Best Ever Pork Roast and Sauerkraut

This is simply the best way to make pork roast and sauerkraut. Slow-cooking it this way guarantees the pork turns out fork-tender and juicy, while the sauerkraut gets perfectly savory and mellow.

Millions of home cooks have made it over the years, and it consistently stays the top-ranked version online because it just works.

If you don’t have space in the oven for this, you can make this in the slow cooker! Just click here for the info below.

This pork roast is probably the very first roast I ever made on my own.  It was after both my Mom and Dad had passed, and it was my first New Year’s Eve without them. 

Now I was going out with friends that night; however, it’s a tradition in my family to have pork roast and sauerkraut on NYE.  Mom always said it was to bring us good luck and fortune.

This recipe uses pretty standard ingredients found in your pantry or at your local supermarket.

• Pork roast – can be pork loin, but not tenderloin
• Sauerkraut
• Seasonings – salt, pepper, smoked paprika, caraway seeds (yes, you can omit them if you hate them, but I love them)
• Sweetness – brown sugar (see the section about using it)
• Apple and Onions – this helps balance out the acidity of the sauerkraut

Let’s Make Deliciousness!

1. Start by patting your pork roast dry, then season all over with the salt, pepper, and paprika mixture.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pan (like a Dutch oven), add the oil.
3. Once the oil is shimmering, add the pork roast.

4. Sear on all sides until a golden-brown crust forms.
5. As the pork is searing, preheat the oven.

6. Remove the pork from the pan, wipe out most of the oil, and then proceed to add the rest of the ingredients.

7. To the pan, add the sauerkraut, caraway seeds, onions, and apples.

8. Add in the seared pork roast, cover with the lid or foil (tightly), and pop it into the oven.

We never had good fortune or good luck, but at least we had each other, and to me that’s priceless! 

Now, this is the same woman who, every NYE would go outside at the crack of midnight, bang a wooden spoon on the back of a pot loudly 12 times (not sure why 12), put that down, and then put some change in her purse, zip it shut and with her right arm (never left) swing it forward around and around like she was winding up to throw a strike. 

I can still remember her saying, “Lori Ann, you always want to put in some change and swing it forward, never backward.  By swinging it forward, you’re capturing all the good fortune and bringing it towards you.”  Yeah.. that didn’t work either.

But while we never had money, we had other “riches”. We had love, honor, respect, and integrity. 

Now, if you’re my age, you know…ancient and borderline senile per my darling husband, your parents or grandparents almost NEVER wrote down a recipe.  Am I right? 

Well, this is one of those recipes they never ever wrote down, yet the first time I went to make it, it was like I knew how to make it from all those years watching her cook it.  However, when she made her, it was not small and never just one. 

There were at least 3 or 4, and they all weighed in at about 7-8 pounds each.  Plus she would make a roaster full of kielbasa, hot dogs, and more kraut, baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, brownies, a chocolate layered cake with her to-die-for pudding frosting, a huge tray of leftover Christmas cookies, fudge, plus chips – potato chips and pretzels.  Yes.. we had all of that at midnight .. well after the obligatory pot-banging and purse-twirling.

Then we’d go to bed and get up the next day only to eat all over again.  No wonder all but one of us in the family ended up overweight. 

Seriously… if I knew then what I know now about healthy eating and everything in moderation, I could have been a ballerina.  HAHAHA yeah no.  There is no tutu for this child.

This post has a lot of sentimental meaning to me; thus, it’s very story-based, BUT I also know you guys have questions, so let’s get to the types of pork to use.

Since this is slow-roasted, you can go with Boneless Pork Loin or Bone-in Pork Loin. As you can see below, mine still has a slight fat cap on top to help keep it moist as it bakes.

I would not use tenderloin as that’s too lean. I’ve had some ask if they could use butt roast or pork shoulder. You can, BUT those cuts tend to be higher in fat AND often are used in pulled pork.

The higher the fat content, the more likely the meat is to just shred apart. So could you use it in this recipe? Sure, but I wouldn’t. I like to be able to slice my pork.

Onions add a few things flavor-wise to this dish:

1. It adds a deep, richer flavor. Onions, as they slow roast, become sweet and almost buttery.
2. It adds cohesion to the flavor profile. Now, if you hate onions as I did, then shred or grate them like cheese. They will honestly melt into nothing, but you’ll still get that amazing flavor. Trust me, you NEED them in this dish.

Apples and Pork

Apples help to curb the bitterness/tang of the sauerkraut. You won’t see them, but the light sweetness they add to the dish helps balance out the flavors. It’s not necessary to add them, especially if you like a sour/tangy kraut.

I personally love SnowFloss Bavarian Floss. I’ve tried others, but that’s the one I always go back to. I like that one, as it’s slightly sweetened with a hint of sugar and caraway seeds.

Even though I grew up in a German-Slovak family, we were not fans of very sour or tangy kraut. Sure, it had to have a bite to it, but not so much that you got that twinge/sting in the back of your jaw when you ate it.

When Mom made this and when I make it, we always taste the kraut straight out of the jar. Sometimes the kraut can have a stronger bite than the other jar.

So always try it first. This is what dictates how much sugar to add, if at all. If the kraut is super tangy, I will add the full amount to the recipe. If it’s not, I will cut back.

Now, if you like it super tangy/sour, you don’t have to add the sugar. It’s all up to you and what you like. The sugar is added only to help balance out the bite of the kraut.

The brown sugar is truly your call, based on your preference for how you like your kraut.

How and where I buy my pork roast

If you belong to Sam’s Club, Costco, or a big warehouse store, they are your best bet. The prices are super low, and you can get a large one to slice into smaller portions.

During the holidays, I normally buy a 12-lb pork loin roast from Sam’s Club and cut it into 3-lb sections.  Since it’s just the two of us, that is way more than enough for us to both eat over several days. 

For years, Mr. Fantabulous said he “wasn’t a pork fan” even though he’d inhale it every time I made it.  Now he no longer says that and will ask me to make pork.  Like clockwork, just as the years have gone by, I made this for us for the New Year, with a side of my perfect mashed potatoes. It just goes together.

1. Sear The Meat

The trick to getting a super-moist, juicy pork roast is searing it first.  Searing meat caramelizes sugars and browns proteins, resulting in a more appealing color and flavor. 

It lends to a deep flavor that just can’t be created with any amount of seasonings.  Searing over high heat caramelizes the meat’s surface, enhancing the savory ‘meat’ flavor and adding complex layers of nutty caramel and coffee-like bitterness to the finished dish.

In technical terms, this is called a Maillard reaction, and it’s a flavor profile we omnivores happen to find quite delicious. Without searing, meat dishes can taste flat and dull.

• The meat should be at room temperature before searing and patting it dry.
• The pan should be very hot, and the goal is to keep the meat raw, with only the surface browned. “A quick searing”. If you leave the meat in the pan too long or sear too much meat at a time, it will start to steam, and you will lose the benefits of searing. You’re trying to achieve what’s called the “Maillard Reaction”. 
• Add oil to the pan, and when it begins to shimmer, add the meat (carefully). Pan-sear on all sides for 5-8 minutes. 

2. The liquid in the pan

The second thing you need to ensure is that there is always liquid in the pan while it’s cooking. With this, you have 2 choices: you can use the liquid your kraut came with for that sour/tangy punch, or go with a cup of water. I suppose you could use pork stock, but I’ve personally never tried it.

If you’re making a double batch or your pan is HUGE, you may need to add more. You just don’t want it submerged, as that would mean you’re almost poaching/boiling it rather than slowly roasting it.

Plus, check on it every 30 minutes or so to ensure there is liquid in the pan at all times and that it doesn’t overcook, as ovens vary. If you don’t, the pork will dry out, and the kraut will burn.

3. Seal it up

The last thing is you MUST have a tight seal on it. This does two things: it keeps moisture and liquid trapped inside to help keep it moist and tender, and it helps prevent it from drying out.

This is KEY! If your pan has a lid but it’s not a good-fitting seal, cover the pan with foil, then put the lid on it. It can’t hurt, and you’re doing yourself and your pork a favor.

Trust me.  This is the pork that converted Mr. “I don’t like pork very much” to Mr. “Honey, can you make that pork roast again?”

You want to shoot for ~1-2 hours per pound on low for slow-cooking pork loin.

1. Pan-sear the meat as directed in the recipe, then in the bottom of a 6-qt slow cooker, add the sauerkraut, caraway seeds, onions, apples, brown sugar, and pork (water if you drained the kraut).
2. Cover and cook on low for about 6-8 hours. Or, if you want your sauerkraut to retain more ‘bite,’ cook the pork for ~4 hours without the kraut (make sure to add liquid though!) and then add the kraut in the last few hours of cooking!

The absolute BEST way is slow roasting it in the oven. When I make it for a crowd, I’ll still pan-sear it, but will just throw everything in the slow cooker and set it on low while I go about my business. 

It’s still just as amazing, but I don’t know, there’s just something more sensual about the dish when you pull it out of the oven, and you see it all tender and juicy.

What to Serve with this recipe

• Mashed Potatoes
• Creamy Corn Casserole
• Rolls

Resting your meat – there’s a reason!

Now the trick with this roast is that once you pull it out of the oven, you need to remove it from the pan and loosely cover it with foil. Do you know why you do this?  Why do you partially cover the meat and let it rest after roasting?

Meat proteins are heated during cooking; they coagulate and squeeze out some of the moisture inside their coiled structures and in the spaces between the individual molecules.

This drives moisture toward the surface and the center of the meat. As meat proteins cook, they begin to shrink. Up to 120°F, the proteins shrink in diameter only, and there is little moisture loss, but above 120°F, the proteins also begin to shrink in length, which really puts the squeeze on moisture.

By 170°F, most of the moisture will be squeezed out of a lean piece of meat. As the meat rests, this process is partially reversed. The moisture that is driven toward the center of the meat is redistributed as the protein molecules relax and are able to reabsorb some moisture. As a result, less juice runs out of the meat when you cut into it.

If you want the Best Ever Pork Roast with Sauerkraut, or what we call New Year’s Eve Pork and Sauerkraut, make this.  It’s EPIC!  Mama would be proud of me for this.

I’m not a massive fan of using the microwave to reheat meat, as it tends to dry it out, turning it into a rubbery mess. Instead:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. To an oven-safe dish, add a few Tbl of water, your pork, and sauerkraut. Cover it snugly with foil, and reheat for about 10-15 minutes* or until thoroughly warmed through. *The time will vary depending on how thick your slices of pork are. Slices will take less time than one giant chunk of meat.
3. The most important thing is to make sure there’s liquid in the dish, especially if you’re reheating a larger piece.

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