of sour cream. Whip with a hand mixer. Add in more butter, milk, or sour cream as needed. Another option -- add a few spoonfuls of mayonnaise. It is what I do if I don't have sour cream. Makes nice, fluffy potatoes.

**If you don't want to have this meal with mashed potatoes or you don't have time to make mashed potatoes, you can always do a baked potato or egg noodles. Both would be delicious with this meal and may save you some prep time!

**Baked Potato Tip! You can make baked potatoes in the microwave. Poke a few holes around the potato and put a couple potatoes in the microwave. Microwave for about 6-8 minutes. Check potatoes. If they're nice and soft, they're done. Keep adding a few more minutes until you've got the desired softness!

** As I've said in previous posts, I can't have dairy right now. Here are three ingredients I added to my potatoes instead of the traditional butter, milk, and sour cream. My potatoes didn't turn out too bad!!**

Gravy Instructions:
1. Remove roast from the crock pot. Pour the roast dripping liquids from crock pot through a wire mesh strainer into a small pot.
2. In a small container with a lid (could be a small tupperware with a lid or an antique gravy shaker like I've got [see video below]), mix enough water and flour to make a paste. I grew up being taught that this is called a roux [see other option for a roux below]. It's equal parts water and flour, but I usually have to add a bit more water. Some call it a slurry [other option for a slurry below]. You don't want this paste to be too thin, but it can't be thick enough that you can't pour it from whatever container you've shaken it in. The perfect consistency for your flour/water mixture should resemble pancake batter!
3. Boil the liquid from the crock pot in a sauce pan. Once the liquid has come to a boil, slowly whisk in your roux.
4. As you've whisked in your roux, allow the gravy to boil for a minute or two as you continue to whisk. Turn the heat down and continue to whisk. The gravy will thicken after it has boiled and you continue to whisk on a lower heat. Once the gravy has thickened, turn your gravy down to a low simmer.

Check out my video below to see how to finish off your gravy once you've completed the above steps!

Other gravy options:
1. You can make a cornstarch slurry. This is a mixture of equal parts water and cornstarch (I usually do 2 spoonfuls of cornstarch and 2-3 spoonfuls of water). Follow the same procedure with the cornstarch slurry as the flour/water mixture above.

-- When I would use this method: the cornstarch slurry thickens gravy FAST, so when I'm short on time, I'd use this process. I'd also do this if my flour/water method didn't thicken my gravy enough. I'd add a little cornstarch slurry. You don't want to add too much water/cornstarch/flour/etc. because it will diminish the delicious flavors of your gravy. 

2. You can make a gravy with a roux. A roux is a mixture of flour and some sort of fat, typically butter. This is formally what a roux is. In a skillet over medium to high heat, melt a couple tablespoons of butter. Once melted, add in a spoonful of flour at a time until you have a loose paste. Slowly whisk in your roast drippings from the crock pot. Whisk until your gravy comes to a boil. Turn the heat down and continue to whisk until gravy is thickened.

-- When I'd use this method: since you start this method in a skillet, I'd do this if I wanted to add my meat to the gravy to continue to simmer in the skillet. I don't typically do this method because I like for my gravy to be separate in a sauce pan so people can spoon however much gravy they like over their meat and potatoes.

Finish up your meal! Serve your pork roast and potatoes with a veggie of your choice. My husband loves corn with this meal, so that's what we had. If that's not a good ole' midwestern meal of meat and potatoes, I don't know what is. Hope you enjoy :)