Slow-Cooker Pork with Apples is healthy comfort food at its best. Whole30, paleo, and gluten-free, this rosemary-infused pork dish is the perfect fall meal.
I have been feeling more anxious than usual lately.
Not that anxiety is anything new for me. Oh, no. It’s an old, stubborn friend. It’s something I’ve lived with for as long as I can remember being a whole person. Or, as it can make me feel, not a person at all.
It’s not a very good friend, that’s for sure. It’s tricky and conniving and beyond selfish. It tries to steal everything it can from me and I have to fight against it with all of my might every single day, or it would.
But life is particularly stressful and up and down at the moment. I just started an intensive, taxing therapy program, I’m the Maid of Honor in a wedding back home, and I just had a major contract I was really counting on fall through.
I really admire bloggers and writers who talk about this. Anxiety, depression, real life. Some follow the advice that it’s best to keep those things separate, and that people are here for the recipe/fashion/financial advice/what-have-you. But I find something very fake in an influencer only showing the good. It’s artificial. Disingenuous. And it’s not real life.
It’s also a little boring, to be frank. I understand why certain influencers, bloggers, and celebrities have the followings they do. Their lives seem completely perfect on social media. Their dress is without a single wrinkle, their hair is flawless, and their walls and furniture are the crispest, cleanest, whitest whites, even with children and pets. Their candid Instagram shots laughing, enjoying happy hour with friends, or traveling seem effortless, and their smiles flash teeth whiter than their living room walls.
We all want that, and strive for it. We want that perfection. And it seems obtainable when we see that a regular ole blogger has it.
But more and more, I realize that I actually don’t want that. I want the mess. That’s where the good stuff is.
It doesn’t sit well with everyone that I talk about mental health on a food blog. But I just want to be a real person. I don’t want to be an “influencer,” and I would never want to make you guys think my life is perfect. It’s far from it. It takes a lot of work just to keep my shit together.
I don’t want to show you guys my perfect house and perfect over-stylized Instagram shots of me laughing over a glass of wine. There’s a ton of accounts like that if that’s what you want. I just want to give you guys good, real food. Paired with real life.
I want to promote honesty, both in cooking and in my words, not perfection.
Perfection is so boring anyway.
What do I do when I’m feeling anxious, stressed, or sad? I cook.
Cooking is like a form of meditation for me. It slows my mind down and it makes me feel peaceful.
I love to peel, chop, and cook fresh vegetables, especially if they’re ones I just dug up myself from the ground. I love the smell of fragrant herbs as they’re cooking. I love that a meal I’m making is going to nourish myself and my family, body and soul.
Cooking is a magical thing.
Cooking this slow-cooker pork with apples was a magical thing. A kind of therapy, a kind of nurturing. A pause, a moment. A remedy.
It’s certainly comfort food at its best. Nourishing, healthy, seasonal, and savory. You can feel as good cooking it as you can feel about eating it.
I love the sweet and savory profile of this slow-cooker pork with apples. The fragrant rosemary will perfume the whole house. The apples do add a sweet note, but it’s perfectly balanced by the onions, carrots, fingerling potatoes, garlic, herbs, and Dijon mustard. A touch of apple cider vinegar imparts some zing.
It really is a recipe meant to feed the mind, body, and soul.
I hope that you make and enjoy this Slow-Cooker Pork with Apples, Rosemary, and Fingerling Potatoes. Is cooking a form of stress-relief for you? What are your favorite ‘comfort food’ recipes to make? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you.
And here’s a few things you may need for this recipe:
Organic Chicken Bone Broth // Crock-Pot 7-Quart Slow Cooker // Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar // Annie’s Homegrown Organic Dijon Mustard
This post contains affiliate links, and are always products I highly recommend, love, & use in my own kitchen.

Slow-Cooker Pork with Apples, Rosemary, and Fingerling Potatoes (Whole30 + Paleo)
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Slow-Cooker Pork with Apples is healthy comfort food at its best. Whole30, paleo, and gluten-free, this rosemary-infused pork dish is the perfect fall meal.
Ingredients
- One 3-pound pork loin
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Granny Smith apples, thickly sliced
- 1 pound Fingerling potatoes
- 3 large carrots, peeled and thickly sliced on a bias
- 1 sweet onion, sliced
- 1 cup chicken bone broth
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 3 sprigs + 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a cast iron pan or saute pan. Generously season the pork loin with sea salt and pepper and brown the pork loin on all sides.
- Slice eight 2″ deep slits in the top of the pork loin and put an apple slice into each slit.
- Combine the rest of the apples with the potatoes (slice large Fingerlings in half and keep small ones whole), carrots, and onion. Season with sea salt and pepper.
- Whisk the broth, Dijon mustard, garlic, apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves together. Pour over the vegetable mixture.
- Lay 3 sprigs of rosemary on top of the vegetables, and place the pork loin on top. Cook on low for 6 hours.
- Transfer the pork and vegetable mixture to a serving plate and cover to keep warm. Discard the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs. While the pork rests, pour all of the leftover cooking juices into a small saucepan. Bring the juices to a simmer and simmer until the liquid is thickened and reduced by half. Serve alongside the pork as a pour-over gravy.
- Sprinkle additional chopped fresh rosemary on the pork, slice, and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
- Pineapple Pork Kabobs
- Slow-Cooker Paleo Beef Stew
- 24 Fresh + Colorful Whole30 Summer Recipes
- 85+ Whole30 Store-Bought Essentials
- Slow Cooker Apple Butter
- Healthy Turkey Bean Chili
My kitchen is smelling heavenly! Thank you so much for posting about your anxiety. I am the same. And the kitchen is my happy place. I cook because it is magic, it’s alchemy, and I am fully present and in the moment while doing it.
I usually only read one line or so of food blogs (BORING!), but your piece was so well-written and so heart-felt, and so important. THANKS! I got comfort from it.
I’m making this dish to take to a couple I’ve been cooking for since the elderly mom had a stroke. They will LOVE It.
Can this be made with regular potatoes? I can’t find fingerling anywhere lol
Hi Rashidah, absolutely it can!
Can I make this with a pork tenderloin?
Lara
Hi Lara,
Yes, I think you could. Let me know how it goes!
Lovely. A question for you: I’m making this at the moment and am wondering, should the liquids reach the pork loin? or is it meant to sit entirely on top of the vegetables (and thus the broth)? I’m so used to making soups and stews where everything is covered in juicy liquids that this feels so odd to only have 1 cup (or so) of liquid! Advice welcomed 🙂
Hi, Beth!
Yes, this is perfectly normal and the liquid will only cover the bottom and not the pork or most vegetables. 🙂
Tiffany when I’m searching for a recipe thats exactly what I do. I don’t do alot of reading with the story before the recipe but for some reason i read yours.
I understand how cooking is a therapy and takes your mind off things. Ive always enjoyed cooking more so on the grill than in the kitchen. That all changed Jan 10th 2018 when i had a stroke that according to the doctors should have killed me. I servived for a reason and have been given another chance at life. Ive learned to slow down and really enjoy life. Im still trying to come to terms with the “new me” the “new normal” and cooking helps me. Ive stepped up my game by learning and trying new things especially healthy alternatives. I never realized how many ways you can cook chicken!! I just wanted to say hang in there and thank you for your inspiration. Ive been thinking about a healthy cooking blog that shared my story but figured people wouldnt want to hear it. You have changed my mind on it! Thank you Tiffany
Oh and by the way Great Recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Tom! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to write this and for stopping by my blog. I am so happy that it has inspired you to start a blog of your own and talk about your journey. You have an amazing story and I think that you should definitely share it. You never know just how many people may be in the very same position as you! You should be very proud of yourself and how strong you are. If you do end up starting that blog, please send it over to me. I would be happy to follow it and give you any advice you’d need or just chat about recipes/food/etc.! Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Oh my, what a gorgeous autumnal dish, bet this pork is beautifully succulent-)
I love slow cooker recipes! It makes life soo easy. This looks delicious!!
★★★★★
I love using my slow cooker. This is perfect to put in, and it can cook all day while I am busy out doing other things. It’s magic in the kitchen.
★★★★★
Yes perfection is boring! I can relate with anxiety but I do always the opposite on purpose to fears head on. a lot of hooplas happen but then at least I don’t feel the anxiety that strongly and continuously anymore. Some things I can not change so that anxiety will always remain, but I try to keep myself very busy so that I don’t get the time to think. So far that kept me sane! Oh and also there are people who make it worse, the anxiety, and then there are those who will lend you energy to reassure you. I try to move around the latter ones so that my confidence doesn’t dissolve in public.
btw I wish I could make this pork with apples one of these days, I love and miss these autumn flavors. It’s just really a headache to find good pork meat here.
★★★★★
I feel this post so much. Thanks for being real and sharing what you’re going through, it can be hard. Keep fighting and I hope your anxiety has eased some!
This looks like a “perfectly” comforting and totally delicious meal. Time to break out the slow cooker again. Thanks for sharing.
Wow this looks incredible!! It will be perfect for the holidays!
★★★★★
This is totally the kind of meal I love to make for company. Thanks so much for the recipe!
This looks absolutely fantastic. A perfect Sunday lunch dinner for us in the UK
★★★★★
Indeed. Perfection is definitely boring. I hope your anxiety subsides, and you should never feel that you can’t be yourself on your blog. Lovely recipe as well. x