Transform a simple pork loin into a shredded pork masterpiece with a simple homemade rub, pineapple, onion, and soy sauce. Easy ingredients and your slow cooker make this Hawaiian Pork Loin a new dinner favorite, any night of the week!
What You’ll Need
This Hawaiian pork loin roast recipe uses simple ingredients that are shelf stable, with the exception of the pork and onion, so it is easy to throw together. A full list of ingredients with measurements for this recipe is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Pork Loin– Pork loin is a cut of meat from the back of a pig, located just below the shoulder and above the tenderloin. It’s a lean and tender cut that’s commonly used for roasts, chops, and other pork dishes.
- Low-sodium soy sauce
- Pineapple chunks in 10% juice
- Sweet onion
- Ground ginger
- Paprika
- Onion powder
- Coarse Kosher salt
- Dash of oil
- Cornstarch
Pork Loin vs Pork Tenderloin
If there’s one thing to remember it’s to make sure you’re picking up the right cut. Pork loin is not to be confused with pork tenderloin!
- Pork Loin – A lean, large, wide cut of meat that is broken down into many different cuts, like chops and roasts. You want a boneless pork loin roast for this recipe. It may be sold as a top loin or center loin roast and it benefits from low, long cooks. It also has a nice layer of fat, which helps keep it juicy and adds flavor.
- Pork Tenderloin – Similarly named but NOT a similar cut in any other way. Tenderloin is a thin, narrow cut that averages about 1 pound and is considered one of the most tender cuts of pork available. It’s best cooked quickly at high heat, and cannot be substituted in this recipe. It is also a lean cut of meat.
5S Philosophy 👩🏻
- Salt – Make sure you are familiar with your soy sauce and the levels of salt it has. Different brands are saltier than others. If yours is particularly salty or you do not like salty foods, then omit the additional 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- Seasonings – If you like a peppery sauce, add a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Alternatively, you can also add cayenne pepper or some fresh herbs for more flavor.
- Sauces – For a sweeter, sticky sauce, add 2-3 tablespoons of light brown sugar or dark brown sugar.
- Swaps – Changing the type of onion used will change the flavor profile of the sauce. A sweet onion gives sweeter results while a yellow or red onion will be more oniony.
- Senses – Slow cooker Hawaiian pork loin is tender and juicy, filling the air with a sweet, tropical aroma of pineapple and garlic. Each bite melts in your mouth, bursting with savory-sweet flavor and a hint of tangy glaze.
Perfect Pairings
This slow cooker pork loin is easiest served over a bed of white rice, but you can also use toasted couscous or ranch rice. It is also great over mashed potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes.
It also make an amazing pulled pork sandwich.
As a side, consider serving with vegetables like marinated green beans, roasted rainbow carrots, or whole roasted cauliflower.
Shredded meat can be used in tacos or even quesadillas and nachos! Leftovers can be served on top of a fun leafy green salad too.
Hawaiian Slow Cook Pork Loin
Ingredients
- 3-4 pound boneless pork loin
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 20 ounces canned pineapple chunks in 100% juice
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce*
- 1/2 large sweet onion , diced (about ⅔ cup)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Combine the salt, paprika, onion powder, and ginger in a bowl.
- Pat your pork loin dry with paper towels then rub in the spice mixture.
- Sear the pork in the hot pan until browned on each side, beginning the the fat side down. 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
- Meanwhile, dice your onion. Then combine the soy sauce with the juice from the can of pineapple chunks, you should get about ¾ cups of juice from the can.
- Place half the pineapple chunks on the bottom of your slow cooker then place your seared pork loin on top of them with the fat side up.
- Add in the remaining pineapple, diced onion, and pour the soy sauce/pineapple juice mixture over the top.
- Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. The pork should shred easily with a fork.
- Strain the liquid from the slow cooker through a sieve into a medium saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a simmer. Reserve some pineapple chunks from the slow cooker for serving.
- Whisk the cornstarch with 1 ½ tbs cold water to make a slurry then slowly whisk it into the simmering sauce. Continue to stir gently until thickened.
- Serve the pork with the sauce and reserved pineapple chunks.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Storage and Freezing
Pork Loin Roast Slow Cooker FAQs
Technically yes. Your pork loin will cook fine without searing it first. However searing the spice rubbed pork first wakes up the aromatic nature of the spices (big flavor), and creates a crust.
That crust creates a beautiful texture when you shred the pork, a lovely combination of crunchy browned edges and tender shredded meat.
Absolutely! This recipe will work with either pork butt (pork shoulder) or boneless pork country ribs.
More Easy Pork Recipes
Pork is one of our favorite things to cook for dinner. Here are some of our favorite pork recipes.
It was really good! We ate it the first time with yellow rice and the day after on tostada shells with refried beans, cheese, lettuce and salsa. I’ll make again!
Thank you for coming back to let us know!
Due to the searing and thickening steps, I opted to use my multi-cooker so that I didn’t have to dirty several extra pans.
My pork loin roast was just under 3lbs so, after reading the reviews I decided to cut the cooking time in half. I temped it after 2.5hours on low and it was already in the 180s. I definitely would make sure you check your roast no later than 2.5-3 hours in (depending on size) to make sure it isn’t overdone.
The sauce was reminiscent of teriyaki and when I tasted it after preparing as directed I felt it needed a touch more sweetness so I added a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 heaping forkfuls of minced garlic just because I love garlic. I also chose to slice my pork thinly instead of shredding it to ensure it was more tender. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Unfortunately my “slow” cooker is not very slow. My roast was overdone at 3 hours. But we still enjoyed it! I didn’t strain the sauce and used more cornstarch for a thicker consistency. We didn’t find it to be too salty as other reviewers did, and the sauce was plentiful. I served this over rice. The leftovers were great, too.
I’m sorry to hear that, Laurel. I would usually double check that you used a pork loin and not pork tenderloin, but seeing you are a chef, that probably isn’t the case. Love your take on straining the sauce.
Can I use a 2 pack boneless pork loin? If yes cook time and temp please for oven. This looks so good!!
Hi Julie- I haven’t made this in the oven before, but if you are using 2 boneless pork chops, I would go 350°F for about 25-30 minutes. Check the temperature to 145°F.
Have not got a camera but I can assure you your pork with the pineapple turned out really nice I used full amount of all what was in the recipe turned out very tasty will be trying more of your recipes keep them coming Roy…
Thank so much for coming over to tell us this, Roy! We hope you enjoy it time and time again- with or without a camera. 🙂
This has been our family’s go-to for a couple years now. It’s absolutely incredible every time! I recommend adding some jalapeños and sweet thai chili sauce for a little extra kick!
Yay! Thanks for coming back to let us know!
I’m excited to try this recipe. I absolutely love Hawaiian pork. If this is as good as it smells, you just made my family extremely happy.
Woohoo! Let us know how it goes!
I drizzled my pork loin with honey when I put it in the crock pot. Delicious!
That sounds fantastic! Thanks for letting us know.
Should I cook for less time if I’m using boneless country ribs? I couldn’t find a pork loin, only tenderloins, and I’d love to still make this recipe. Thanks!
Yes! I’d reduce about half, I think? Depends on how much they weigh- if you give me the weight, I can give you a better estimate.
Jessica this recipe is a keeper. I made it for dinner tonight and it was a big hit. I made it in the oven
instead of the crockpot. I doubled the sauce because we ate it over mashed potatoes.
Awesome! We love to hear that and thank YOU for coming back to let us know.
Can you tell me what oven temp. you used and how long did you bake it? Thank you.
Hi Shelley, I would start at preheat the oven at 400°F and then reduce the temp to 350 when you put it in- cook for 1 hour (for a 3lb roast). Check the internal temp for 145°F and then let it rest. If it is larger, it will need longer, just use the thermometer!