Bennett has been taking karate lessons from 5:30-6:00pm on Wednesdays, so that night has become our slow-cooker dinner night. We come in the door after karate to a hot dinner waiting for us. One Wednesday, I decided to make up a recipe using a pork tenderloin in the slow-cooker. I found one lonely Ambrosia apple in the fridge, and since I love pork and apples together, I thought it would go perfectly in this dish. Then I remembered I heard about a recipe contest for Ambrosia apples recently. I thought that if this recipe actually turned out well, I might enter it.
I’d say it was a big hit! Cole gave it not only a thumb, but 2 feet up as well! Both the boys ate everything on their plate. Ayla seemed to enjoy it, too.
It’s such a deliciously comforting fall meal. You have the sweetness of maple syrup and apples, with a little tang from balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard, and a touch of saltiness from soy sauce. Since it went over so well with my family, I entered it into the Orchard to Table Recipe Contest at the Ambrosia Apples website.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:48]
If you’re Canadian and you have a great recipe using Ambrosia apples that you’d like to enter into the contest, please visit ambrosiaapplescontest.com for full details. There are four prizes to be won from Cuisinart and Breville totaling over $1500. The contest runs until December 10th.
Even if you don’t enter the contest, be sure to check out all the great recipe entries. There are quite a few ones that I want to try!
This is not a sponsored post. I have no affiliation with Ambrosia apples; I am only a contest participant.
Food and Whine 
Hi! I have cooked this recipe once before and loved it, so i was planning on cooking it again tonight, but the link for the recipe no longer shows the recipe. Probably because they are working on a new contest now. Anyway, would it be possible for you to post the recipe please? Thanks!
LikeLike
Hi Jen, thanks so much for letting me know, I’ll try to track it down for you.
LikeLike
Um… There’s not actually apples listed in the recipe. I see the story before you used one apple? Is that correct?
LikeLike
Yes that’s right, there is 1 Apple listed in the recipe.
LikeLike
Any substitute brand of apple ??
Cannot find Ambrosia.
LikeLike
Any baking apple will work: macintosh, Granny Smith, spartan, etc. I’ve used Gala apples too.
LikeLike
How many adults would this feed ?
LikeLike
It feeds our family of 5, but 3 of them are kids, so I would say 3 – 4 adults.
LikeLike
I’m just going to cut up regular carrots and potatoes. That should work right?
LikeLike
Oh yes that should be fine!
LikeLike
Do you add any water to this? I just ask because it doesn’t seem like very much marinade with just a tbsp of stuff. Looks tasty & have everything to make it just wanted to check. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
LikeLike
No extra water necessary. The juices from the pork and apples make enough liquid.
LikeLike
Good point! I am tempted to stir everything a bit but am hesitant to do so as not to under/overcook certain elements. What are your thoughts on stirring the contents after a few hours.
LikeLike
Thank you for such an awesome recipe! It combines a few of my favorites like maple and apple. So easy and such a treat to come home to. BTW, did you win the contest? This recipe is off the hook and should get a blue ribbon.
LikeLike
Thank you! Sadly, I didn’t win but I had fun making this recipe.
LikeLike
Can you cook this on high
LikeLike
I haven’t tried it on high before.
LikeLike
Can I use minced garlic instead of the clove and if so how much would I use?
LikeLike
Yes that’s fine. I would use about a teaspoon of minced garlic.
LikeLike
I was going to start this a lot earlier and got busy do you think I can put it on high for half the time and it would come out the same?
LikeLike
Hi! I would think you could put it on high for half the time, yes. It might not be as tender? But tenderloin is pretty tender to begin with so it’s probably ok.
LikeLike
Does anyone have the nutritional information?
LikeLike
Hi, not sure exactly how much nutrition info you are looking for…. but I did add up the caloric value of the entire recipe. Mine was 1,190 I’m splitting this into about 4 servings, so about 298 per serving. Sorry if you were looking for more than that…. but just in case. Hope it was somewhat helpful
LikeLike
So I’m converting to pounds and I see that 500g is a little more than a pound but that doesn’t seem like enough to feed 5 even with children? Am I reading the pork weight wrong?
LikeLike
Good question. That weight is correct based on what I fed our family of 5 (we all ate it and there was enough left over for another serving). Having said that, we don’t eat large portions of meat – the majority of the serving size is the potatoes, carrots and apple. That’s just a personal preference, but if your family is more into the meat you can certainly use a larger cut of tenderloin for this.
LikeLike
Do you think this would work with Chicken Breasts?
LikeLike
Oh yes, I think that would be quite good with chicken.
LikeLike
I just found this recipe and I can’t wait to try it out now that the weather is cooler.
LikeLike
Can this be cooked in the oven as I don’t have a slow cooker
LikeLike
I haven’t tried it but I do have a similar recipe using the oven: http://foodwhine.com/2012/12/pork-tenderloin-and-apples.html
LikeLike
I made a recipe similar to this from another website that used honey instead of the maple syrup. The apple slices were inserted into cuts into the pork. I substituted pork loin for the tenderloin and I also added a whole red onion chunked up to the veg. Since I do not have a slow cooker either I used a oven safe 6 quart stockpot with lid and set the oven to 325 and baked 2 – 21/2 hours. Turned out great
LikeLike
I have a soy allergy- would it taste okay without the soy? Or do you have any other suggestions? Thanks! Looking forward to this!
LikeLike
You’d need something else salty to give it flavour — maybe beef broth?
LikeLike
You should try Coconut Aminos, an excellent soy sauce replacement.
LikeLike
This looks delicious! Can I make this in the oven?
LikeLike
Hi,
I am hoping to use this yummy idea but don’t have a slow cooker. I was planning to use a roasting pan instead. Can you suggest a temp and time frame, please. BTW, I plan to ‘bump’ it up to 3 tenderloins and adjust the ingredients. Does this effect temp and time?
LikeLike
Pork tenderloin takes about 15 minutes at 400F if you sear it first. It really depends on the thickness of the meat so use a meat thermometer to know for sure. It should reach 150F.
The potatoes and carrots will take longer to roast than the tenderloin and apples, so I would start roasting them 30 minutes or so before adding the apples and meat and sauce.
LikeLike
Not sure what I did wrong, as I followed instructions exactly. Once cooked, it was a bland sloppy mess and looked nothing like the photo. Did you add anything to thicken to a gravy?
LikeLike
No I didn’t use any flour, although you could add some for a thicker sauce. Not sure but all slow cookers are a little different – maybe yours is hotter than mine and would do better with less cooking time.
LikeLike
Hi! Can I substitute the potatoes and carrots for sweet potatoes/yams?
Love your recipe but I want to make it tonight and only have yams.
LikeLike
I’m so sorry I didn’t reply yesterday, I was travelling home from Toronto! Did you end up making it with yams? I haven’t tried it before but I think it would be quite yummy.
LikeLike
I want to make 1-1/2 recipes. Any thoughts on how long to cook?
LikeLike
I’d imagine it would take around the same time, as long as you can fit it all in your slow cooker.
LikeLike
I made it tonight an it was not good. No favor. I fellow the recipe.
LikeLike
Wondering how you could adapt this for Pork Back Ribs??? I went to get a tenderloin but they didn’t have any. Thanks!
LikeLike
Sorry I haven’t tried it, I don’t know what it would be like with ribs..possibly very fatty.
LikeLike
I was real excited to make this but it was not as good as it looked or sounded.
LikeLike
I’m sorry to hear that Christina.
LikeLike
So I have a questions I need 3the recipe so am just tripleling the measurements should that b ok n cook for same Time ? Also we couldn’t find tenterlion so we
Got some other type of
Pork would that work to I need this for thanksgiving n hoping it turns out amazing
LikeLike
Yes it should work with the same time. I’d use a pork loin roast. Actually I just saw a similar recipe using a pork roast on my Facebook feed that you might like: https://www.facebook.com/1069689853077226/videos/1240073752705501/
LikeLike
Ok cool we gotta pork sir loan roast so do I just put it in the whole r do I cut it up ?? N thanks am gonna check it out
LikeLike
I’d just put it in whole. Good luck!
LikeLike
I would like to cook 2 tenderloins, do I need to make more of the sauce or increase cooking time?
LikeLike
I would double the sauce, same cooking time.
LikeLike
Hi!
When you say High in temperature, what is it then ? I’m from Denmark and we use Celsius… just need your fahrenheit degrees, then I know 😉
LikeLike
Crockpots in North America usually have two settings – low and high. I believe high setting is about 250 Fahrenheit.
LikeLike
Can you use 4 boneless pork chops instead of the loin for this recipe?
LikeLike
I haven’t tried it, but probably.
LikeLike
Could this work with a boneless pork chop?
LikeLike
Easy and excellent. Have made this 4 times times for my hubby and i. Used only half of a full pork tenderloin but the full remaning ingredients. No pork leftovers, but did have potatoes and carrots left over to put with a meat the next day. Wonderful recipe and now my go to for pork tenderloin.
LikeLike
Just a note…….i did not have molasses so substituted honey. It was terrifuc.
LikeLike