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Brining is the key to tender and juicy meat every single time. This Apple Juice Pork Brine recipe has become my go-to for so many of my pork recipes, like my air fryer pork tenderloin, as well as these cast iron pork chops. You’ll never cook it without brining it again!
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Pork Brine Recipe
- Ingredient Notes
- Recipe Modifications
- What Is the Liquid to Salt Ratio for a Brine?
- Cooking Tip
- How to Make Pork Brine
- Tips on Keeping Things Sanitary
- Storing Pork Brine
- Useful Tools for Brining
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Delicious Pork Recipes to Try…
- Apple Juice Pork Brine Recipe
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 meats and infuses moisture and flavor into it. Even if you slightly over cook your pork, a the ol’ swine brine gives you some wiggle room to still be able 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!
Why You’ll Love This Pork Brine Recipe
- It’s basically foolproof—I’ve never met anyone who’s brined meat and come back to report that their meat was anything less than juicy and delicious.
- It’s flavorful—Pork and apples go super well together. (Pork slathered with slow cooker applesauce? Yes, please.) So using apple juice as the base of the brine just makes sense. Then you’ve got the aromatics from the garlic, herbs, and citrus to take it to the next level!
- It’s easy—There are a few careful steps you’ll want to follow, but all in all, this is a super easy method worth having up your sleeve. It really does kick your cooking up a notch.
Ingredient Notes
A full ingredient list with exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
- 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 swimmingly, I use apple juice. Apple cider will also work! It’s great in my apple cider brined turkey breast.
- Citrus—Citrus, due to its acidity, is known to help meat become tender and juicy, which is why it’s usually used in marinades. Marinades, unfortunately, don’t penetrate the meat enough for the citrus to help carry flavor into it. But with a brine, it works great.
- Salt—Coarse Kosher salt or fine sea salt are typically used. Kosher salt is often preferred for its clean flavor and minimal processing compared to table salt, and its coarse texture also helps it dissolve easily in liquids. Sea salt is another good option, especially if you like a more natural, unrefined choice.
Recipe Modifications
- Sugar—You can use sugar in your brine to give a hint of sweetness and encourage a nice crust when cooking. Add it with the salt when simmering the brine. I use brown sugar in my turkey brine recipe. To measure the sugar, I usually just use half the amount that I use for the salt. So with 4 tablespoons of salt, I’ll do 2 tablespoons of sugar.
- Other spices—You can play around with seasoning combinations. You can add cloves, mustard seed, dill seed, celery seed, and even fennel seed.
What Is the Liquid to Salt Ratio for a Brine?
A typical brine ratio is 1 cup of salt (Kosher or coarse) to 1 gallon of liquid. This translates to about 4 tablespoons of salt per quart of water. For a more moderate brine, you could use 3 tablespoons of salt per quart of water, and for a stronger brine, like the one we’re making here, you’ll do 4 to 5 tablespoons per quart.
Here’s a simple breakdown:
- Standard Brine: 1 cup salt per gallon of liquid (or 4 tablespoons per quart).
- Moderate Brine: 3 tablespoons salt per quart of liquid.
- Strong Brine: 5-6 tablespoons salt per quart of liquid.
Cooking Tip
When it comes to dissolving the salt in the liquid, you want to start with warmed liquid (not hot). If the water is heated, the solubility increases, allowing you to dissolve more salt. The next important thing (and this is very important) is to have enough liquid in the pot to be able to absorb all of the salt added. Otherwise not all of the salt will dissolve. This gets really science-y, but basically, a higher salt-to-water ratio means the water is unable to accommodate all the salt molecules. This results in some salt remaining undissolved.
To keep it simple, when following this recipe, add all 4 cups of the apple juice to the pot to dissolve the 4 tablespoons of salt. Don’t try to “save time” by simmering 1 cup of apple juice in the pot because you think it will take less time to simmer, dissolve, and cool. The salt won’t dissolve.
How to Make Pork Brine
Pour 4 cups of apple juice into a saucepan and warm it over medium-low heat. You don’t want to get it too hot yet, just warmed.
Once the juice is warm, add the salt to the pan and bring the liquid to a simmer, stirring often, until the salt dissolves.
When the salt has dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool completely. You can speed up this process by adding a bunch of ice cubes.
Transfer the brine to your brining vessel, then carefully transfer the pork to the brine. Add the other ingredients, like your herbs, citrus fruit, peppercorns, etc. and cover. (If it looks like you need more liquid to ensure your pork is fully covered, you could add a bit more juice, or water if you’re out of juice).
Pop the pork brine in the fridge for about one hour per pound of pork.
Once the brining is done, remove the pork from the brine over the sink and carefully rinse the meat to rid it of any excess salt.
Pat the pork dry and proceed with your pork recipe!
Tips on Keeping Things Sanitary
- When transferring your pork to the sink for a rinse, line the sink with plastic wrap or a few plastic grocery bags, making a hole at the drain.
- When done rinsing the pork and pouring the brine down the drain, I like to give my sink and the surrounding area a good spray with this surface cleaner.
Storing Pork Brine
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.
Useful Tools for Brining
Here’s a list of tools you might want handy to make your brining experience a smooth one:
- Your brining vessel will depend on what cut of pork you’re brining. A pork butt or shoulder would require a brining container or a brining bag. Smaller cuts, like tenderloins, loins, or chops, would require something smaller, like a large mixing bowl or gallon freezer bag.
- Sturdy tongs for transferring the meat
- Surface cleaner for sanitizing
Frequently Asked Questions
I go into great detail about this here, but the gist of it is 4 cups (1 quart) of liquid to 4 tablespoons of salt.
Table salt has fine grains, making it more concentrated by volume, which can lead to accidentally over-salting the brine. Additionally, it often contains anti-caking agents that may alter the flavor, making it less suitable for brining. I always opt for coarse Kosher salt.
Delicious Pork Recipes to Try…
If you try this pork brine recipe, please pop back in and leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
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
- 4 TBSP Coarse kosher salt
- 1 garlic bulb, cut in half
- 1 orange, halved and juiced
- 1 lemon, halved and juiced
- 2 TBSP 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
- Pour 4 cups of apple juice into a saucepan and warm it over medium-low heat. You don’t want to get it too hot yet, just warmed.
- Once the juice is warm, add the salt to the pan and bring the liquid to a simmer, stirring often, until the salt dissolves.
- When the salt has dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool completely. You can speed up this process by adding a bunch of ice cubes.
- Transfer the brine to your brining vessel, then carefully transfer the pork to the brine. Add the other ingredients, like your herbs, citrus fruit, peppercorns, etc. and cover. (If it looks like you need more liquid to ensure your pork is fully covered, you could add a bit more juice, or water if you’re out of juice).
- Pop the brine in the fridge for about one hour per pound of pork.
- Once the brining is done, remove the pork from the brine over the sink and carefully rinse the meat to rid it of any excess salt.
- Pat the pork dry and proceed with your pork recipe!
Notes
- Standard Brine: 1 cup salt per gallon of liquid (or 2 tablespoons per quart).
- Moderate Brine: 3 tablespoons salt per quart of liquid.
- Strong Brine: 4-5 tablespoons salt per quart of liquid.
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!