Let the slow cooker do the work for you with this healthy honey mustard slow cooker pork loin and rice that’s gluten free, under 10 ingredients and so easy! The whole family will love it!
Mr. FFF pushes me outside of my comfort food box in a really annoying, but also really good kinda way.
Honest moment of life: I am 110% a “chicken girl.”
I don’t know if that’s a real thing, but we’re pretending it is today.
I could eat mango chicken with coconut cauliflower rice or a Moroccan chicken skillet ANY DAY of the week. Heck, sometimes I even eat a plain baked chicken breast dipped in ketchup for dinner.
Don’t judge me. We all have our 5-year-old-can’t-give-it-up-habits.
But, MR. FFF? He is alllll about DA PORK AND BEEFFFF.
If it’s not a paleo grilled beef stir fry or “Pho” slow cooker pulled pork sandwich, he is NOT IN.
Well, he is IN. He’s just not, liiike, SUPER PUMPED UP about it ya know?
This is especially true if I even THINK about making chicken in the slow cooker. I have ZERO clues about why he hates this cooking method in particular, but that hatred? It is VRY VRY REAL.
So, one day, I told him we were going to have this super delicious and nutritious slow cooker full of tender, chewy brown rice and a thick, sweet and tangy honey mustard sauce with EXPLOSIONS of fresh spinach for dinner.
In the slow cooker. With chicken.
He straight up threatened to go out and get sushi for himself because NO WAY JOSE WOULD SLOW COOKER CHICKEN ENTER HIS MOUTH EVER. END OF STORY.
Told you. Real hatred.
Do you guys have husbands with weird food issues that you will never understand too? Please tell me that I am not the only confused wife over here on this side of the screen.
Anyway. Like all good marriages do, we compromised.
Enter: pork loin.
I learned in the Asian Instant Pot pork tenderloin that pork cooks well under pressure and THIS IS NO DIFFERENT.
You know how I said I am a “chicken girl?” just a few short sentences ago? I might just have to take that back because tender, juicy slow cooker pulled pork that has been cooked to fall-apart-shredded perfection swirling around in my mouth with wholesome brown rice, sticky-sweet honey, tangy mustard and the pops of green that make me feel, liiiiike, SUPER HEALTHY?
It’s everything.
Everything I need. Everything you need. Everything that any person who likes stupid-easy, but really, REALLY YUMMAY dinners needs.
Everything that every wife who has a hubs with weird food issues and aversion to slow cooker chicken needs.
Even if yours eats slow cooker chicken though. This slow cooker meal (with only 9 ingredients!) is still going to be your everything.
There’s something magical that happens when you mix ULTRA sweet, syrupy honey with a tangy swirl of Dijon mustard and notes of rich balsamic vinegar, then mix it ALL UP with rice and pork, so that it coats each shred and grain in a delicious hug of yummy food H-E-A-V-E-N. It can only be described as the kind of thing that you do once…and then over and over and over and over.
Straight up. Make leftovers. You’re gonna actually WANT THEM.
You might even find yourself pick-pick-picking at them as you meander by the refrigerator all night long.
Slow cooker chicken?
You’ve been replaced.
We’re “pork people” now.
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 2 Cups Long grain brown rice, uncooked
- 4 tsp Garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tsp Salt
- Generous pinch of pepper
- 10 Cups Fresh spinach, packed
For the pork:
- 3 lbs Boneless pork loin
- 1/4 Cup Dijon mustard
- 4 tsp Dried basil
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Generous pinch of pepper
For the sauce:
- 1/2 Cup Dijon mustard
- 6 Tbsp Honey
- 4 tsp Balsamic vinegar
- Fresh sliced basil, for garnish
Instructions
- In the bottom of a 7 quart crock pot, stir together the broth, rice, garlic salt and pepper.
- Place the pork loin on a cutting board and cut off any really large chunks of fat (don't cut too much off though, or your pork will be dry!) Then, stir together the mustard, basil, salt and pepper in a small bowl, creating a wet rub. Rub half of the mixture on the exposed side of the pork. Place the pork inside the slow cooker, mustard covered side down. Rub the remaining mustard mixture on the top, exposed side of the pork. **
- Cover and cook on low until the rice has absorbed all the water and the pork is tender, about 8-10 hours. NOTES: I've had someone make this in the Instant Pot and cook for 1 hour on high pressure and say it's perfect!
- Once cooked, remove the pork from the slow cooker and transfer to a plate, covering with tinfoil to keep warm.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients (not the fresh basil!) and pour into the slow cooker, mixing around until evenly combined. Add in the spinach and stir. Cover and cook and additional 5 minutes, or until the spinach wilts.
- Once the spinach cooks, shred the pork and stir it into the slow cooker.
- Garnish with sliced fresh basil and DEVOUR.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
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