Stuffed Double Pork & Sage Baked Apples
Apples are in season. I would know, I picked them in Pittsburgh. From a tree and everything. Then ate them. And they were delicious. I even posed while picking them. So natural.
Problem is, with apples, all I ever want to do is make apple pie. Which I did in Pittsburgh. PS it was great. When I finish my latest project, I’ll definitely show you what it looks like. You may want to put your mouth on it. Like someone from Pawnee drinking from the water fountain. If you don’t understand that reference, stop reading this and watch Parks & Rec. Favorite episode of all time. But until then, you’ll have to just watch me pick apples. Back to the point though, apples can do so much more than just apple pie. You can bake meat in them! Thrilling, I know. Sweet and savory are just the best.
Speaking of the best, I’m obsessed with The Mindy Project. Mostly because Mindy’s outfits are the best. Ever. Who else can sport plaid and polkadots together? Only her. Each season of her show keeps getting better and better. I need her wardrobe. At least I read her book. That has nothing to do with her outfits but man is that book hilarious.
WTFITSALREADYOCTOBER?? I would have had no idea except I got an email this morning saying I need to pay rent. What a terrible reminder it’s the beginning of the next month. I just have so much to get done in the month of October, it’s going by too fast already!!!! It’s stressing me out. I know how to deal with my stress…gluten free donuts. I’m going to buy one today. Yes, I should be working. But I just know a donut will make me more productive. It’s science. Another reminder it’s October, I just got a $75 ticket for not changing the registration sticker on my license plate. Thanks for the subtle reminder parking police. PS you’re the worst.
PrintDouble Pork & Sage Stuffed Baked Apples
- Yield: 4-5 1x
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon
- 5 apples (I used honey crisp), halved and hollowed out using a melon baller
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- pinch of black pepper
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
- extra ghee for topping apples
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place bacon on a baking sheet and bake bacon in oven for 15 minutes or until crispy then chop into small pieces.
- While bacon is cooking, cut apples in half then use a melon baller to hollow out each apple then set aside.
- Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Add ghee and minced garlic.
- Once garlic becomes fragrant, add onion and ground pork.
- Brown pork and break into small pieces, then add celery, salt, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, red wine vinegar, sage and chopped bacon. Mix well until combined.
- Scoop mixture into each apple half. Top each apple with about 1 teaspoon of ghee on top of the mixture.
- Place in a baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes until apples are tender.
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You May Also Like:
Honey Ginger Apple Shredded Pork
Rosemary Roasted Apples and Sweet Potatoes
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42 thoughts on “Stuffed Double Pork & Sage Baked Apples”
I am all about sweet and savory in the fall so this looks so, so good! Really love cooking with apples. And the picture of you apple picking is stunning!
Also I can relate to knowing when the month is changing based on what bills are due. Fun being a grown up 😉
I got 2 tickets with a week period for not renewing my registration before. You would think the first one would be enough of a kick in the butt, but nope. I’m a rebel and need to pay 2 tickets before I learn my lesson.
I’ve never put sausage and apples together before since I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but since you’ve never steered me wrong with a recipe before, I’m gonna go ahead and take the plunge with this one!
It’s going to be – dare I say it – Christmas before we know it! Pffft, talk about an expensive month. Good thing my kiddos are cute and spoil worthy!
This recipe looks amazing and is the perfect fall combo.
I’ve never seen a city that can hand out tickets as fast as Denver does. It’s like those little stickers have a microchip in them and emits a signal the day it expires and they come find you and ticket you. It’s a real kick in the pants when they ticket you but it turns out you had already registered the car….just failed step 2 of putting the new sticker on.
agree. it’s stupid. i couldn’t even count how many tickets i’ve received in this city
Thank you, Juli! You just solved my WTF-am-I-going-to-make-for-dinner-tonight dilemma!! My family and I picked apples this past weekend. There’s a decent chance my kiddos will be into eating this because it involves the fruit of their labors (pun lamely intended).
These look so good! I also love when my food is also my bowl. (Little apple bowls!)
This recipe sounds amazing! I’m going apple picking this weekend. Can’t wait to make this with part of my haul!
Also, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Parks & Rec. Amazing show! When my boyfriend screws something up, he always sings me Tom’s ‘Boo of your Dreams’. If you haven’t seen that episode yet- prepare to be delighted! If you have seen it, then you’ll completely understand why I can’t remain upset at him!
Keep up the good work. You are a great human!
Girl, that pic of you picking the apple is just GORGEOUS! And of course – I just have to comment on how amazing this recipe sounds – Honey Crisp are my favorite apples and I am getting some TONIGHT. To make this recipe. TONIGHT. Well, I am making a cake for tomorrow, so maybe I won’t have the chance. But I will try my darndest! Yum!
AHHH!!! Julie your sticker ticket story reminded ME that i need to change MINE. i bought it back in June……….its now October…….hmmm, I bet you didnt wait THAT long to put yours on! Stupid parking police.
I’m thinking about going apple picking soon, so I’ve been looking for recipes using all the apples I’m going to get! This one looks awesome!
You nailed it. That Parks & Rec episode was the most epic of all time.
These look inspirational – can’t wait to try. Thanks, diva!
This looks amazing!! I’m all about apple recipes right now, I went apple picking last week too and have been eating/cooking and baking with apples out the wazoo. Love the stuffed apple idea!!
This recipie is absolutely mouth wateringly amazing. I just made it and can’t stop eating it! I added a little bit of the cored out apple into it and I like the flavor! I’m gonna use the left over apple to make cinnamon apples for dessert!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipie, I WILL be making this again in the near future!! Five stars!
Sorry if I mosunderstood this- should the pork be cooked fully before putting it into the apples and baked? Only asking because typically when I bake ground meat in something (tomatoes or peppers usually) I dont cook it at all ahead of time. Just wondering what, if any, difference it makes!
you shouldn’t really see much pink in the meat when stuffing the apples
These were wonderful! I didn’t feel like going to the store so I left out the celery, cayenne and substituted pork italian sausage for the ground pork and apple cider vinegar for the red wine vinegar.
Since I was making it while my girlfriends were over, and wine was involved, I also didn’t follow the directions very well, cooking the pork ahead of time and forgetting to add in the fresh sage. Not to worry, just topped my version of the filling with sage.
We used the scraped out inside of the apple to make a fall compote. Served with a roasted beet, gorgonzola and walnut salad and white beans mixed with a little of the left over pork filling and another glass of red wine. Wonderful, satisfying fall meal where you can totally mix up the recipe and still have something that tastes fantastic! My kind of dish.
★★★★★
This just happened to me, too! Not sure how it is in Colorado, but in Texas, if you get your registration updated and provide proof that you got your registration updated, it’s only $20. And it goes away. Just call the number on the ticket and ask about it.
It’s so cold today in Colorado Springs. I think this apple recipe will make a great warm touch!
I made this for dinner tonight. Delish! I had thyme and rosemary on hand, so I used those herbs instead of sage. Fortunately, the organic honeycrisp apples were unusually large, so they worked perfectly for this recipe. I don’t have a melon baller so I used a paring knife and spoon to carve out the apple. It was hilariously difficult, but well worth it. Two things I would do differently (per my own personal taste): less salt and shorter cook time. My apple was practically apple sauce by the time it came out of the oven. I’d prefer it were more “Al dente.”. Apparently my cheapo oven puts out some heat! I’m looking forward to eating the leftover pork mix over a baked sweet potato for dinner tomorrow. 🙂
I’ve been doing so many seasonal savory/sweet thangs lately soooo this is exactly the recipe I needed. Pork + fruit = amazing.
Just had the apples tonight. They were great!
Good use of fall produce. Kids really liked them. Not sure if it was the baked apple or bacon. Thanks!
★★★★★
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious. I’ve never had savory baked apples and I think this idea is genius! Thanks do much for such a great recipe!
Made this Saturday night and it was great! I like Kiley’s idea of the pork mixture with sweet potato too.
Devoured this! My family fell in love with this recipe. Used the large gala apples, perfect size. Going on the top of my list of recipes. On a side note, my tags expired in May, renewed them but never put the new stickers on. Never received a ticket, apparently police in Phoenix don’t care. If I could share the wealth, I would.
★★★★★
Sooooo good! Had these for dinner tonight with some scrambled eggs. Used bulk breakfast sausage because I didn’t have any ground pork but kept everything else the same. Even my kids and husband who do not share my love for all things Paleo, ate them up! Thanks for your amazing recipes!!
This looks delish! What side dish do you recommend to go with?
Brussels sprouts
I love Honey Crisp apples too. They are definitely GMO though, they never existed before a couple of years ago and the company has a patent of the new gene which is why they are so expensive. So I haven’t been indulging since I went Paleo. Does anyone know if it’s bad to eat them?
I don’t really understand why GMO is so bad.
They aren’t necessarily GMO. Hybrids and GMO are different. We sell them at my work and they are certified organic, which therefore means they are not GMO. Right now they aren’t too expensive, since it is the peak of Apple season. They are cheaper than our fujis right now! You really can’t beat a honey crisp, best flavor and texture!
Dude I have made these three times! Such a great combination of flavors! My roommate and I had gone to a wonderful orchard about two hours away and used our fresh picked apple for this and the apple cider donuts that you made too.. AMAZEBALLS!!!
★★★★★
Made these last night for dinner and they were DELISH! Subbed ACV for red wine vinegar and subbed onion powder for onions (I have a texture thing with onions). Honey crisp apples were definitely the right choice (I HEART them!). These apples even got Hubby approved, and he’s a tough critic. Haven’t cooked too much with sage before and have to say I love the flavor!
★★★★★
I printed this recipe a couple of months ago and I finally made it today. Wish I would’ve made it earlier. So Yummy! My husband raved about it!
★★★★★
This looks amazing. I don’t eat pork, but do you think this would be good with either chicken or turkey? I want to make this tonight!
for sure
Holy crap, I literally never post comments on anything, but this is my absolute favorite recipe I’ve ever made of yours. Soooooo good, though I may have a put a little more bacon than the recipe called for 😛 well done!
yay!! so glad to hear it!
I made these over the weekend and have been taking them to work for lunch. Everyone keeps coming in my office saying that smells so good, yes they are I reply… Thanks for the great recipe
★★★★★
Absolutely divine combination of tastes and textures. Thank you for this lovely fall recipe. Made it for dinner tonight. A friend who wants to learn to cook came over and helped me make them. She went nuts about it when she took her first bite. I used apple cider vinegar instead of the one in the recipe and I used 2 teaspoons of dried sage instead of 2 Tbsp of fresh sage because that’s what I had in the house.
★★★★★
Do you do anything with the apple you scooped out?
I LOVE this recipe. I make it a few times a year, and jealous coworkers are always trying to steal my leftovers in the break room. (I give them the recipe, but I don’t share because it’s too delicious.) The only changes I made were adding garlic at the end of the onion cooking time (because, Italian), and adding in the scooped out apple pieces to the pork mixture before it goes into the apple halves. Delicious! Thank you!
awesome!! so glad you like the recipe! thanks for supporting the blog!