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Brining is the secret to tender, juicy meat every single time. This apple juice pork brine has become my go-to for so many of my pork recipes, including my air fryer pork tenderloin and these cast iron pork chops. Once you brine, there’s no going back.
Kiss the idea of tough, dried-out pork goodbye, because this pork brine recipe guarantees an amazing result without fail. The reason my turkey brine recipe has become so popular, and why I encourage people to learn how to brine chicken breasts, is because brine does what a marinade doesn’t: it penetrates the meat and infuses moisture and flavor into it. Even if you slightly overcook your pork, a good brine gives you wiggle room to plate a succulent piece of meat. It’s such a great culinary flex, and I’m excited that you’re here to learn about it.
Table of Contents
Why Skip Marinating and Brine Instead
Brining beats marinating for one simple reason: salt actually penetrates deep into the muscle to lock in moisture, while a marinade mostly just sits on the surface.
Why Brining Works Better
- Deep penetration: Salt molecules are small enough to travel all the way to the center, seasoning and tenderizing as they go.
- Moisture retention: Brining restructures the meat’s proteins, so they hold onto water during cooking, keeping things from drying out.
- Overcooking insurance: The extra water and salt give you some margin for error. The meat stays forgiving even if it’s on the heat a touch too long.
The Limits of Marinades
- Surface only: The flavor and acid molecules in a marinade are too large to move past the outer fraction of an inch.
- Texture damage: Acidic ingredients like citrus or vinegar can break down that surface layer too much if left on too long, turning it mushy.
Marinating isn’t something to write off entirely, though. It genuinely benefits some situations, like these air fryer chicken cutlets, marinated flank steak, cast iron pork chops, shrimp, and fish fillets, precisely because it only penetrates a fraction of an inch. On a thin cut, that shallow layer makes up a much bigger share of each bite, so the flavor payoff is far more noticeable than it would be on something thicker, like a tenderloin or fat chicken breast.
Ingredients at a Glance
A quick look at some of the essentials before we dive into the recipe:
- Apple juice: a generic brine solution is water and salt. But because you can technically use any liquid, and because pork and apples go together so well, I use apple juice. Apple cider will also work, as we’ve seen in my apple cider brined turkey breast recipe.
- Citrus: thanks to its acidity, it helps the meat become tender and juicy.
- Coarse Kosher salt: Morton’s is my go-to, and easy to find here in the US. Skip table salt. It’s iodized, and it’ll give your turkey an off, almost metallic taste.
Useful Equipment
- A brining container: for cuts like chops and tenderloin, a gallon freezer bag will often do the trick, or you could use a large mixing bowl. For a pork loin or roast, you might want to consider a large stock pot or a brining bag.
- Hand protection: food-safe gloves are worth keeping on hand for working with raw meat.
- Disinfectant: Give your sink and surrounding area a thorough clean once you’re done—this surface cleaner is what I use.
- Meat thermometer: Roast the pork until a meat thermometer reads 135-140°F in the thickest part of the meat.
Pork Brine Formula
Salt to Liquid Ratio
- For Chops & Tenderloins using 1/4 gallon (4 cups) of liquid, use 2.5 tablespoons of Morton Kosher salt.
- For large, thick roasts and pork loins using 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of liquid, use 1/3 cup of Morton Kosher salt.
Brining Times for Pork Cuts
Brining time should scale with the thickness of the cut—enough to keep it juicy without tipping into over-salted territory.
- Pork Chops (under 1 inch thick): 30 minutes to 1 hour. Thin cuts absorb salt fast and can turn mushy or overly salty if left longer.
- Pork Chops (1 to 1.5 inches thick): 2 to 4 hours. The extra thickness means the salt needs more time to reach the center.
- Pork Tenderloin: 1 to 4 hours. Lean and thin, so it takes on salt quickly.
- Pork Loin or Roast: 4 to 12 hours. Larger cuts need more time for the brine to reach the middle — just don’t leave them in longer than 24 hours.
Step-by-Step: How to Make Pork Brine
Step 1: Make the Brine Base
Pour 4 cups of apple juice into a saucepan and warm it over medium-low heat. Don’t let it come to a simmer. Once the juice is warm, add the salt to the pan. Now you can bring the liquid to a simmer, stirring often, until the salt dissolves.
When the salt has completely dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool completely. You can speed up this process by adding a handful of ice cubes.
Step 2: Brine the Pork
Pour the brine into your brining vessel (see below for best options), then carefully transfer the pork to the brine. Squeeze the oranges and lemons into the brine, adding the remainder of the fruit to the brine when done. Then add the fresh herbs, peppercorns, and whatever else you might be using. Cover or seal the pork and brine, and transfer it to the fridge for the appropriate amount of time (see brining times).
Step 3: Rinse Before Cooking
When your brine time is up and you’re ready to cook your pork, carefully remove it from the brine over the sink and rinse the meat to wash off excess salt. Gently pat the pork dry and proceed with your recipe.
Tips From My Kitchen
I make mistakes so that you don’t have to! Here’s what I’ve learned while testing this recipe…
- Choose food-grade plastic, glass, or stainless steel for your brining container: acid and salt react with aluminum, copper, and cast iron, giving the meat a metallic taste.
- If you only have fine salt: it packs more tightly into a measuring cup than coarse kosher salt, so use just ¾ cup to avoid more sodium than the recipe intends.
- Rinse the turkey after brining: this clears off surface salt, sugar, or loose herbs and peppercorns that could burn or leave the skin too salty.
Pork Recipes You Can Brine
Make Ahead & Storage Tips
If you’re preparing brine ahead of time, an unused mixture of just salt and water can be refrigerated indefinitely. When brine includes ingredients like apple juice or cider, herbs, garlic, or citrus, it will keep for up to two weeks. However, once brine has been used to soak pork, it should be discarded and not reused.
Apple Juice Pork Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb pork tenderloin, I'm using pork tenderloin in this recipe as my example. Please review the notes for the amount of liquid for other cuts of pork.
- 4 cups Apple juice
- 2.5 tablespoons Coarse kosher salt
- 1 garlic bulb, cut in half
- 1 orange, halved and juiced
- 1 lemon, halved and juiced
- 2 tablespoon peppercorns
- 1-2 Bay leaves
- 1 handful of fresh herbs, I like using the poultry blend or roasting blend that is prepackaged from the grocery store because it has my preferred herbs, like rosemary, thyme, and sage.
Instructions
- Make the brine base: pour 4 cups of apple juice into a saucepan and warm it over medium-low heat. Don’t let it simmer. Once the juice is warm, add the salt to the pan. Now you can bring the liquid to a simmer, stirring often, until the salt dissolves. When the salt has completely dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool completely. You can speed up this process by adding a handful of ice cubes.
- Brine the pork: pour the brine into your brining vessel, then carefully transfer the pork to the brine. Squeeze the oranges and lemons into the brine, adding the remaining fruit when done. Then add the fresh herbs, peppercorns, and whatever else you might be using. Cover or seal the pork and brine, then transfer to the fridge for the appropriate amount of time (see brining times in the recipe card notes).
- Rinse before cooking: when your brine time is up and you’re ready to cook your pork, carefully remove it from the brine over the sink and rinse the meat to wash off excess salt. Gently pat the pork dry and proceed with your recipe.
Notes
- Pork Chops (under 1 inch thick): 30 minutes to 1 hour. Thin cuts absorb salt quickly and can turn mushy or overly salty if left too long.
- Pork Chops (1 to 1.5 inches thick): 2 to 4 hours. The extra thickness means the salt needs more time to reach the center.
- Pork Tenderloin: 1 to 4 hours. Lean and thin, so it takes on salt quickly.
- Pork Loin or Roast: 4 to 12 hours. Larger cuts need more time for the brine to reach the middle — just don’t leave them in longer than 24 hours.
For overall convenience I use Zip-Loc bag for my brining. It’s especially productive when a long time vrine is needed. All you have to do is shake and squeeze it occasionally. No tools and clean hands.
Yes, if the meat can fit into a large ziplock with the brine, you’re golden.
I’m a bit confused about the salt amount.
Standard brine is one cup salt per gallon of liquid (2 Tablespoons per quart). So is standard brine 1/2 to 1-cup, since 2-Tablespoons is 1/8 cup and 4-quarts to a gallon?
Strong brine 4-5 Tablespoons salt per quart of liquid.
Is 4 tablespoons per quart, which would be one cup salt per gallon of liquid, a standard or strong brine?
Thanks for the help. The ingredients sound good.
Hi Jan! I’m so glad you caught that. 1 cup per gallon = 4 tablespoons per quart, not 2. I’ve edited that paragraph with the proper math. Let me know what you think! Happy brining :)
This took my pork chops to a whole new level. Tender, juicy, flavorful. What an easy way to guarantee a delicious cut of meat, no matter how ya cook it! Thank you.
This brine is so flavourful.. this is the first time I used a brine recipe and the way my pork turned out did not disappoint. It was so moist. I will certainly make this brine again using chicken and Turkey.. ❤️❤️
This pork loin brine took it to another level Dana. It was sooo moist. MOLTO BENE BELLA ❤️👍🍁
I’m so so happy to hear this, Peggy! Thanks so much for popping in with feedback!
You’re not joking. To think of all the times I let my pork tenderloin marinate when I could have been brining and getting juicy flavorful meat. Thanks for this great recipe. Very easy to follow and the result was perfect!