Tuscan cooks slow-roast pork with tomatoes until the fruit collapses into a sauce, no added liquid, just patience and time.
Italian Pork Roast
A flavorful Italian pork roast perfect for crockpot cooking. Serve with a salad.
Prep
0
min
Cook
480
min
Serves
6
people
Level
beginner
The Story
This dump-and-freeze crockpot method has nothing to do with Naples and everything to do with 1970s American suburban kitchens, where Italian-immigrant flavors—garlic, oregano, basil—got bolted onto a Crockpot, that distinctly un-Roman invention patented in 1971 by Rival in Illinois, creating a Sunday gravy pretending it's from Calabria while actually being from Ohio.
Regional Twist
In Puglia's Salento peninsula, cooks would swap the generic tomatoes for San Marzano varieties and add a splash of local olive oil infused with chili, giving this humble pork roast a sharper, sun-baked southern Italian punch instead of its mild Midwestern crockpot personality.
📝 Ingredients
Serves 6🥬Fresh Produce(3)
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon parsley
🥩Meat & Seafood(1)
- 2-pound boneless pork roast
🫙Pantry Staples(1)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
🧂Spices & Seasonings(3)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
📦Other(1)
- 6 medium sized tomatoes, cored, seeds and juiced removed, and chopped (about 3 cups)
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
343
Protein
31g
Carbs
5g
Fat
22g
👨🍳 Instructions
- 1
Label your freezer bag with the name of the recipe, cooking instructions, and 'use-by' date (3 months from when you prepped the meal).
- 2
Add all ingredients to your freezer bag.
- 3
Remove as much air as possible, seal, and freeze.
- 4
Thaw freezer bag overnight in refrigerator or in water in the morning. Add contents of freezer bag to crockpot.
- 5
Cook on 'low' setting for 6-8 hours.
- 6
Shred or slice pork.
💡 Pro Tips
- ✓Brown the pork at 350°F for 3-4 minutes per side before adding to the crockpot to develop a Maillard crust, which adds savory depth that slow-cooking alone cannot achieve.technique350°F, 3-4 minutes per side
- ✓Remove seeds and excess juice from tomatoes as specified, reducing moisture to 2-3 cups total liquid; excess water dilutes sauce to below 1.5:1 tomato-to-oil ratio, preventing proper emulsification and concentration of flavors during 6-8 hour cook.ingredient2-3 cups liquid, 1.5:1 ratio minimum
- ✓Add fresh basil and parsley in the final 15 minutes of cooking rather than at the start; volatile aromatic oils dissipate after 2+ hours of heat exposure, losing up to 70% of their flavor compounds.timing15 minutes before serving
- ✓If thawing in water (morning method), use cold water only and change it every 30 minutes to maintain food safety; pork thaws safely at 40°F or below, and stagnant water reaches unsafe temperatures in 1-2 hours.technique40°F or below, change every 30 minutes
- ✓Rest the finished pork for 8-10 minutes before shredding to allow carryover cooking to reach 160°F internal temperature safely, and allow collagen to reabsorb moisture, improving texture and yielding 15-20% less liquid loss during shredding.timing8-10 minutes, 160°F target
Share this recipe
Prep
0
min
Cook
480
min
Serves
6
people
Level
beginner
Share this recipe
Tuscan cooks slow-roast pork with tomatoes until the fruit collapses into a sauce, no added liquid, just patience and time.
Italian Pork Roast
A flavorful Italian pork roast perfect for crockpot cooking. Serve with a salad.
The Story
This dump-and-freeze crockpot method has nothing to do with Naples and everything to do with 1970s American suburban kitchens, where Italian-immigrant flavors—garlic, oregano, basil—got bolted onto a Crockpot, that distinctly un-Roman invention patented in 1971 by Rival in Illinois, creating a Sunday gravy pretending it's from Calabria while actually being from Ohio.
Regional Twist
In Puglia's Salento peninsula, cooks would swap the generic tomatoes for San Marzano varieties and add a splash of local olive oil infused with chili, giving this humble pork roast a sharper, sun-baked southern Italian punch instead of its mild Midwestern crockpot personality.
📝 Ingredients
Serves 6🥬Fresh Produce(3)
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon parsley
🥩Meat & Seafood(1)
- 2-pound boneless pork roast
🫙Pantry Staples(1)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
🧂Spices & Seasonings(3)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
📦Other(1)
- 6 medium sized tomatoes, cored, seeds and juiced removed, and chopped (about 3 cups)
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
343
Protein
31g
Carbs
5g
Fat
22g
👨🍳 Instructions
- 1
Label your freezer bag with the name of the recipe, cooking instructions, and 'use-by' date (3 months from when you prepped the meal).
- 2
Add all ingredients to your freezer bag.
- 3
Remove as much air as possible, seal, and freeze.
- 4
Thaw freezer bag overnight in refrigerator or in water in the morning. Add contents of freezer bag to crockpot.
- 5
Cook on 'low' setting for 6-8 hours.
- 6
Shred or slice pork.
💡 Pro Tips
- ✓Brown the pork at 350°F for 3-4 minutes per side before adding to the crockpot to develop a Maillard crust, which adds savory depth that slow-cooking alone cannot achieve.technique350°F, 3-4 minutes per side
- ✓Remove seeds and excess juice from tomatoes as specified, reducing moisture to 2-3 cups total liquid; excess water dilutes sauce to below 1.5:1 tomato-to-oil ratio, preventing proper emulsification and concentration of flavors during 6-8 hour cook.ingredient2-3 cups liquid, 1.5:1 ratio minimum
- ✓Add fresh basil and parsley in the final 15 minutes of cooking rather than at the start; volatile aromatic oils dissipate after 2+ hours of heat exposure, losing up to 70% of their flavor compounds.timing15 minutes before serving
- ✓If thawing in water (morning method), use cold water only and change it every 30 minutes to maintain food safety; pork thaws safely at 40°F or below, and stagnant water reaches unsafe temperatures in 1-2 hours.technique40°F or below, change every 30 minutes
- ✓Rest the finished pork for 8-10 minutes before shredding to allow carryover cooking to reach 160°F internal temperature safely, and allow collagen to reabsorb moisture, improving texture and yielding 15-20% less liquid loss during shredding.timing8-10 minutes, 160°F target