Braised Pork All’Arrabbiata

Braised Pork All’Arrabbiata
Andrew Purcell for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
3½ hours
Rating
4(2,857)
Notes
Read community notes

This spicy pork shoulder’s long-simmered flavor is one you’ll crave all season long. The browned pork shoulder braises with fire-roasted tomatoes, red wine and basil in the oven until it becomes fork-tender and breaks down into a rich ragù. The red-pepper flakes create a gentle heat, while basil adds sweetness. Serve over polenta or toss with tubed pasta, like penne or rigatoni. If serving with pasta, loosen the sauce with a little pasta cooking water to help the sauce coat the pasta.

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings (about 7 cups)
  • 2 to 2½pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of more than ¼-inch fat
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 10garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • teaspoons red-pepper flakes
  • 3(14-ounce) cans fire-roasted crushed or diced tomatoes
  • 1cup red wine
  • 5basil sprigs
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

388 calories; 27 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 24 grams protein; 733 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the pork all over with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.

  2. Step 2

    In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Add the pork shoulder and sear until browned on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes to the oil and stir to combine. Add the tomatoes, red wine and basil. Stir to combine, season with salt and lots of black pepper, then bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

  4. Step 4

    Cover, then transfer to the oven and cook until the pork falls apart when prodded with a fork, 2½ to 3 hours.

  5. Step 5

    Working directly in the pot, use two forks to shred the meat into long bite-size pieces. Stir the pork into the tomato sauce until it’s evenly distributed. Ragù will keep refrigerated for 3 days or frozen up to 3 months.

Ratings

4 out of 5
2,857 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

could i do this in a slow cooker?

For an English cook - does the “fire roast” thing make any difference over plain old tinned tomatoes? Not a term I’ve come across here and not a product available on Amazon UK

How about suggestions for how to do this in an insta-pot?

Do you take the pork out of the pan after browning, and then add the other ingredients together and boil? Once that is done, do you then add the pork roast back into the mix and cook in the oven as directed, then shred? That seems like how it should be, though the directions aren't clear about this...

For slow cookers, just sear the meat in a skillet. Put meat in the slow cooker. Add all ingredients mentioned in Step 3. Turn on the slow cooker. Leave slow cooker alone. Go do something. Turned slow cooker on low? Come back after a bunch of hours. Turned slow cooker on high? Check on it in less hours.

Had this tonight. The chef who prepared it added tomato paste and Mashed anchovies at step no. 3, which turned out to be a delicious enhancement.

Arrabbiata traditionally includes capers in the recipe. Adding three tablespoons to this lovely recipe would give it the proper savory touch.

This recipe is so easy and a total hit! It’s perfect for a chilly day, or for when you want to impress your guests without a ton of heavy lifting.

Here's an easy way to fire-roast tomatoes; I use Roma: Set broiler to HIGH. For small tomatoes, leave whole and place them bottom side up on a sheet pan. Brush tomatoes with olive oil. Broil on HIGH for 10 minutes, then broil on LOW for another 5 minutes. You want/should to see some charred skin. Remove from oven and transfer tomatoes to a bowl or plate. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and carefully pull off the skins with a pair of tongs.

I make pork carnitas with the same cut and size of meat. I cut the pork into two pieces, sautés in insta pot, add everything to insta pot and cook for 35 minutes with 10-minute natural release, then quick release.

While I do have an Instant Pot, this seemed like a recipe that deserved an oven braise, and I am so pleased with the results. This recipe is so easy to prepare. I used bone-in pork shoulder because I wanted the bone for stock and found that it still cooked evenly, according to the directions. The sauce is to die for - it is so good and savory. I served with creamy polenta and shiitake mushrooms. This will certainly be added to my cold weather meal rotation.

Absolutely. I do it all the time. It is less greasy if you make it overnight. Chill it in the a.m. and skim off the solidified fat before you heat it for dinner.

Paulo, fire roasted canned tomatoes have a little char on them and it imparts a slightly smoky/deeper flavor. I like them but you can replace with regular canned if you cannot find them.

this was "pick the bowl up to eat it" good. i served over polenta, but next time would want a bit more pork, or leave as-is & serve over pasta. sauteed a thinly sliced vidalia onion along w the garlic and added some oregano. subbed 1/2 stock & 1/2 red wine vinegar for wine. braised at 300, still done in 3hrs. i let it rest in the sauce for 1hr & shredded on a board to remove the fat. immersion blender'd the sauce before adding the pork back in. pic on IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9xD7SLJZgA/

I’ve made this a few times, but most recently did not have fire-roasted tomatoes, but after reading several comments here, I’m very satisfied with the results: used 1/2 tsp smoked black pepper plus 1/2 tsp regular black pepper, where pepper is called for. Added 2 anchovy filets in at the same time as garlic cloves to introduce more umami, and once regular diced tomatoes were in, added about 1 tsp of smoked paprika. Cooked on 325 for 2.5 hours and came out the best yet.

Delicious. Followed the recipe the first time, and made some modifications based on comments the second time: 1) Threw in halved shallots, capers, and tomato paste along with the garlic. 2) Took finished meat out of the pot to shred / remove fat, immersion blended the sauce, and returned meat to the pot. A few other notes: wanted leftovers so used a 4.5 lb, bone-in shoulder (also, a lot of wine). Trimmed fat and cooked at 325 for 4.5 hrs. Removed bone while shredding. Best braise I’ve ever made!

I didn’t have fire roasted tomatoes, but I had some passata in the pantry, and that worked just fine. Super delicious!

This was a really great dish with wide pasta. We added tomato paste and anchovies as per another person’s note which was a great addition. If you’re familiar with braising and the steps involved, the directions make sense. But if you’re not, removing the meat after searing makes the following step much easier. Also reducing the wine before adding the tomatoes should cook away the alcohol more than trying to reduce it all together. Finally a few glugs of balsamic make a nice finish at the end.

This recipe is to die for- easy and delicious. I did not use fire- roasted but plain diced and interpreted sprigs of basil to mean everything on one stem on one of the packages you get at the grocery store. I could die happy!

I cut my pork into 3 pieces and was able to remove a considerable amount of extra fat before browning. Today there’s little grease on the refrigerated product.

Using fermented Calabrian peppers instead of the flakes adds a very nice touch to this recipe!

a great dish - made this tonight with polenta so austere but perfect

I make this regularly once the weather turns cooler. Only change to recipe is I include onion slices with the garlic and sometimes use dried basil when I don’t have fresh. Served over penne, and I blanch some fresh spinach leaves at the end of the boil. Dollop with a few spoonfuls of ricotta that has a good bit of pecorino grated in and some lemon zest. Working from home, leftovers are used for quick Italian pulled pork sandwiches or pizza. So yum!

I've made this twice. I liked it, but I think the fire-roasting takes away from the taste of the tomatoes. I think it might be better with regular canned tomatoes, or maybe 1 can fire-roasted to 2 cans regular?

Excellent and EASY!! The only process I changed was at the end. I removed the pork to a large bowl, shredded it there and removed the fat. While the pork was out of the sauce, I used an immersion blender on the sauce to munch up the basil, garlic and tomatoes. Not pureed, just blended for a minute or two. Then I put the pork back in to the sauce.

Blend sauce before braising

Not great, but I had to make some subs, which may be some of the reasons. I used a 1.5lb pork loin, and cooked in the instant pot. After 30 minutes was tough as an old boot, so i gave it another 30. It shredded fine then, but the sauce was very bland. I zested in about 1/2 an orange and that really helped. I used capers and smoked paprika as recommended by others.

Added capers and an onion. Delicious.

Add fennel seed

I've made this as written, with a chuck roast, and with a lamb shoulder. Good every time.

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