Slow roast pork that’s caramelised on the outside, ultra tender on the inside, with syrupy sweet-savoury-buttery juices. You could totally make this using a whole roast, but using large pieces means more surface area = more golden sticky caramelised goodness!
This is an ideal recipe for pork neck / collar butt – also known as pork scotch roast. Brilliant pork cut for both fast and slow cooking!
Slow roast pork recipe
As I was thinking what to say about this recipe, a feeling of deja vu swept over me. I freaked out, wondering if I had already published it….
And then it suddenly dawned on me. This recipe is almost like the baked non-Asian version of Vietnamese Coconut Caramelised Pork!
The same sweet-savoury flavour with incredible caramelised surfaces, but this doesn’t have the Vietnamese flavours.
Also, this Roast Pork is also a bit more hands off because it’s roasted, rather than cooked on the stove. No stirring, just pop it in the oven and set the timer.
“This roast pork is slow roasted so the flesh becomes tender and the outside is caramelised. By using smaller pieces, we keep the roasting time under 2 hours!”
Best pork for caramelised pork roast
Ultra tender insides and golden caramelised outsides calls for a slow cooking cut of pork and for this one, I use pork shoulder aka pork butt.
It also works brilliantly with pork scotch roast aka pork neck / collar butt. It’s a brilliant pork cut widely available in Australia that’s suited to both fast and slow cooking. I throw pork scotch fillet steaks on the barbie, and I slow cook it for things like this pork roast and Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu). Here’s a photo of this Brown Sugar Garlic Butter Pork Roast made with scotch fillet roast cut in half lengthwise (see note 1 of recipe)
That brown sugar braising sauce!
Four ingredients – brown sugar, butter, vinegar (to balance out the sweet) and garlic, plus salt & pepper. Simmer to dissolve the sugar, then pour it all over the pork.
Pop it in the oven and out comes this:
THIS being the most incredible deeply golden, caramelised crust enclosed around juicy, tender pork, sitting in a buttery syrup that you want to drown the pork in.
Sweet? Yes. If you don’t like sweet-savoury foods, this recipe isn’t for you.
And it needs to be paired with the right protein. Sweet works brilliantly with pork. But this recipe would probably be too sweet for chicken. For beef, I think it would need a kick of something else to work with the strong beefy flavours, perhaps a good hit of cracked pepper.
I’m rambling. I’ll stop. Recipe time! – Nagi x
PS Pictured in the top photo with this Everyday Cabbage Salad peeking out of the corner. Extra recipe for today, goes great with this pork!!
More pork roast recipes to try!
Pork Carnitas – Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Char Siu – Chinese BBQ Pork
Cuban Mojo Roast Pork (from the Chef Movie!)
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Brown Sugar Garlic Butter Pork Roast
Ingredients
- 1.75 – 2kg / 3.5 – 4lb pork shoulder / butt , cut into 8 equal pieces (Note 1)
- 1 tsp each salt and pepper
Sauce:
- 100 g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup / 80g brown sugar , loosely packed
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml cider vinegar (white wine or red wine vinegar also fine)
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160C/320F (standard) or 140C/290F (fan).
- Place Sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Once better has melted, stir to combine then leave for 1 – 2 minutes until sugar is melted. Remove from heat.
- Sprinkle pork pieces all over with salt and pepper.
- Line pan with foil then parchment / baking paper, place pork in pan.
- Pour Sauce all over pork. Cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, remove foil. Turn pork. Return to oven uncovered for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Turn pork, spoon pan juices over. Return to oven for 20 – 30 minutes or until pork is golden and sauce has reduced to a thin syrup (thickens more when it cools).
- Stand for 5 minutes, then turn pork to coat in sauce. Serve pork with syrupy pan sauce. Pictured in post with this Everyday Cabbage Salad.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Next Hollywood blockbuster – The Great Toy Heist.
I forgot to add – I actually really blasted it in the oven @220°c to get a some lovely caramelisation happening.
Hey Nagi, I made this one yesterday and followed your slow cooker suggestion – perfect and delicious! 6hrs on low and then I removed the pork and reduced the sauce for 10mins, poured over the pork and baked for about 20mins to finish. Thank you!
I love every recipe I’ve tried here but this one didn’t work well for me. Flavour was nice but i had trouble with the sauce caramelising. I measured everything correctly, cut the meat in portions (7). After the 1st stage of cooking sauce was very watery, then didn’t improve after taking cover off.
I have the exast same issue! There seems to be too much liquid. I had to turn the temperature WAY up (much higher than the recipe) to get any reduction at all.
Hi Nagi! I love your blog and have tried a bunch of recipes … but i did something wrong here. My roast pork didn’t end up with a glaze but was soupy and anemic. I used a large pork collar which i cut up into 8 pieces. But perhaps too much butter? Everything else of yours I make looks like the pictures … but this time it was nothing like the video or pictures! What did i do wrong?
Hi Su, sorry you had issues here – sounds like your sauce didn’t reduce or caramelise – did you measure everything correctly? Did you cook with the cover off as well so the sauce can caramelise? N x
Thanks Nagi! Yes that’s right. It didn’t caramelize.
I had a 2.2kg collar and cut it up and cooked it covered for the first part (1+h) and then uncovered after (~40 min).
I know I had too much butter (maybe 20% excess).
There seemed to be a lot of sauce and the pork also released a lot of liquid which made it soupy.
I ended up taking it out and reducing the sauce on the stove so it became a (thin) gravy.
I’d like to try it again …
1) Should I increase the temperature and cook it for less time (is 160C for ~2h total too long and too low so it is more like braising than roasting?) I’m worried it will overcook and be tough …
2) Should I use less butter? Perhaps 2/3 the recipe?
Hi Nagi, I love this recipe as well as all your other recipes I’ve tried. They are all super PERFECT!!! I’M going to make this tomorrow. Can’t wait…
Oh, and FYI, Dozer is my all-time favorite Star!!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart (or belly…? haahaa)
Nany
Hi Nagi! I tried to make this yesterday and it didn’t caramelize at all. There was too much sauce so it was oily. And the pork had no crust at all and was just swimming in a thin sauce. I was concerned that 160C would be too low a temperature to caramelize and I think it was. My pork was also too chewy/tough and I think ended up a bit over cooked (internal temp was on the high side when I took it out). What did I do wrong?
Hey i wondering if i could leave it marinating over night in the sauce?
Hi Nagi, I just bought pork shoulder to make this recipe! I just noticed that my piece has a thin layer of skin on it and your recipe calls for skinless. Is it ok if I just cut it off?
my husband bought a whole pork loin, do you think this recipe would work? It has lots of nice fat on it. Thanks!
Hi Mariah, it should be fine if it’s not super lean! I use loin in this recipe too: https://salesdock.info/slow-cooker-pork-loin-roast/%3C/a%3E N x
I was wondering, why the parchment on top of the foil?
HI Evelyn, good question! It stops the sauce from caramelising and getting stuck to the foil 🙂 N x
I made this last night and served it with the Mexican Corn Salad and mashed potato. Beyond delicious, my family was in love. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are my food god x
Oh I forgot to add, I made it in the slow cooker so super easy for a lazy Sunday too!
Did you brown it off in the oven after of just straight from the slow cooker?
I’m thinking of using this recipe for a pie filling. Would it be ok to double the sauce measurements? Or will it dilute the flavour too much?
Hi Susan, you can definitely double the sauce ingredients if you want more sauce! N x
Another Nagi recipe success… this is so flavoursome and tender. Thank you for always making me look good 🙂
Can you suggest an instant pot or pressure cooker way to cook this?
Hi Jodi, I haven’t tried but I would use the same method as the slow cooker method in the notes, but cook for 20-30 minutes in the pressure cooker. N x
Thank you for your many wonderful recipes which I have tried and family enjoyed them.
Tried this tonight and the family loved it.
After the first 30mins in the oven uncovered, I transferred my pot (cooked in my Le Creuset) to my stove to quicken the last part for the sauce to turn more syrupy.
Love, Love, Love!!!
Recipe sounds great but those temps look way to low? Am I missing something here? Took it out of the oven and it was still raw!
Hi Thomas, sorry you had issues here – you’re cooking the pork for 2 hours at a lower temp. Could there be issues with your oven thermostat? How big was the piece of pork you used? N x
My family loved this pork I’ll try the slow cocker next time. It as great an easy.
Absolutely LOVE this recipe! I have found it even more succulent when slow cooked – removing the foil in the last hour to turn and baste. The meat is much more tender. I also slow cook the crackling on a separate tray, comes out perfectly! thank you! <3 this is a regular in our house!
Delicious! We are in our eighties, and there’s only two of us here. Can you please suggest ideas for me to use this in other ways after freezing what’s left in small portions?
My husband didn’t grow up eating pork but I did. I’ve tried various way to cook it so he would like it as much as I do. This recipe rocks. It is so tasty and tender. Thank you for this. I can now cook and enjoy pork knowing he will enjoy it too.
That’s great Nancy!