Looking for a way to make juicy and tender roast pork in air fryer? Check this air-fried pork neck stuffed with slices of apples and garlic. The combination of pork, garlic, and apples comes out of this world. It is so good! Give a try to this easy and great midweek dinner.
This recipe is a great meal for a midweek dish when you are limited on time and need to cook something quick and delicious for the entire family.
I seasoned the air fryer roast pork with salt, pepper, garlic, and apple slices.
It comes out amazing, especially in the air fryer because the pork will get a crust fast and the meat juice will remain inside.
You should start at a high temperature to form the crust, then you can lower the temperature and let it cook slowly inside.
🥰 Why Make this Recipe?
- It’s very easy and quick to make this juicy roast pork. Our air fryer will help making this recipe even quicker than usual.
- Honey mustard glaze fits nicely with the sweet pork meat.
- By filling the pork meat with apple slices, you will get a finer and juicier taste and you will make the pork more unique.
- If you can’t find pork neck, you can easily use any other part of the pork meat.
- You can combine it with almost everything.
🏆 Expert Tips
- Use a meat thermomether, even if you’re cooking the same recipe a few times. Every piece of meat is different and it may need a different cooking time.
- If you don’t have a meat thermometer, make a small cut with a knife and check the color of the inner juice. When the pork will be done, the inner juice should be trasparent. If it still contains blood, you should cook the meat for a few extra minutes.
- Pick a piece of meat with uniform thickness over the entire surface. This will help you to get in the end a more even cooking of the meat.
- You can replace apples with pears, pineapples or dried fruits such as apricots and plums.
What Do You Need to Make this Recipe?
🥘 Ingredients and Substitutes
- Pork. I used pork neck. Although this piece of meat contains more fat then other parts of the pork, but you will get a much juicier result. You can also make this recipe in the air fryer with a nice piece of pork loin meat.
Pro Tip: If you will decide to cook pork loin in the air fryer, I suggest picking a piece of meat that contains bones. It will not dry out so quickly and you will get juicier meat in the end.
- Apples. You could replace apples with other fruits you prefer such as pears, oranges, tangerines or even dried fruits such as apricots or prunes.
- Garlic. Although it may seems a bizarre combination, next to meat, garlic goes well with apples.
- Seasonings. I used only salt and pepper. You can also use some aromatic herbs, such as rosemary, sage or thyme. You can use them both fresh and dried. Just do not overdo with aromatic herbs because you will cover the fine taste of the apples.
- Glaze. I used a combination of honey and mustard. It gives the meat a sweet-spicy glaze. You can also try a combination between honey and ketchup or bbq sauce.
Needed Tools
- Air Fryer. I used Cosori Air Fryer 5.8QT.
- Meat thermometer.
- Aluminum Foil.
🍽️ Serving Suggestions
You can combine this perfect roast pork in the air fryer with almost everything. Check below a few great ideas:
Air Fryer Crispy Eggplant Fries
Air Fryer Frozen Green Beans
French Homemade Parmentier Potatoes
One-Pot Homemade Nando’s Spicy Rice
👩🍳 Directions
First of all, we need to bring the pork meat to room temperature. For that, take off the meat from the fridge for about 30 minutes before you will start cooking it.
In the meantime, take a medium apple, wash well and cut it into slices. Do the same with 2-3 cloves of garlic.
After the meat has reached room temperature, take a knife and make small cuts in the meat to fit the apple slices into them. Insert the apple and garlic slices in the cuts you just made.
Now, season the meat with salt, pepper, oil, and additionally with other herbs that you have decided to use.
Set the meat aside.
After we have ready the meat, preheat the air fryer to 400°F (200°C).
When the air fryer is heated, put the meat in the air fryer basket and cook it for 6 minutes at 400°F (200°C) to form a nice crust. This crust will help us later to stop the leakage of the inner juice.
After this 6 minutes, cover the pork meat with aluminum foil to avoid burning the meat on the top.
Return the meat to the air fryer and cook the pork until it reaches 157°F / 69°C inside. This should take you about 25-40 minutes.
In my case, cooking this specific piece of meat into my air fryer, Cosori Air Fryer 5.8QT took 35 minutes.
Quick Note: Cooking time is approximate only, because the cooking time may differ from a lot of factors like the meat size, air fryer size, and the heating method your air fryer is using. Because of that, I highly encourage you to keep a meat thermometer near you and after 30 minutes to check the internal meat temperature and to adjust the timing if is needed.
Even if you have the same air fryer as mine, or even if you will cook this recipe several times, I suggest you using every time a meat thermometer. Each piece of meat is different and for a perfect result, it may require a different cooking time every time.
Pro Tip: If you do not have a meat thermometer at hand, you can check the meat if it is cooked by making a small cut into the meat and analyze the color of the juice that will eliminate. If it is transparent, then the meat is ready. If the blood is still present, the meat needs a few additional minutes. Do not overdo it with this test, because you will drain all the juice from the meat and you risk getting dry meat in the end.
When the meat has reached 157°F / 69°C inside, grease it with honey and mustard glaze, and cook the meat for another 2-3 minutes.
Now the inner temperature should reach 160°F / 72°C. This is the temperature the pork should reach if you want safe well-done pork meat.
Let the meat rest after removing it from the air fryer so that the juices are evenly distributed and will not flow when you will cut the meat.
Pro Tip: As a general rule, it is recommended to let the meat rest for half the time it took to cook. In my case, I left it to rest for 20 minutes.
Take a look at how juicy this roasted pork neck in the air fryer is:
♻️ Make Ahead, Storage and Heating:
You can marinate the meat and fill it with apples the night before. After that, on the next day, take it out of the fridge an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature.
Wait until the dish will cool down and cover the meat with food plastic wrap and you can keep it for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Yes. Wait until it will cool down and put it into an air-tight container. It will last for about 3 months in the freezer.
You can heat the pork roast into the preheated air fryer or use just a microwave.
🤔 Answering Your Questions:
My piece of meat took 45 minutes to reach the required internal temperature, but this time may vary depending on how big the meat will be, which piece of meat you will choose, and the size of the air fryer. That’s why I suggest that after 30 minutes of cooking, check with a thermometer the internal temperature of the meat and adjust it as needed. Pork is safe to eat when the interior temperature reaches 160°F / 72°C.
I don’t recommend cooking the meat directly from the freezer because if the inner temperature of the meat will differ too much from the cooking temperature, the meat will not cook evenly and as a result, you will get dry meat. You will overcook the meat on the exterior and undercook on the interior.
📋 Recipe Card:
Juicy Air Fryer Roast Pork Neck
Equipment
- COSORI Air Fryer 5.8QT
- Meat Thermometer
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb Pork Neck
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- 1 tablespoon Mustard
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 piece Apple Medium
Instructions
- Clean and slice the apple and garlic.1 piece Apple, 2 cloves Garlic
- Make cuts in the meat with a small knife, and insert into cuts the apple and garlic slices.2.5 lb Pork Neck, 1 piece Apple, 2 cloves Garlic
- Season the meat with oil, salt and pepper.1 teaspoon Salt, 1 tablespoon Olive Oil, 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- Preheat the air fryer and cook the meat for 6 minutes at 400°F (200°C) to get a nice crust.
- After the crust has formed, reduce the temperature to 300°F (150°C) and cook the meat until it internal temperature reaches 157°F (69°C). In my case, it took about 35 minutes.
- Take it out from the air fryer, and grease the meat with mustard and honey glaze.1 tablespoon Mustard, 1 tablespoon Honey
- Cook the pork for another 2-3 minutes.
- Let the meat to rest and you can serve it.
Notes
- Use a piece of meat that has a uniform thickness.
- For the best results, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. If you do not have a meat thermometer, check the color of the juice inside. It should be transparent and not contain blood in it.
- Let the meat rest for half of the time it was needed to cook it.
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