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Pork Stew has tender chunks of pork and vegetables in a thick and hearty broth. It’s so flavorful and rich, you’ll have the whole family reaching for another bowl!
Warm your body and soul this winter with a hearty bowl of our delicious pork stew. Or try some of our other easy pork recipes for your favorite comfort food, like Skillet Pork Chops with Gravy, Baked Pork Chops, Easy Crock Pot Pork Roast.
Pork Stew Ingredients
- Boneless pork shoulder or pork butt – both come from different parts of the shoulder. I always buy boneless for pork stew because I don’t want to have to deal with the bone.
- Butter and olive oil – I use both for browning the meat. The butter add a ton of flavor and the oil keeps the butter from burning.
- Onion and celery – chopped and browned with the meat
- Spices and seasonings – bay leaves, dried thyme, dried rosemary, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
- Potatoes – I love a waxier potato like Yukons for this, because they aid in thickening and are nice and soft.
- Veggies – I also add carrots, diced canned tomatoes and green beans.
- Parsley – stir it in at the end for freshness.
Best Pork for Stew
Pork shoulder or pork butt (sometimes known as Boston butt) is a great choice for making stew. Both cuts are dense, fatty cuts and are perfect for the “low and slow” style of cooking. It’s the same cut of meat I use for my BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders, Pulled Pork Chili and Slow Cooker Carnitas.
Sometimes you can find pork stew meat already cut up, like they do with beef, but I prefer to purchase the whole roast. The chunks you find packaged up are discards and scraps from other pieces of meat put together by the butcher. They are often a mish-mash of different cuts and don’t always cook evenly, resulting in some chewy, not tender, pieces.
I don’t recommend leaner cuts like pork loin or tenderloin, as they can become tough when boiled.
How to Make Pork Stew
This recipe is similar to my Beef Stew Recipe. It has tender cuts of meat, vegetables and herbs all simmed together in a thick, hearty and incredibly flavorful broth. The potatoes thicken it a bit, but to thicken even more you can use a simple cornstarch slurry.
- Cook pork and onions until browned.
- Add seasonings, herbs, broth and tomatoes. Simmer for 1 hour.
- Add potatoes, celery and carrots and simmer 20 minutes.
- Add green beans and thicken (see below). Simmer additional 10 minutes.
- Serve.
How to Thicken Pork Stew
This is optional, but if you want your pork stew broth to be thicker, you’ll need to add a cornstarch slurry. This is just cornstarch mixed with water that is poured into the stew and simmered for about 10 minutes. I like to use the actual broth instead of water to keep the flavor strong.
Another way to thicken pork stew is by coating the meat in flour at the beginning. Toss the chunks of pork in flour to coat, then brown and continue with the recipe.
How to Serve
Ladle stew into bowls and garnish with fresh minced parsley for freshness and color, or stir some right into the soup pot. Stew is a hearty one pot meal, so it doesn’t require a lot of extra dishes on the side. Serve with a crusty bread or crackers and call it good. We also enjoy it with Homemade Biscuits, Sour Cream Cornbread or Beer Bread.
Storage and Freezing
Refrigerator: Store leftovers in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Freezer: Pork Stew freezes exceptionally well. Store in freezer containers, leaving about an inch of space at the top for expansion. Freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More Soup and Stews to Love
- Tortellini Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Stew
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Matzo Ball Soup
- Creamy Sausage and Potato Soup
Pork Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder or pork butt diced into (1.5-2) inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups yukon potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 large carrots cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 large ribs celery roughly chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes undrained
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 2 tablespoons freshly minced parsley cup
- 1-2 tablespoons cornstarch plus an equal amount of water or broth
Instructions
- Cut pork into 1-inch chunks (or a little larger).
- Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven on the stove over medium-high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon each oil and butter. Add pork, onions and celery and brown for several minutes on all sides; pork does not have to be cooked all the way through.
- Add garlic, dried thyme, rosemary and bay leaves and cook for about a minute, then add broth and tomatoes (with the juice). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour or until pork is tender.
- Add potatoes, carrots, and green beans to the stew and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low again and cover. Simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender and broth is slightly thickened.
- To thicken the stew: In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water or broth with a fork until smooth. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until thickened. Stir in fresh minced parsley.
Notes
- The starch from the potatoes will help to thicken the stew, but if you want it thicker, use the slurry.
- Store leftovers in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- Pork Stew freezes exceptionally well. Store in freezer containers, leaving about an inch of space at the top for expansion. Freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Excellent! Used slt. floured pork pieces w/bone. Extra potatoes & carrots. No frozen vegetables. Did use corn starch to thicken. & dried Parsley (1/3). Served with leftover Peas & Green Beans. & breadsticks. If there are any leftovers I’ll serve with our leftover rice. Will get crusty bread next time. Tasty Sunday dinner.
Awesome feedback Paula! Thanks for stopping by to share.
Making this recipe for the 1st time. It smells delicious and I anticipate it will taste wonderful. The only problem I have is not knowing the serving size. I get that there’s 6 servings, but I’m going to have to literally try to dish out 6 equal bowls. On the plus side, I’ll only have to do this once, but sure would be easier if that info was included. Anyways, that’s a small thing. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Chuck, I don’t generally include serving sizes for things like soup and casserole because there are inevitably always small differences. When I feed my family, I just start dishing out and what they get is what they get – then there’s room for seconds!
Very delicious! I forgot to add the garlic and reread the recipe and couldn’t find when to add it so I just added it when it was simmering. Changes I made were: I used a small bag of small red potatoes, cubed with skin on and chopped up some baby carrots and I didn’t have any green beans. I put the potatoes and carrots in after 30 minutes of simmering, cover on and 30 minutes later, added the parsley. A quick stir afterwards, and it was done. The pork (I used two packages of “Pork for Stew” from Publix) was perfect and the flavors of the stew were so good! Highly recommend!
Hi Arlin, the garlic was part of the “spices” in step 3, but I realize how that could be confusing. I’ve updated the recipe to clarify. I am glad you enjoyed the stew!
Made this tonight for the fam, they devoured it. I made some adjustments for our taste buds, I substituted green beans for spinach, added it on the last 10 mins of cooking. Turned out great, thanks.. I enjoy making cozy warm foods.
Awesome feedback Barb! Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for sharing this delicious and wonderful recipe! I made this last night for dinner and it truly was enjoyed by my family! I didn’t use canned tomatoes because I didn’t have any; but I used fresh tomatoes and a couple of squirts of tomato paste. I also substituted the broth by using a bottle of beer, a mixture of leftover apple cider, balsamic vinegar & water to scrape up the yummy bits of the fond that had formed after browning the pork chunks( I tossed the pork chunks in a little flour). I didn’t add potatoes or green beans but I did add frozen peas/carrots & fresh mushrooms! YUMMY!! Thank you again for sharing! I will definitely check your website again & again for new recipe ideas!
You are so welcome Linda! Thank you so much for the awesome feedback.
K.
Can you please adjust the timing for this recipe? To say it cooks in 50 mins, NOT counting over an hour for the pork to get tender is b.s.!
Hi Jeromy – I’m Kristin, the real person behind the blog. No need to be nasty. It was an honest mistake and the time was correct in the actual recipe.