This Pork Shoulder Roast slices up into the most tender pieces of melt-in-your-mouth pork covered in a rich pork gravy and served up with tender veggies that cook right alongside the pork. This will be an amazing weekend dinner or Sunday Family Dinner that you will come to make again and again.
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Pork Roast
A pork roast is actually part of the whole bone-in pork butt or shoulder, also known as a Boston Butt. It is cut down and deboned into a roast. It comes from the upper part of the shoulder, from the front leg.
When you are looking for it in the grocery store it will be called a Boneless Pork Butt Roast or Boneless Shoulder Pork Butt Roast and it will generally be between 2-4 lbs. They usually come tied in a netting, as you can see in the photo above.
A pork shoulder butt roast in packaging.
A pork roast with the netting removed.
I like to remove the netting and tie it for cooking (see the video below for a tutorial on tying your pork roast).
You don’t want a pork loin or pork tenderloin (although if that is what you already have there are two recipes linked there for you!).
You also want to make sure you are buying a boneless pork shoulder. A bone in pork shoulder or pork butt is better suited to make pulled pork.
Instant Pot Lovers
If you love your Instant Pot, there is a very similar recipe to this Pork Shoulder Roast on Mom’s Dinner, but made in your Instant Pot! Check it out below:
Tying A Pork Shoulder Roast
You will want to remove the netting from the roast if it came tied up already. The netting that comes on the roast is too thick and doesn’t allow enough surface area to be exposed to seasoning or browning.
Using some good kitchen twine you will tie the roast up so that it will hold its shape during roasting.
Tying a Pork Shoulder Roast
Tie the twine around the end of the pork, pull the string forward and hold it with your finger, bring the loose end around the pork and up through the string you are holding with your finger. Pull the string tight and then bring it down another inch and repeat. Once you are to the end, bring the loose string around and tie it off.
There is a video in the post showing how this is done.
Ingredients
Pork Shoulder: We talked about this in the Pork Roast Section above, but you want to make sure you get a boneless pork shoulder roast or pork butt roast. What you do not want is a pork tenderloin or pork loin.
Dijon Mustard: This will be used to adhere the seasonings to the pork. It works perfectly and adds a nice layer of flavor too!
Italian Dressing Dry Packet: We always use the Good Seasonings Zesty Italian packets! We have tried other brands and they just don’t hold up in flavor to the Good Seasonings brand. This is an easy way to get a ton of flavor on the outside of the pork shoulder roast, not to mention in the gravy.
Chicken Broth: This helps braise the pork shoulder so it comes out impossibly tender and juicy. It also is the liquid base for your gravy at the end of cooking.
Onion and Garlic: Flavors the gravy and roast while braising. These are not necessarily for serving, more just for flavor.
Rosemary and Thyme: Flavors the gravy and roast while braising. These are not necessarily for serving, more just for flavor.
Carrots, Celery, Mushroom: These veggies are perfect to serve along side the sliced pork shoulder roast. You only cook them in the last half of the cooking time so they don’t over-cook.
Gravy
Make sure you taste the gravy before serving. Below are a few troubleshooting ideas for flavor and texture.
Too thin? add another round of cornstarch slurry, but just do 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water.
Too thick? add a little chicken broth, water or even milk or half and half to thin it out.
Too Salty? add some water to the mix. You may need to rethicken it with another round of cornstarch slurry.
Too Bland? (I doubt this will happen… but) add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce, maybe even a glug of red wine, add some whole sprigs of rosemary and thyme and maybe a couple dashes of poultry seasoning, black pepper and kosher salt. Let it simmer over low heat, then remove the herb sprigs and taste again.
Lumps? Since you are using a cornstarch slurry it is unlikely that you will have lumps. But if you do, whisk the daylights out of your gravy. If that doesn’t work then you can pulse it in the blender or use an immersion blender.
Serving
A roasted pork shoulder is a traditional dinner that takes time to make, just like a lasagna or pot roast. So you want to serve it family style with some yummy side dishes.
- Mashed Potatoes or Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Green Beans or Asparagus
- Rolls and Butter
- Broccoli Bacon Salad
- Cucumber Onion Salad
Recipe Tips for the Best Pork Shoulder Roast
Make sure you remove the netting from the roast and re-tie it so that there is more surface area exposed for flavor and browning.
Add the veggies (carrots, celery and mushrooms) for the last 1.5 hours of roasting so they don’t get overcooked.
After roasting let the pork shoulder roast rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
Remove the twine before slicing!
Use a really sharp knife to slice, and use a back and forth sawing motion to cut slices. This helps ensure the slices stay together.
Taste the gravy before serving, adjust as needed. see gravy flavor troubleshooting
More Amazing Pork Dinner Recipes
Pork Shoulder Roast Recipe
Equipment
- Dutch Oven (or roasting pan with a lid)
Ingredients
Pork Roast
- 3-4 lb Boneless Pork Shoulder Roast
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- .7 oz packet Italian dressing seasoning and mix
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- 1 yellow onion - cut into ⅛ths
- 5 garlic cloves - crushed
- 2 small rosemary sprig
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Vegetables
- 3-4 carrots - cut into large chunks
- 5 cremini mushrooms whole
- 3 celery ribs - (individual stalks) cut into large chunks-
Gravy
- 2 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon water
- reserved liquid from the bottom of the pan strained of solids - (2 cups)
Instructions
- If you have time to remove your roast from the fridge and let sit at room temp for about 30 minutes, do so. This is called tempering and will help your roast to cook more evenly to the middle.
- Preheat your oven to 350℉
Prep The Pork Shoulder
- If your pork shoulder roast came tied up in netting, cut that off and discard. Don't be worried if it seems to "fall apart" when you take the netting off. When they de-bone the pork shoulder it can seem like it is in multiple pieces.Pro Tip: We take off that netting and re-tie the roast with less string. The netting that comes on the roast doesn't let enough of the surface be exposed to browning or seasonings.3-4 lb Boneless Pork Shoulder Roast
- Pat the pork roast dry with paper towels. Then using kitchen twine tie the roast so that it stays in a nice round "roast" shape.Tie the twine around the end of the pork, pull the string forward and hold it with your finger, bring the loose end around the pork and up through the string you are holding with your finger. Pull the string tight and then bring it down another inch and repeat. Once you are to the end, bring the loose string around and tie it off.There is a video in the post showing how this is done.
- Brush the Dijon mustard on all sides of the pork shoulder. Sprinkle on the Italian Seasonings packet on all sides.1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, .7 oz packet Italian dressing seasoning and mix
- Place a large Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the oil. Once it is hot add the pork roast and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the browned pork roast to a plate.2 tablespoon olive oil
- In the now empty pot add the chicken broth, scrape up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. This is called deglazing and is adding flavor to the braising liquid! Now add the onions, garlic, thyme, rosemary and Worcestershire.2 cups chicken broth or stock, 1 yellow onion, 5 garlic cloves, 2 small rosemary sprig, 4 sprigs of thyme, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Place the pork on top of the onions.
Braising – Baking – Veggies
- Pop the lid on the Dutch Oven and transfer to the 350℉ oven. Bake for 1.5 hours.
- Remove the Dutch Oven from the oven and nestle the carrots, celery and mushrooms around the pork shoulder roast.3-4 carrots , 5 cremini mushrooms whole, 3 celery ribs
- Place the lid on and put back in the oven for another 1.5 hours.
Gravy
- Remove the pork roast and veggies that you plan to eat (carrots, celery, mushrooms) from the Dutch Oven. Let the pork roast rest for about 10-15 minutes before slicing
- Place a mesh sieve over a bowl and strain the solids from the liquid in the bottom of the pot. You should have around 2+ cups of liquid. If you are short on liquid add some chicken broth or red wine so that you have 2 cups.Discard the solids and return the liquid to the Dutch Oven.
- Place the Dutch Oven over medium heat.
- Mix the corn starch and water into a slurry. Once the reserved liquid simmers, pour in the slurry and whisk. The gravy should thicken pretty quickly.2 tablespoon Cornstarch, 2 tablespoon water
Serving
- Cut the string from the roasted pork shoulder and carefully cut it into ½ inch thick slices. If the roast is made with many pieces or is super tender it may fall into pieces a little bit, that is ok, it is still going to be super delicious!
- Serve 2 slices or pieces per person with some veggies and gravy. This Pork Roast is also excellent with mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls with butter.
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