Pork stew might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of stew recipes. Traditional beef stew usually steals the show, but this pork stew recipe, in the most delicious way possible, will make you rethink that assumption.
Tons of tender, juicy pork chunks and bacon ensure meat in every bite, and all of your favorite veggies are here in abundance. This thick, hearty pork stew recipe, together with my slow cooker beef stew, Brunswick stew, and cowboy stew will fill you up on the coldest of winter days.
Let’s head to the kitchen and get cooking!
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What I Love About This Recipe
This pork stew recipe has so much going for it. Here are the best parts!
- Thick and hearty
- Lots of veggies and meat
- Lovely depth of flavor
- Makes enough for a crowd
Recipe Notes
There are a lot of versions of pork stew meat with gravy around the world. Both the pork stew recipe Filipino style and pork stew Spanish version use potatoes and bell peppers. The pork stew Jamie Oliver makes uses fatty pork, sage, and cider.
Whatever version it is, they are all certified comfort food!
- The pot- you’ll want a large pot with a heavy bottom to prevent burning. Thin bottomed pans are notorious for hot spots that can burn your stew.
- Deglazing the pan- deglazing pulls off all the little bits of meat and veggies (called the fond) that stuck to the bottom of the pan. The key to it is to use a rigid spatula or wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan when you add the wine. As soon as the liquid hits the pan, start scraping and stirring until the bottom is free of any stuck bits.
- Why is this important? Because those little brown bits are flavor gold! They add tremendous flavor to your dish, so don’t skip this step!
- Bacon drippings- Sautéing the veggies in bacon drippings adds lots of flavors. There should be a tablespoon of drippings from the bacon. If you find you have excess bacon grease, drain some before adding the veggies. If you don’t want to use it at all, I suggest olive or vegetable oil instead.
Now, let’s talk about the ingredients in this recipe.
- Wine – If you don’t cook with wine, you can use an extra cup of beef broth.
- The Veggies – You can adjust vegetable amounts and types to suit what you like or what you have in the fridge! Turnips, butternut squash, or chunks of tomato are all good ideas.
- Parsnips- This is such an unsung veggie. It’s sweet and earthy tasting. Try to look for parsnips that are less than 2 inches at their largest point. They start to get fibrous which means they’re tougher, as they get bigger. The flavor compliments the pork deliciously.
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
Soups and stew hold well in the fridge for 3-4 days, according to the USDA guidelines.
Can You Freeze This?
You can freeze this pork stew recipe, but the veggies might lose a bit of texture after a trip through the deep freeze. To freeze, allow the stew to cool completely before putting it in a freezer container. It should keep for 2-3 months.
Make Ahead Tips
This stew reheats beautifully and, like most soups and stews, tastes better the next day. You can also do a lot of the veggie and meat prep beforehand and then assemble and cook when you’re ready for it.
Serving Recommendations
Pork stew recipe is as good as it gets on a cold winter day. Serve it with a hunk of warm jalapeno cornbread or Bisquick biscuit recipe. It’s sure to be a family favorite!
Recipe Variations
- Cook this in an Instant Pot. For super busy days, you can always rely on the instant pot. Just brown the pork in batches and saute the aromatics, which is similar to how instant pot beef stew and instant pot chicken noodle soup are cooked.
- Use beef instead. Instead of pork, use beef chuck roast to transform this recipe into beef barley soup or beef noodle soup.
- Add beans. Make this into a complete meal by adding beans. You can utilize a ready-to-use 15 bean soup mix as I did in my 15 Bean Soup recipe. Add kidney beans and spices to convert it into Mexican pork stew, or black beans like my Mexican chicken soup. If you add dried beans, you’ll likely need to add water. If you use canned beans make sure you rinse them well and drain them.
- Use ground beef instead of bacon. Saving your last slices of bacon for breakfast? Use ground beef for this instead to add a little extra fat and a beefy undertone. I’d use a 1/4-1/2 pound (see hamburger stew and hamburger soup for inspiration!)
- Use a different cut of pork. Pork shoulder is the ideal cut of pork for stews or any slow cooking recipe. However, other cuts can be used too! Just adjust the cooking time accordingly. For a super tender cut, choose pork tenderloin like in my crock pot pork tenderloin recipe. Pork chops can be tricky and end up dry and overcooked. But I have a secret on how to have tender pork chops all the time! Go and read it in my crock pot pork chops recipe!
More Soup Recipes
Pork Stew
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed of visible fat, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- salt
- black pepper
- 2-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 2 cups carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 cup celery,
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 cup parsnips, peeled and diced
Garnish (optional)
- 2-3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, toss the pork with the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper to coat evenly, shaking off excess.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil, over medium-high heat, in a large pot and brown pork in batches without crowding it, about 7-9 minutes. Add more oil as needed. Transfer browned meat to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove and discard pan drippings.
- Cook the bacon in the same pot, stirring frequently until crispy. Transfer to bowl with pork.
- Reduce heat to medium and saute onion, garlic, carrots, and celery, in bacon drippings, stirring occasionally, until soft.
- Add wine to the pot, continue to simmer, scraping up brown bits on the bottom of the pot until liquid is almost evaporated.
- Add beef broth, tomato paste, browned pork, bacon, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 45 minutes.
- Stir in prunes, potatoes and parsnips then cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. If you'd like the stew thinner, add more beef broth or water to achieve desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into individual bowls, garnish with parsley and serve.
Thank you for this recipe.
I added a can of black beans, couple handfuls of chopped kale and teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. So filling and delicious!
Wow, that’s so healthy! Thank you so much for your feedback, Chris! 🙂
Delicious! I omitted the prunes and parsnips and added a bell pepper and extra carrots instead. My husband said he likes it better than beef stew! It was full of flavor 🤤
Wow, Hayley! That’s awesome. Glad y’all like this stew. Thank you for sharing your positive review 🙂
I never comment on recipes on any site. Until now…
I made this exactly as written (except I had about 4 lbs of pork butt, so I increased all of the ingredients proportionally.)
This recipe is fantastic. My family devoured the stew. The parsnips and prunes are important, even though it would be tempting to skip them or substitute. I have printed it off and will make it again!
Hi, Mike! Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you for your positive review! I agree with you on parsnips 🙂
I hope you’ll try our other soup and stews!
Excellent stew recipe, I thought it would do for two nights but it disappeared. Used apricots as I didn’t have prunes and swede as parsnips are hard to come by here in France. I have lots of dieced pork in the freezer so I’ll make it again before the end of winter. It’ll be good to leave on the wood burner cooking all day.
Hi, Debbie! Great substitutes! Glad you liked this stew. And I agree, it doesn’t last long 🙂
Thank you for sharing your positive feedback!
Delicious already and 30 mins left on cook time. I used a 4 oz jar of Beech-Nut puréed baby food prunes instead of diced prunes. Easy. Can’t wait for dinner.
Hi, Barbara! Your tweak sounds fantastic! So happy you liked it. Enjoy your dinner 🙂
Made this tonight to celebrate the first cold and rainy day of fall. I was a little skeptical about parsnip and prunes but I figured I’d give it a go. I couldn’t find prunes so ended up using raisins, and wow, so glad I didn’t skip those ingredients. This will definitely be a go to at my house!
That’s so amazing, Amaya! Perfect for the weather, right? Thank you for your positive review!
I think the recipe is great but I am a guy, and like many guys, I don’t pay close attention to directions.. I used about a cup of flower and a full little can of tomato paste.. As it started thickening way too soon I reread the directions.. Oh boy.. Salvage time! A beer or two later everything tasted great.. Kinda
LOL! It happens to the best of us! I’m glad you enjoyed it anyway <3
Pretty new to cooking and made this. one of the best meals I made so far! only think I did different, I added some chili peppers and toasted spices before adding them.
Yay! I’m happy you liked this stew, Karolis! I love your tweaks 🙂
Made this stew tonight…sooo good…perfect on a cold night. Gotta go…it’s done, time to eat.?
So pleased you enjoyed it, Ruthann <3
Very rainy in SC for the next few days and this looked too good to pass up and wait for Fall. Kinda sorry that now that I found it ???? It is sooooooo good I am going to be full from “tasting” it before we have dinner ?? I did not have prunes so I omitted them and will be serving it over rice even though it has potatoes in it. Also added some paprika and cayenne powder.
So glad you enjoyed, Glenda! <3
This looks so good! I have all the ingredients except for the prunes & parsnips. Could I substitute something else for these 2 things? Thank you!
Hi Janet! I haven’t tried substituting these ingredients yet but I think you can give raisins a try in place of prunes, then turnips, sweet potatoes, or parsley root for parsnips. Hope this helps!
Amazing stew. I love pork so much more than beef and this is a great idea. The bacon makes it!
Thank you, Cyndy! Enjoy! ?
Made this stew tonight exactly as the recipe is written. Absolutely delicious and now it’s my favorite stew recipe! I served it with homemade garlic bread! Everyone loved it as much as I did! Thank you Kathleen for the recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that this was a hit for you, Gina!
Made this for the family and it was a hit!
That’s awesome, Katie! So stoked you and your family loved it!
This stew is so mouthwatering and looks so flavorful. I love that it’s made in one pot too!
Thanks, Erika! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! ?
This truly is the perfect winter meal! I love the balance of meat and veggies…so hearty and perfect. I wouldn’t mind getting cozy with a bowl of this a good movie 🙂
Thank you, Tammy! ❤️❤️
Such a great stew for this time of the year — love how easy it is to make!
Thank you so much, Sapana! ?
This recipe was time consuming, but very good. Next time I’d leave out the parsnips as they have a distinct flavor that I discovered I don’t like!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Liz!