Our Best Pork Dinner Recipes

This moist pork roast preps quickly, then grills slowly as the herbs and garlic tucked inside work their way throughout the meat, leaving a blast of Italian flavor. Originally published in Midwest Living in 1992, it made our list of all-time best recipes in 2012.

Porketta

There are a lot of ingredients in this spruced-up comfort-food dish, but trust us, it’s worth the effort for a weekend treat. The recipe from Michael Watz of Chicago was a finalist in our Best of the Midwest® recipe contest.

Milk-Braised Pork with Cheesy Grits

This sweet-and-savory recipe features a Circle B Ranch product called Marina's Cranberry Chutney. Buy it at circlebranch.com or just substitute another chutney.

Grilled Pork with Cranberry Chutney

Hominy is the signature ingredient in this traditional, chililike Mexican soup.

Shredded Pork Posole

A $1,000 winner in our annual recipe contest, this colorful sandwich from Lori McLain of Denton, Texas, is a flavor twist on a classic Midwestern tenderloin sandwich.

Sticky Asian Pork Wrap

A simple balsamic reduction dresses up pork tenderloin and frozen pierogi (stuffed Polish noodle dumplings).

Balsamic Pork with Potato Pierogi

The classic fruit and pork combo gets a bold update: Slather the meat with a paste of garlic, mustard, lemon and rosemary, then serve with ruby red cherries. This recipe multiplies easily for entertaining.

Lemon-Rosemary Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce

You can have this comforting winter supper dish on the table in less than an hour, but it's nice enough to serve to company with steamed veggies and mashed potatoes. The recipes comes from Gunflint Lodge in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms and Onions

Although it sounds like it would be burn-your-mouth-hot, the five-spice powder in this fall comfort food is actually a mild blend that commonly consists of star anise, anise seed, cloves, cinnamon and ginger.

Chinese Five-Spice Marinated Pork Satay

Get dinner on the table in 30 minutes with this one-skillet pork and sweet potato recipe.

Garlic Pork and Sweet Potato Hash

Boneless pork shoulder, navy beans, hominy and salsa blend into a zesty slow-cooker dish. Serve with lime wedges, if you like.

Hominy-Pork Stew

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Patrice Hurd of Bemidji, Minnesota, says this moist, sweet and tangy comfort food reminds her of Sunday dinner at her grandmother's in northern Minnesota. Best of all, it's fast.

Skillet Pork and Apple Mini Meat Loaves

Savory sage in the stuffing mix meets cranberries in this easy pork chop recipe.

Cranberry-Stuffed Pork Chops

A surprise ingredient, root beer, adds sweetness to this roast and its dark sauce. Try leftover pork in quesadillas or stir it into ramen noodles.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Root Beer

Garlic, fennel, fresh herbs and white wine infuse this pork roast with flavor. If you like, set aside half the meat to make Thai-Style Pork Salad later in the week. Pimiento Corn Muffins, mashed potatoes and broccoli make perfect sides.

Wine-Marinated Pork Roast 

Pimiento Corn Muffins

Midwest Living Test Kitchen Director Lynn Blanchard prepares her pork roast with garlic and fresh-from-her-garden herbs. Lynn recommends that you not eek at the roast during grilling: Opening the lid slows cooking.

Lynn's Best Herb-and-Garlic Pork

A quick chill in the fridge lets the marinade thicken and adhere to the pork chops. Serve the chops with Sweet Beet Chutney.

Crispy Honey-Mustard Pork Chops

Thyme, oregano and lemon-pepper seasoning flavor this oven-baked stew, which includes potatoes, pork, corn and green beans. Like even more corn? We love corn muffins with this dish.

Pork and Veggie Oven Stew

Maple syrup sweetens this easy meal in a skillet. Fresh fruit or a tossed salad completes the meal.

Sweet Potato and Pork Skillet

Slow-cooked pork shoulder roast turns to a tender shredded meat filling for flour tortillas.

Cuban Pork Wraps

This stuffing, which includes sausage, dried Michigan fruit and wild rice, forms a spiral when rolled up into a top loin roast. The recipe comes from New York Restaurant in Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Pork with Cherry and Wild Rice Stuffing

You'll need two hands and a hearty appetite to tackle this king-size sandwich of battered and fried pork tenderloin. It's our version of the deli tenderloin sandwiches popular in pork-producing states such as Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

Bun-Buster Tenderloin

Maple syrup and pears blend for a tasty accompaniment to skillet-cooked chops. This cut of meat cooks quickly.

Pork Chops with Pear-Maple Sauce

Grilled pork bathed in cider-molasses marinade cooks to a gorgeous caramel color.

Sweet on a Pig

Rum, raisins and sweet pork tenderloin provide the centerpiece of this Caribbean-inspired dish from the Deadwood Social Club in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Roasted Pork with Jamaican Snapdragons

The Bavarian Inn in Hermann, Missouri, prepares this Old World pork cutlet classic with style. For schwein schnitzel, add the sour cream sauce (included with recipe).

Classic Schnitzel

Saute thin-sliced pork tenderloin, then serve it with tomato-rich Marsala sauce, generously flecked with garlic. The recipe comes from Ohio's Shawnee State Park Resort near the town of Friendship.

Pork Marsala

Marinated pork tenderloin makes a perfect company-special grilled meat. It's lean, cooks fast and tastes great.

Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Roll a filling of bacon, chopped spinach and Parmesan cheese in pork loin roast to create this main dish, from Turkey Run Inn in Terre Haute, Indiana. When checking the temp of this roast, move the thermometer around so it's resting in meat, not filling.

Rolled Spinach Pork Loin

This slow cooker meal features tender pork shoulder and sausage seasoned with tarragon and fennel, plus a generous helping of fluffy mashed sweet potatoes.

Pork and Apricots with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

For this easy entree, just brush thick pork chops with a flavorful marinade of herb and olive oil, and then roast until done. Serve with cheesy Glad Tidings Potatoes. Both recipes come from the Latchstring Restaurant overlooking South Dakota's Spearfish Canyon.

Thyme Pork Chops

Glad Tidings Potatoes

For more German flavor, heat a can of Bavarian-style sauerkraut to serve with the seasoned slow cooker pork and tangy sour cream gravy.

Bavarian Pork Roast

The recipe for this savory blueberry-and-onion sauce comes from the Blueberry Festival in Marshall, Indiana.

Blueberry Pork

Season pork tenderloin with a rub of ground chili and mustard seed. The Brazilian-style roasted meat is served over seasoned beans and spinach.

Pork Lombo

This five-ingredient dinner, flavored by ground pork or beef and pineapple salsa, goes together in just 20 minutes.

Pineapple Pork Chili

This easy, six-ingredient recipe features pork chops slow-cooked in the oven and topped with a sweet-tangy red sauce.

Bigger and Better Saucy Pork Chops

This hot sandwich recipe was created for a party but would do just as well at a family dinner. The curry-tomato chutney, cooked separately, adds spunk to the pork. It also would complement beef, lamb, sausage, chicken or turkey.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Tangy Chutney

Root vegetables, apples and tomatoes simmer with melt-in-your-mouth pork sirloin for a robust stew.

Hearty Pork-and-Ale Stew

Chopped apples sweeten the mustard-bourbon sauce for these pork top loin chops that slow-cook over applewood in a smoker. Serve with bread or cornbread stuffing.

Grilled Applewood Smoked Pork Chops

Wayne Santi of LaGrange, Illinois, cooks gourmet food on the go for cyclists on RAGBRAI, the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. He's made these two recipes for the ride. "The lemon-oregano flavor with the meat's juices cannot be beat," Wayne says. Vegetables and seasonings give the rice side dish a boost of flavor.

Lemony-Soy Herbed Pork Tenderloins with Rice Pilaf

Choose lean pork tenderloin for this recipe, perfect for an after-work dinner party. We like it with the Brussels sprouts recipe also pictured on the plate.

Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Red Currant Sauce

Enjoy more of our favorite recipes in any of our free printable cookbooks.

Top 10 Slow-Cooker Recipes Cookbook

10 Favorite Casseroles Cookbook

Best of the Midwest Recipe Contest Winners Cookbook

7 Fresh Chicken Recipes Cookbook

21 Sweet Corn Recipes Cookbook

14 Fall Harvest Recipes Cookbook