This Slow Cooker Honey Tamarind Pork is a delicious, comforting meal that is perfect for an easy family dinner. The pork becomes beautifully tender as it cooks, with a rich, sticky sauce infused with flavour.
Gotta love a slow cooker recipe that makes dinner feel effortless while still tasting amazing. It is simple, satisfying and one the whole family will be happy to tuck into.
Calories in Slow Cooker Honey Tamarind Pork
This recipe serves 4 and is 289 calories per serving.
If you're looking for more recipes within the same calorie range, you'll find an abundance of options in my dedicated collection of 500+ calorie recipes.
If you're following a calorie-controlled diet or a healthy eating plan, it's important to calculate your daily calorie needs using a reliable calorie calculator. The calorie counts provided are estimates and can vary depending on the exact ingredients and portion sizes you use. Using your own calculations helps ensure you're meeting your individual needs. A calorie calculator can help you make informed choices and stay on track with your goals.
See the recipe card for full nutritional estimation.
Ingredients Notes
To make this recipe you will need the following ingredients:
- Pork: You can use either pork tenderloin or pork shoulder for this recipe. Pork tenderloin is leaner and stays lovely and tender, while pork shoulder gives a richer result. If using shoulder, just make sure to trim away any visible fat first.
- Onion: Adds a lovely base of flavour as it cooks down into the sauce, giving the dish extra sweetness and depth.
- Carrot: Brings a little natural sweetness and soft texture that works really well with the rich sauce.
- Red Bell Pepper: Adds a pop of colour and a little sweetness, while also softening beautifully in the slow cooker.
- Garlic and Ginger: This adds a great savoury flavour to the sauce and pairs perfectly with the sweet and tangy flavours in the dish.
- Chinese Five Spice: Adds a warm, fragrant flavour that works so well with the pork and gives the dish that delicious sweet savoury balance.
- Tamarind: This gives the sauce its tangy, slightly sweet flavour and is what makes the dish a little different and extra tasty.
- Honey: Adds a touch of sweetness to balance the tamarind and soy sauce perfectly.
- Light Soy Sauce: Adds savoury flavour without overpowering the rest of the ingredients.
- Dark Soy Sauce: Gives the sauce a deeper colour and a richer flavour.
- Lime Juice: Adds a little freshness and brightness to balance the rich sweet savoury sauce.
- Black Pepper: Just a little helps lift all the flavours and adds a gentle warmth.
- Cornstarch: Helps to thicken the sauce
- Spring Onion: A little sprinkled over at the end adds a nice fresh finish and a pop of colour that works really well with the rich sauce.
Once you've gathered all the ingredients and prepared them accordingly, you're all set to create this easy and delightful recipe.
See the recipe card for specific quantities and instructions
Variations and Substitutes
There are a few easy ways you can adapt this recipe depending on what you have on hand.
Protein swaps: Boneless skinless chicken thighs work really well in place of the pork and stay lovely and tender in the slow cooker. Chicken breast can also be used if you prefer, but it does not give quite the same depth of flavour and can be a little less juicy. Diced stewing beef is another great option if you want a richer flavour.
Vegetable swaps or additions: You can swap the red bell pepper for yellow, green or orange pepper if that is what you have on hand. For some extra veg, baby corn, mangetout or sugar snap peas all work well stirred through near the end of cooking.
To add a little heat: If you like a bit of spice, add some chilli flakes, fresh chopped red chilli or a little chilli paste to the sauce.
Tips for Slow Cooker Honey Tamarind Pork
A few simple tips will help you get the best flavour and texture from this slow cooker recipe.
- Do not add extra liquid at the start - It may not seem like enough sauce to begin with, but the pork and vegetables will release moisture as they cook, creating plenty of flavourful sauce by the end.
- Do not lift the lid unnecessarily - Every time you remove the lid, heat escapes, which can slow down the cooking time. Leave it covered and let the slow cooker do the work.
- Trim pork shoulder well - If using pork shoulder, remove any visible fat first so the finished dish does not end up too greasy. Pork tenderloin is already lean, so can be adding it just as it is.
- Cut everything evenly - Try to keep the pork and vegetables in similar sized pieces so everything cooks evenly and you get the best texture. You can add the meat as it is, but I just prefer to cut it down to smaller pieces.
- Taste and adjust before serving - Depending on the brand of soy sauce or tamarind, you may need to adjust to taste slightly. For example adding in a bit more honey if too tangy or more tamarind or lime juice or soy sauce if too sweet.
Sides Suggestions
This dish works really well with a variety of sides depending on what you fancy.
Jasmine rice is a great choice and perfect for soaking up the sauce, while egg fried rice is ideal if you want to make it feel even more like a fakeaway style meal. Noodles also pair really well with the sweet and savoury flavours.
For veg on the side, try some stir fried vegetables like broccoli, green beans, pak choi, mangetout or shredded cabbage, or keep it simple with some steamed vegetables. For a lighter option, cauliflower rice or egg fried cauliflower rice both work really well too.
Storing, Freezing and Reheating
Storing
Allow the pork to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freezing
This freezes really well. Once cooled, transfer to freezer safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Reheating
Reheat in a pan over a medium heat until piping hot, adding a splash of water if needed to loosen the sauce. You can also reheat in the microwave in short bursts, stirring in between, until heated through.
More Pork Recipes
Looking for some more pork recipes to try? check out these pork recipes:
See more Pork Recipes →
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Recipe Card
Slow Cooker Honey Tamarind Pork
Slow Cooker Honey Tamarind Pork is a delicious, easy family dinner with tender pork cooked in a sweet, tangy and savoury sauce.
Ingredients
- 500g (17.6oz) of pork tenderloin or pork shoulder (trim visible fat)
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 carrot, sliced into thin sticks
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- ½ tablespoon of chinese five spice
- ¼ cup (60ml) of honey
- ¼ cup (60ml) of tamarind
- 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice
- pinch of black pepper
- 3 spring onions, sliced (to garnish)
Instructions
- Add the pork, onion, carrot, red bell pepper, garlic and ginger to the slow cooker.
- Combine the rest of the ingredients (except the spring onions) and pour over the pork and vegetables in the slow cooker. Stir just to combine.
- Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours
- Garnish with the spring onion
- Serve and enjoy
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
- Gluten Free Friendly - use gluten free soy sauces
- Dairy Free Friendly
- ❄️ Freezer Friendly - see storing, freezing and reheating section
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Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1 SERVINGAmount Per Serving Calories 289Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 90mgSodium 983mgCarbohydrates 33gFiber 2gSugar 21gProtein 29g
Nutritional information and values etc are an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate by the ingredients you use.
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