I love this recipe, it is a delicious sanity saver! There is nothing better than a great crock-pot recipe. They are a great way to get a homemade dinner on the table when life gets crazy. They save you time, money and stress! This is one such recipe.
By cooking it low in slow in the crock-pot, the pork gets tender and juicy, so that it almost falls apart. Plus, it soaks up all the great flavor or the onions, apples and cabbage. The sauerkraut comes out absolutely delicious too! The sweetness from the apples and brown sugar temper the intense sourness of the sauerkraut so that you just want to gobble it up. So you are getting your main dish and side all in one crock-pot! I call that a win-win!
Tips, Tricks and Substitutions
- Substitutions: In the recipe below I use two pork tenderloins, but a pork loin would work just as well. I have used pork loins with this multiple times and it comes out just delicious! For me, it honestly just boils down to what is on sale or what is in the freezer. Just adjust your time to 6 hours or so for the pork loin, depending on size.
- To Sear or not to Sear: In the recipe below I say to season and sear your meat before placing it in the crock-pot. Searing gives the meat color that it wouldn’t get from the crock-pot and it helps to build the flavor. I know, however, that life is crazy and sometimes you might not have time to pull out the skillet. I have had days like this and have just seasoned the meat and threw it in the crock-pot. Guess what? It still turns out. However, in my opinion it just doesn’t taste or look quite as good as it does when I sear it.
- Night before Prep: One of the great things about crock-pot meals is that you can prep them the night before. That way in the morning all you have to do pop the ceramic pot into the cooker and turn it on. The only thing is that everything is cold when it comes out of the refrigerator in the morning so it might tack an extra 30 minutes or so to your cooking time.
Crock-pot Apple Sauerkraut Pork Tenderloin
Equipment
- Crock-pot
- Large skillet or frying pan
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloins
- ½ tbsp salt
- ½ tbsp celery salt
- ½ tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 3/4 cup apple juice
- 2 Granny Smith apples medium sized
- 1 medium onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 4 cups sauerkraut
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix the regular salt, celery salt, ground black pepper and paprika for your rub. Pat the pork tenderloins dry and season liberally with the rub on all sides.
- Pour just enough vegetable oil into your skillet to coat the bottom of the pan. If you pour too much just wipe up the excess with a paper towel. Turn your skillet on high heat and give it a minute or two to heat up. Once your skillet has come to temperature, add you pork tenderloins searing for 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Once seared transfer the pork directly to the crock-pot. Turn the skillet off and pour the apple juice into the still hot pan to deglaze it, scrapping the bottom with your spatula.* Pour the apple juice and pork drippings directly over the pork in the crock-pot.
- Peel, core and chop the apples into 1 inch pieces and add to the crock pot. Chop the onions and garlic add to the crock-pot as well. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar and top with sauerkraut.
- Cook on low for five hours or until the pork is tender and almost falling apart.
- Remove the pork to slice and serve with the sauerkraut and apple mixture it cooked in.
Notes
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! If you do, don’t forget to like, comment and share!
This looks absolutely delicious!!!!!! A great meal to have on a cool Fall day, and its quick and easy as well!
Will definitely try this…. Thanks for sharing!!!!!
Thanks for all the nice comments Dee! I hope you like it!
We have pork all the time, I never thought about adding apples to it. I am trying this one. 🙂
So every year on New Year’s Day my family must make pork and sauerkraut. I usually make a big old pork shoulder because I dry out pork loins and tenderloins every time I make them. I made this in the crock pot this year and we LOVED it!!!! I never thought to add apples to the pot! AMAZING!!!!! I will be using this same recipe for the other half of my pork loin when I make that, too!! I love all the recipes and can’t wait to make more of them!!!! Great Blog!!!!!
This is so great to hear Meghann. I’m so glad you like the recipe and the blog!!!! 🤗. Thanks so much!