The Best Fall Comfort Food - Pork, Apple, and Bacon Hot Pot

I love the onset of fall—mostly because it means diving full on into comfort food and pulling out all my favorite recipes—and of course trying new ones. When I’m in the mood for the best fall comfort food, this Pork, Apple, and Bacon Hot Pot Recipe is at the top of my list. This recipe has been in the fall/winter rotation at my house for many years—with good reason. It’s ridiculously awesome and ever so quick and easy to make. Just buy some pork chops or buy one of those big pork loins and cut it up yourself, get out your LeCrueset, and you’re ready to rock and roll. It takes a little bit of prep time, but not much. Plan for about 25-30 minutes of prep time and be excited if you pull it off in less than that, and plan for at least 2.5 hours of cook time, more if you want.

Best Fall Comfort Food — Pork, Apple, and Bacon Hot Pot Recipe – The Ingredients

Serves 4 or 6 (based on # of pork chops used)

3 Tbs. Vegetable oil, or more as needed
2 onions, cut in tow, then cut into thin half moons
½ to 1 pound of sliced bacon. Cut lengthwise into 1 inch strips
½ cup flour
1 tsp apple pie spice
4 boneless pork loin chops, thick cut (I often double this and modify the recipe accordingly
3 medium or 2 large Granny Smith apples. Peeled, cored and cut into thin wedges.
2 cups apple cider

Pork, Apple, and Bacon Hot Pot Recipe – Preparation

As I mentioned, the prep for this Pork, Apple, and Bacon Hot Pot Recipe is fairly quick and easy. As usual, the sautéeing of the onions takes a the most time, and searing of the chops takes a few minutes as well.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. In large skillet, heat oil and add onions. Sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Transfer to bowl/plate. Add bacon to pan and sauté until fat is rendered and bacon begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon from pan and put in bowl, leaving behind (in the pan) as much of the bacon fat as possible.

In freezer bag, mix flour and apple pie spice. Add chops (2 at a time is good), shake until coated. Like so….

Shake off excess flour and put chops on a plate. Return pan to medium heat and cook chops, however many will fit in at a time, until seared on both sides (about 4-5 minutes per side). Put on plate when done, remove pan from heat but keep pan drippings for later use.

Use a deep, ovenproof pot about 8 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep preferably. Put layer of onions in the bottom then a layer of bacon. Add the chops. Put a layer of apples on top of the chops, then layer on another layer of onions and bacon. Final layer will be the apples. It’ll look like this —

Heat skillet you set aside back to medium. Add in remains of spiced flour in skillet. If your pan is dry, add a small amount of oil. Whisk flour into pan drippings/oil until it makes a nice paste. Slowly add apple cider, whisking until smooth, like so —

Bring to boil, then pour the whole thing into your pot and let it filter its way to the bottom. Cook covered for about 3 hours or until fork tender. You can cook at 425-450 to reduce cooking time to 2 hours. And voilá, you’re ready to eat!

If you’re on the lookout for the best fall comfort food try this one, I promise you won’t be disappointed. And if you do, let me know what you think. I find this a perfect accoutrement to crisp fall evenings—and when you make double the recipe like I usually do, there’s plenty of leftovers to keep me out of the kitchen for a couple of days. Bonus!