These slow cooker apple brown sugar pork chops are tender, sweet-savory, and made with just four main ingredients. Layer everything in the slow cooker and come back to buttery apples and a glossy brown sugar glaze. You’re going to love how easy this cozy dinner is.
Why You’ll Love It
- No browning required — layer everything in the slow cooker and let it do the work.
- Just four main ingredients — pork chops, apples, brown sugar, and butter.
- Tender and saucy — the pork cooks low and slow while the apples melt into a buttery glaze.
- Sweet but balanced — the pork and apples keep the brown sugar from tasting candy-sweet.
Ingredient Notes
Use thick-cut boneless pork chops here, around 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. The thinner ones can cook too fast and turn dry, especially if your slow cooker is one of those hot-running little maniacs. Slow cookers vary, so keep an eye on the cooking time if yours tends to run hot.
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For apples, pick something firm that holds its shape at least a little while cooking. Granny Smiths are good if you like a bit of tartness; Honeycrisp, Fuji, Pink Lady, or Braeburn all work too. Use whatever is on sale, because apples cost what avocados used to cost now, apparently. Three large apples should give you about four cups sliced.
Light brown sugar is what this recipe uses. Dark brown sugar will work, but it gives a deeper molasses flavor and can make the finished glaze seem heavier. Not bad, just different.
And use unsalted butter, since that’s what this recipe calls for and there’s no other seasoning to adjust around it. Salted butter tastes good on toast, but unsalted is best here if you have it.
Ingredients
- 4 thick-cut boneless pork chops, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
- 3 large firm apples, peeled, cored, and sliced, about 4 cups—I don’t get overly fussy about whether it’s exactly four
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, or 1 stick, sliced into little pats
- A little butter, oil, or cooking spray for greasing the slow cooker—technically not one of the four main ingredients, so I’m letting it slide
Instructions
Lightly grease the inside of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Do not skip this if you can help it—the brown sugar glaze has a way of clinging to the edges like it pays rent there, and scrubbing a slow cooker crock after dinner is nobody’s idea of a pleasant evening.
Spread half of the peeled, cored, sliced apples across the bottom of the slow cooker in a fairly even layer. They do not need to look perfect. They are going to cook down for hours, not pose for a catalog.
Sprinkle half of the packed light brown sugar over the apples. Use your fingers to break up the little lumps. If yours is soft and lovely, congratulations on having your life together.
Lay the four pork chops in a single layer over the apples and brown sugar. Nestle them down a bit, but do not stack them. They need that slow, even heat around them, and stacking is where good intentions go to get rubbery.
Cover the pork chops with the remaining apple slices, tucking a few down around the sides of the meat if they fit. It may look like too many apples at first. It isn’t. They shrink down quite a bit, and those soft apples are half the reason everyone hovers around the slow cooker later.
Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the apples. Again, no need to measure out a perfect half in a separate bowl unless that brings you joy. Divide it by eye.
Dot the top with the sliced butter, spacing the pieces around so the butter melts down over the apples, sugar, and pork as everything cooks. This is the moment where the recipe looks a little absurdly rich. It is rich. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, until the pork chops are very tender and the apples are soft and golden. Check at about 4 1/2 hours if your slow cooker tends to run hot. Pork chops are forgiving right up until they’re not, and then suddenly they have the texture of a shoe insert.
Carefully lift the pork chops out with a wide spatula and place them on plates or a serving platter. Spoon plenty of the tender apples and glossy buttery brown sugar glaze over each chop. Serve while it’s hot, preferably with mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, or bread for swiping through the sauce. No shame in that whatsoever.
Variations
If you want the dish a little less sweet, you can use 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of the full cup and add an extra apple.
A tiny pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg over the apple layers is lovely if you’re in an autumn mood. Not too much, though. The point is still pork chops with apples, not a candle aisle at the craft store. Too much cinnamon can make the whole thing taste like dinner dropped into pie filling.
Bone-in chops can be used instead of boneless, as long as they’re thick-cut. Give them about an extra 30 minutes on LOW if needed. Tart Granny Smith apples add a sharp little contrast, and the pork chops are also lovely served over polenta.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftover pork chops with as much of the apples and glaze as you can manage in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’ll keep well for about 3 days.
The key is keeping the pork sitting in that sauce. It helps it stay moist when reheated, and the apples somehow get even better the next day—softer, more caramel-like, almost jammy around the edges. Reheat gently in the microwave with the lid cracked or covered loosely, or warm everything in a covered skillet over low heat with a spoonful of water if the sauce has thickened up too much.
Avoid reheating the pork chops until they’re blazing hot and steaming like a factory whistle. That’s how leftovers become punishment. Just warm them through.
Final Notes
There’s something comforting about a recipe that doesn’t ask much of you. Four ingredients, a little layering, a long afternoon. Dinner quietly takes care of itself while you answer emails, pull weeds, forget you started pulling weeds, and wander inside because you suddenly remember the pork.
Good dinners do not need a properly set table or a perfectly timed schedule.
And honestly? That’s fine.
Spoon the glaze over everything. Put bread on the table. Let the slow cooker do its little bit of magic. The kitchen will smell warm and sweet, and for an hour or so—even if the laundry is still sitting there, even if nobody can find the remote—it all feels pretty darn good.
Slow Cooker Apple Brown Sugar Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 4 thick-cut boneless pork chops about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
- 3 large firm apples peeled, cored, and sliced, about 4 cups
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter or 1 stick, sliced into little pats
- butter, oil, or cooking spray for greasing the slow cooker
Instructions
- Lightly grease the inside of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.
- Spread half of the peeled, cored, sliced apples across the bottom of the slow cooker in an even layer.
- Sprinkle half of the packed light brown sugar over the apples, breaking up any lumps.
- Lay the four pork chops in a single layer over the apples and brown sugar without stacking them.
- Cover the pork chops with the remaining apple slices, tucking a few down around the sides if they fit.
- Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the apples and divide it by eye.
- Dot the top with the sliced butter, spacing the pieces around so the butter melts over the apples, sugar, and pork.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, until the pork chops are very tender and the apples are soft and golden; check at about 4 1/2 hours if your slow cooker runs hot.
- Carefully lift the pork chops onto plates or a serving platter, then spoon the tender apples and glossy buttery brown sugar glaze over each chop and serve hot.
