A Slow Cooker Pork Loin roast or Pork Shoulder roast that’s cooked in an amazing honey butter garlic sauce! It’s a slow cooker pork roast recipe that works fabulously with pork loin, shoulder and scotch fillet, for your slow cooker, pressure cooker or oven.
Easy enough for midweek yet impressive enough for company, this crock pot pork loin is going to rock your world!
I will do anything I can to try to convince you to try this, so let me say again:
THIS CROCK POT PORK LOIN WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD!!!
OK, I confess. I just like that it (kind of) rhymes and wanted to say it. Again. ?
I’m done with the fun – now down to business!
This is a recipe I created especially for pork loin, but I’ve found that it works just as well with pork shoulder so you’ll see photos of both throughout this post.
The beauty of this recipe is that it looks and tastes like a traditional oven roasted pork – but it’s made in the slow cooker. Entirely hands off cooking time, slow cooked to tender perfection and when you pull it out at the end, the sauce just needs a quick simmer to thicken while the pork rests.
ABOUT THIS SLOW COOKER PORK LOIN ROAST
I know there are quite a few types of slow cooker pork loins “out there” so let me tell you what you’re getting with this one.
It’s a spice rubbed pork loin that’s cooked until it’s tender but still sliceable like classic roasts.
It’s cooked partially submerged in a miracle 4 ingredient Honey Butter Garlic Sauce which infuses the pork with flavour, adds juiciness and transforms into an amazing syrupy sauce to serve the pork with. Pork loin is a lean cut of meat so it’s ideal to have a buttery strong flavoured sauce to serve it with!
You get bonus points for basting while it cooks, but even if you don’t, this is how the pork looks straight out of the slow cooker: golden and bronzed, glistening with that honey butter sauce!
TIPS FOR MAKING SLOW COOKER PORK ROAST
Slow cooker pork roast is actually very simple to make as long as you use the right cut of pork and follow a few key steps:
Best pork for pork roast in a slow cooker – Though I originally created this recipe for pork loin, this recipe works brilliantly with pork loin, pork shoulder and scotch fillet roast (pork neck, a roasting cut of pork that’s popular in Australia and some parts of Europe, brilliant for fast and slow cooking). The first photo at the top is pork loin, the 2nd photo is shoulder;
Slow cooking pork loin – Being a lean cut of pork, there’s only two ways to cook it: Hard and fast until the inside is at an exact temperature, like with traditional pork roasts, OR slowly at a lower temperature. Slow cooking is more forgiving because it’s done at a lower temperature so an hour or so too long isn’t going to ruin your pork;
Pork Shoulder and Scotch Fillet – These cuts have more fat marbled through them so they are natural choices to use for slow cooker pork roasts. As they cook, the fat melts, making the meat beautifully juicy;
Tenderloin – Not a natural choice for this recipe because it’s much thinner than the other cuts listed above so it cooks much faster than the cuts listed above. However, I have included directions in the recipe notes for how to make this with tenderloin;
Season the pork for extra flavour with at least salt and pepper. I use a simple spice mix for this crock pot pork recipe;
SEAR! Browning = flavour. Whether you brown the pork before or after slow cooking, don’t skip this step, it’s imperative for great flavour!
How long to cook a pork roast in the slow cooker – for pork loin, 4 to 5 hours on low for tender, juicy perfection. Pork shoulder needs to be cooked for 10 hours on low for a 1.5 – 2.5kg / 3 – 5 lb pork roast. Shoulder is a tougher cut of pork so it requires a longer cook time to break down the fibres and fat.
SLOW COOKER PORK LOIN SPICE RUB & SAUCE
Here are the ingredients in this Slow Cooker Pork Loin sauce and spice rub. There’s not many!!!
THE SAUCE!
The Honey Butter Sauce for this Slow Cooker Pork Loin is made using the juices remaining in the slow cooker when the pork is cooked.
Straight out of the slow cooker, the flavour of the sauce is a bit thin so it needs to be reduced and I also like to thicken it a touch using cornflour to make it a syrupy thickness.
The Honey Butter Sauce truly is a miracle – it’s made with just cider vinegar, garlic and (hold onto your seats here…) BUTTER and HONEY!!
It’s ideal for serving with a Slow Cooker Pork Loin because it adds richness to an otherwise lean meat. Bonus: this recipe makes tons of sauce to smother your veggies and potatoes with it too!
What to do with leftovers?
Use it to make epic Bread Bowl Sandwich or Cubanos – Cuban Pork Sandwiches!
HOW I PREPARE AHEAD
This is one of those recipes that’s terrific for a midweek meal yet impressive enough for company. What I’ve been doing is preparing it the night before (searing the pork, making the sauce) then pouring it over the pork and leaving it in the removable insert of my slow cooker until the next morning.
Then I pop the insert into my slow cooker in the morning, leave the house for the day and come back to THIS ↓↓↓ Happy days!! – Nagi x
PS Pictured in post with a side of Garlic Sautéed Spinach and these Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes.
More slow cooker roast recipes
Slow Cooker Pot Roast (with gravy!)
Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast OR Pork Shoulder
Ingredients
- 1.75 – 2.5 kg / 3.5 – 5lb pork loin OR shoulder/boston butt ,or scotch fillet, skinless (Note 1)
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil , separated
Spice Rub:
- 2 tsp EACH paprika, thyme
- 1 tsp EACH garlic powder, onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper , optional
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp salt
Honey Butter Sauce:
- 3/4 cup honey
- 125g / 1/2 cup butter , unsalted
- 5 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper , each
Thickener:
- 3 tsp cornflour/cornstarch mixed with splash of water
Instructions
- Spice Rub: Rub pork with about 1 tsp oil. Mix Rub together then sprinkle over pork. Pat to adhere all over.
- Brown: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add pork and sear all around until deep golden brown (don’t let spices burn). Place pork in slow cooker.
- Honey Butter Sauce: Wipe pan. Add butter and melt. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until golden. Add remaining Sauce ingredients, mix, simmer rapidly for 30 seconds.
Slow Cook:
- Pour Sauce over pork. Cover slow cooker.
- Pork loin – Cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours (see Note 2 for cook times for different sizes)
- Pork Shoulder – Cook on LOW for 10 hours (see Note 2 for cook times for different sizes, and Note 4 for oven, InstantPot and pressure cooker methods).
- Remove pork onto serving platter, cover loosely with foil (10 – 20 minutes rest). (See Note 6 on Doneness)
- Pour all juices in slow cooker into large saucepan. Add cornflour water mixture, mix.
- Thicken Sauce: Simmer on medium high for 5 minutes or until it reduces down to a syrupy consistency (Note 3).
- Slice pork into thick slices (1.5 – 2 cm / 3/5 – 4/5″ thick). Serve with PLENTY of Honey Butter Sauce!
Recipe Notes:
1 kg / 2lb – Pork Loin 3.5 hours on low, Shoulder 8 hours on low
1.5 – 2.5kg / 3 – 5lb: Per recipe
3kg / 6lb: Pork Loin 6 hours on low, Shoulder 11 – 12 hours on low
Use times closest to your pork size. 3. Sauce reduction: Reduction time to thicken dependent on how much juice comes out of the pork. Go by eye – when sauce is thin maple syrup consistency, it’s ready (will thicken bit more when it cools a bit) 4. Other cook methods: * Pressure Cooker – Pork shoulder 1 hour 20 minutes on HIGH. To save time, this is how I did the pork in the 2nd photo in post. Have not tried pork loin so am unsure of required time.
* Instant Pot – Brown pork in IP, remove, melt butter and make Sauce in IP, then add pork back in, spoon over sauce. Then either cook using Pressure Cooker time for shoulder, or Slow Cooker time for pork loin or shoulder. If you get the burn notice, add 1/2 cup water. Remove pork and make Sauce using sauté function.
* OVEN – See here for directions 5. MAKE AHEAD – Brown pork and make sauce up to 1 day ahead, pour into slow cooker then remove insert and refrigerate until ready to cook. If preparing ahead more than 12 hours or so, keep the sauce separate (because it will make the pork sweat). Leftovers – Keep in the fridge for 3 days, or freezer for 3 months. I pour the sauce over it, it soaks through the pork and I love it. 6. Pork Doneness – Loin is a lean cut of pork so it’s cooked for a short period of time than shoulder. Pork shoulder needs to be cooked for longer to let the tough fibres break down. Shoulder is more prone to falling apart (ie semi shredding) when slicing so be sure to rest it per recipe directions to minimise this. 7. Nutrition – per serving, assuming a 2 kg/4lb pork loin and 8 servings with all sauce consumed (which is unlikely).
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Dozer looking rather concerned as I pack for a trip to Vietnam…. he really hates the sight of a suitcase! Though the minute I drop him off at the golden retriever boarders’ place, he forgets all about me… (I like to think he’s being strong but crying on the inside…..)
I made this today and OMG! Like I died and went to heaven!! This is soooooooo gooood!! You hit it out of the ball park with this one and it’s the first recipe of yours I’ve tried. Found it on Pinterest. Will def try more of your recipes. 🙂
I really want to cook this in the oven and have one almost 10 lb loin cut into 2 peices that I plan to roast together…any suggestions?
Hi Allyson, just double the ingredients to cater for the 10lb, but cook as per the recipe as they are two separate pieces and the recipe is for a 5lb piece so each should cook the same – N x
Thank you so much for talking the time to respond…much appreciated!
I was wanting to find a new way to do pork loin and this recipe is absolutely delicious. The smell made my whole house smell wonderful and more hungry. Lol thank you for another great recipe.
P.S. I just love your post about Dozer. He reminds me of my fur baby.
Well this is a different way to serve pork, not a hint of apple sauce!
It is amazing and prepping the night before makes for a wonderful weeknight meal.
Oh that sauce, so good Nagi.
How good is the sauce?!?! DROOL! Not a drop of applesauce here 🙅🏻♀️
I put 2 teaspoons of thyme leaves instead of 2 teaspoons of thyme powder by accident. Did I ruin the recipe? If so, what should I do to fix it. I noticed the mistake.after I had already put the pork and started the slow.cooker.
Hi Eli, yes I use thyme leaves ☺️
Can this recipe be done in a pressure cooker with pork leg roast?
Hi Tina, yes as long as it’s boneless, pressure cooker instructions are in the recipe notes. I hope you love it!
Hi,loving the sound of this but have a couple of questions:
Already got some ingredients and wondered if they would work just as well.Smoked paprika,onion granules and garlic salt.Could I use garlic salt and lessen the amount of salt and use same amount of onion granules? Want to make for dinner tonight.Sounds delicious.(Other-half impressed with amount of butter!!)Also loving sound of roast pork shoulder- could that be done with pork loin?
Thanks.
Ps live in York UK so thankful for both kinds of measurements.
Hi Alison, yes that will work fine! I hope you love it!
We did love it!
Will cook next one for less time,not dry but would have liked more juicy.1.8kg cooked for 4 hours. Internal temp was 208*.
Thickened the amount of sauce we needed and froze the rest as other people have done ready for next time.Will do again from scratch when we have people round for Sunday lunch.Is it safe to sear ahead of time and cook later?
Always a bit worried about not cooking fully,but would make life a lot easier!
Thanks again.
Next week butter chicken( seems like i’ve started a theme!!)
The links in the recipe aren’t working.
Hi Jan, which links are you referring to as they are all working for me – N x
What kind of vinegar? I know it says cider vinegar does that mean apple cider vinegar? In the video the vinegar looks more white. I want to make sure before I make it.
Hi Betty – Apple cidar vinegar is perfect – N x
This was the best pork loin I have ever made. The honey butter garlic sauce was amazing. Whole family enjoyed it and, no leftovers. Thank you.
Thanks so much Linda!
I really like the flavors of the sauce. The meat cooked way faster in my crock pot but all and all this is delicious. Will pull apart, thicken sauce and serve it for dinner tomorrow with noodles. I wonder if I could also throw in pineapple in this sauce next time? I will check temp earlier next time as it did over cook.
I LOVE all your recipes Nagi! I go to your site everyday. I am not sure why — but I have tried this recipe twice and the meat has been so tough and dry both times. I cooked the pork loin (2.kg) on low for 4 hours. Did I cook it too long that it dried out? Or did I not cook it long enough?
Hi Meg, sorry to hear it hasn’t turned out for you, were you slow cooking? – N x
Hi Nagi, yes, I made it both times in the slow cooker. I love all your recipes and they have always turned out beautifully. This one for some reason has not turned out both times. I felt the meat was very dry, and I was unsure if the reason was that it was cooked too long or not long enough. Can meat, cooked in a slow cooker, dry out from overcooking (even though there is still liquid in the pot)? Thanks!
Hi. I just made this recipe for dinner tonight & I love it. Will definitely be making it again.
That’s great to hear Karina! 🙌
I printed out the recipe for the oven roasted version of this dish (I don’t own a slow cooker), but found that while the cook time showed 10 hours, in the instructions (#4) it stated to cook it “1 hour – 1 hr 15 min” which I know has to be wrong. Should that be 10 hours? I don’t want to mess this up.
Thanks!
Hi Ruth, it just depends on the cut of pork you are using and the method of cooking – N x
Hi Nagi
I don’t do a lot of cooking. About to make this but it says to use unsalted butter. Is the recipe compromised by using salted butter instead? Many thanks
Hi Christian, sorry for the late reply, you can use salted, just omit the added salt (or adjust the salt) to taste – I hope you love it!
I have a really small loin joint. 700g with the rind on so obviously less when I take it off how long should I cook it for in the slow cooker
Hi Diane, I’d just test the pork at 2 hours – it should be tender but not to the stage that it’s shred-able. If you think it’s still not quite tender, just leave it in another hour – N x
Want to make this in instant pot but confused on the directions and amount of time to cook a pork loin
Hi Pat, IP directions are listed in the recipe notes – N x
This was the best pork roast I have ever made! Made it for my husband for his birthday, and he absolutely loved it! The sauce is to die for. I will not make a pork loin any other way now.
Woah what a compliment!
Hi Nagi
I made your recipe for Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast with the Honey Butter Sauce and I served it with your Greek Lemon Potatoes. Thank you so much for this recipe It was absolutely delicious and will become one of our favourite dinners. As there is just my husband and myself I have quite a lot of the meat and the sauce leftover which I have frozen together. I am wondering if you could suggest how to use the leftovers for another dinner. Thank you once again for such a lovely recipe.
Hi Barbara, Thanks so much for the feedback, I’m so glad you love it! You cold always keep the left overs as is and serve with some sides or it would be great in wraps! – N x
Thanks for your reply Naggi … What would you think would be the best way to reheat it..
This looks amazing. If cooking in an IP after cooking time is up do you quick release or let it natural release (and if so for how long)?
Quick release will be fine Tracy – N x