Pork and Creamy Apple Sauce, a perfect family dish that is suitable for baby-led weaning or can be pureed for traditionally weaned babies.
I have loved this Pork and Creamy Apple Sauce dish since I was a young kid, normally I'm not too keen on creamy sauces but this has always been a firm favourite of mine and now seems to be a winning dish for both Finn and Rory. I love that it is so quick and easy to make and that there is always clean plates when I serve it. It tastes delicious with both rice or potatoes and the sweet, creamy sauce soaks into the chosen starch making this so kid friendly.
I can't believe that it has taken me so long to actually post this recipe considering how often I make it. I think it may be because it isn't the easiest dish to photograph and it is definitely a dish that tastes so much better than it looks!
From six months babies are fine to have meat and it is now actually advised to introduce meat from 6 months due to it being a great source of iron. Even though I weaned my boys differently, (I used purees with Finn and did Baby-led with Rory), I gave both boys meat from 6 months. This pork and creamy apple sauce dish, using Specially Selected Scottish Pork tenderloin, was actually one of the first meals that Rory tried. Although he didn't manage to eat all the pork he did literally chew all the goodness from it and loved it! I have also pureed it and babies love the sweetness from the apple juice.
You May Also Like
Have you tried this recipe? I love receiving your feedback, please rate and leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @healthylittlefoodies
Looking for more healthy kid recipes?Sign up for my free recipe newsletter to get new family friendly recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more kid-friendly inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.
Pork and Creamy Apple Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 500 g Pork tenderlion fillet (cut into 1cm thick medallions)
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 200 g button mushrooms
- 2 large leeks (finely sliced)
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 180 g (¾ cup) fresh apple juice
- 180 g (¾ cup) home made / low salt chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoon cider vinegar
- 75 g spinach (finely chopped)
- 2 tablespoon double cream
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over a medium high heat in a wide based pan. Brown the pork (just colour them, no need to fully cook them.) Remove from the pan.
- Add half the butter to the pan and then add the mushrooms. (I add them whole but you can slice if preferred). Remove the mushrooms once they have absorbed the butter and oil and left your pan dry. (Again, no need to fully cook them)
- Add the remaining oil and butter to the pan and heat, over a medium heat, before adding the leeks. Reduce the heat and let the leeks soften, this takes about 5 mins.
- Meanwhile combine the juice, stock, mustard and vinegar.
- When leeks are soft add the flour and stir continually for 2 mins.
- Begin adding the juice/stock liquid little by little, continually stiring.
- When all liquid has been added reintroduce the pork and mushroom to the pan.
- Cover and simmer for 3-4 mins.
- Add the spinach and cook for a further minute.
- Mix the cream and lemon juice together and stir into the sauce.
- Serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional facts
Ashley
Can't wait to make this! I've been looking for more healthy & family friendly meals to make for our 1yr old. He's also been eating meat since 6 months, but we just get stuck doing the same recipes over and over a lot of times... since you add the cream at the end, I think I'm going to sub in greek yogurt instead
Amy
I hope you and your family enjoyed it Ashley 🙂
Stephanie
I love the ingredients in this recipe but I also found that there was much too much liquid and the sauce was watery. I would add more flour next time and half the amount of liquid.
Amy
Hi Stephanie, yes just add a little more flour and that will thicken it up. We don't particularly like thick sauces so this may be a little runnier for some. My kids love the sauce for their rice/potato or whatever we serve this with.
Phoebe
I would love to try it, but can i substitute the Dijon mustard with something else please?
Amy
Hi Phoebe, you can just skip the mustard 🙂
Viviana Delgado
Thanks for the recipe, not sure why but there was too much liquid in the end. Should I look for a special consistency when I am adding slowly the liquid?
Amy
HI Viviana, did the sauce thicken? Did you add the flour?
Aoife Lyons
Big Hit with my 14 Month Old , i of course chopped the mushrooms and pork into toddler bite-sized pieces ,other than that kept true to the receipe, simple to make and very tasty
Amy
Brilliant! So glad it was a hit! My two used to love this dish too. I haven't made it ages, going to make it again this week - thanks for the reminder!!
Frances
My daughter made this delicious recipe Of pork and creamy apple sauce for our Sunday dinner today. (She uses your site often when preparing meals for my granddaughter and the rest of the family). I enjoyed it so much I asked her to send me the link. I have to say I found the site difficult to use trying to find the recipe in amongst the comments which I appreciated and all the many adverts which I didn't. My daughter said she will print the recipe for me!
Amy
Hi Frances, I am sorry you struggled with reading the recipe due to the adverts. Unfortunately the adverts are needed to support the costs of running this blog, I am glad your daughter printed a copy for you and that you can make and enjoy the recipe.
Christine
I made this for our evening meal this evening and it was a big hit. I let it simmer on a low heat for a while on the hob and it still seemed to do well. Thank you!
Amy
Thanks for the feedback Christine, so glad it was a hit ?