I love creating recipes, restaurant reviews and travel guides, but to keep this site going I sometimes feature sponsored posts (which are all clearly marked) and I also use cookies and affiliate links (so if I link to a product I love, and you click my link and buy it, I make a bit of money!) In recent posts these are all clearly marked with *. Please note archive posts are still being updated. Additionally, I use Google Analytics to collect some (anonymised!) data about your visit. You can find out more by reading my Privacy Policy.
By hitting okay and proceeding to my site, you are agreeing to your data being used in this way.
We’re starting the new year with some unapologetically brown food by way of this rich, comforting, flavourful recipe for Slow Cooked Pork with Butter Beans and Sherry. The inspiration for it came from a Nigel Slater recipe for Oxtail with Butter Beans and Sherry, which was lovely on first making, but which J decided would work much better (and be much more economical – bizarrely in a world where oxtail used to be considered cheap offal!) with pork.
The end result is a wonderful, make-ahead friendly something for a cold night to serve with mashed potatoes and a bit of briefly boiled savoy cabbage. Seriously, it tastes so good you won’t believe how few ingredients you’ll need!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use butter beans from a tin instead of butter beans from a jar?
Whilst I always think jarred butter beans are richer and creamier so they’re my default, Nigel’s original recipe was written using two tins of drained butter beans (written in an age before good jarred ones were easily obtainable in the supermarket) so feel free to do that instead.
If I’ve made this slow cooked pork with butter beans casserole ahead, what is the best way to heat it through?
I store it in the Le Creuset casserole dish I make it in, and warm it gently through on the hob as butter beans are liable to explode in the microwave..!
Don’t let the pot full of brown put you off, this recipe for Slow Cooked Pork with Butter Beans and Sherry has so much depth of flavour, and is the perfect cold weather comfort food to make ahead!
Ingredients
Scale
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
500g diced pork shoulder
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 white onions
150ml dry sherry
350ml good quality chicken stock
4 fresh thyme sprigs
560g jar Queen butter beans, drained and rinsed
Instructions
Heat the oil in the bottom of a large, lidded casserole dish set over a medium high heat. Season the pork all over and brown in batches, setting the cooked pieces aside.
Reduce the heat to medium low, and pre-heat the oven to 160C. Peel and thickly slice the onions before adding them to the casserole dish with a generous pinch of salt. Cook for 8-10 minutes until soft and starting to get a good amount of colour around the edges.
Return the pork and any resting juices, followed by the sherry. Allow it to bubble away a little while you use the wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
Add the stock, the thyme and a little more salt and pepper before putting on the lid and transferring to the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Fish out the thyme sprigs, and stir in the butter beans before cooking for a further 30 minutes. Check the reduced sauce to see if you’d like to add any more salt and pepper before serving.
Notes
Two tins of drained butter beans can be used in place of the jarred ones.
I'm a food writer, professional recipe developer and cookbook author living in the English Countryside. I love creating easy, accessable recipes filled with vibrant world flavours that are manageable on busy weeknights. Simple and delicious dinners, from my kitchen to yours!
One Pan Pescatarian: 100 Delicious Dinners – Veggie, Vegan, Fish
My second cookbook contains 100 delicious dinner recipes, all of which are either vegetarian, vegan or which celebrate fish and seafood - all cooked in either one pot or one pan.*
Discussion