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    Home » Recipes » Main Courses

    Oven Roasted Pork Shoulder Recipe

    Published: Aug 16, 2021 · Modified: Feb 22, 2023 by Petra Kupská

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    This is an easy recipe for a Czech-style pork shoulder roast with gravy! Soft inside with a crispy crust it always tastes excellent.

    Roasted pork shoulder, czech vepřová pečeně.
    Table of Contents hide
    ➜ About the Recipe
    ➜ Ingredients
    ➜ Detailed Instructions with Photos
    ➜ Serving
    ➜ Should I Cover Pork Shoulder in the Oven?
    ➜ Useful Tips
    Roasted Pork Shoulder – Czech Vepřová pečeně

    ➜ About the Recipe

    This Bohemian pork roast is a boneless pork shoulder slow-roasted whole in the oven on an onion base. Before roasting, rub the meat with crushed caraway seeds and garlic to give it a delicious flavor.

    Once cooked, just slice the meat and serve with potato dumplings and braised cabbage. Top the dish with gravy made from juices when the roast is coming to the table. 

    ⇢ Learn more about herbs and spices used in Czech cuisine

    TIP: Czechs call this pork shoulder roast 'Vepřová pečeně', and it is one of the most popular meals in the Czech Republic. Here is another iconic recipe made with pork: Vepřo knedlo zelo.

    ➜ Ingredients

    bohemian pork roast ingredients.
    • Pork shoulder; also known as pork butt/Boston butt. A whole piece, boneless, without skin. It is a well-marbled cut that benefits from low and slow cooking in the oven.
    • Onion; roughly chopped or cut into wedges
    • Pork lard; or vegetable oil such as sunflower or canola oil
    • Garlic; fresh, pressed, or mashed
    • Caraway seeds; crushed (learn, how to crush caraway seeds by hand). Don't confuse cumin and caraway seeds; only caraway seeds belong in typical Czech dishes.
    • Salt

    Next, you will need some water to baste the roast.

    ✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.


    Quick Instructions:

    1. Rub the whole pork shoulder with crushed garlic, caraway seeds, and salt.
    2. Grease a roasting pan with lard and cover it with onions cut into wedges.
    3. Place the pork shoulder roast on top of the onions and pour water into the base.
    4. Roast in the oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for the first 30 minutes and 300 °F (150 °C) for the remaining hour and a half.
    5. After roasting, strain the juices from the onions through a sieve.
    6. Serve the roasted pork shoulder with dumplings and cabbage, topped with juices.

    ➜ Detailed Instructions with Photos

    STEP 1: Rinse and dry the pork shoulder roast. If the meat is irregular in shape, tie it with kitchen string – learn how to make it.

    STEP 2: Peel and mash the garlic. Rub the surface of the pork on all sides with garlic, salt, and crushed caraway seeds.

    STEP 3: Peel an onion and cut it into wedges. Grease a roasting pan with lard, and spread the onions on it. Place the seasoned meat on the onion base. Pour about ½ cup (120 ml) of water into the bottom of the roasting pan.

    STEP 4: Roast in a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) – lower and upper heating only – for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 300 °F (150 °C) and cook low and slow for another hour and a half.

    After every half hour or so, baste the meat with the drippings. If there are not enough juices in the roasting pan, add a few tablespoons of water.

    STEP 5: Set the finished roast aside, transfer the roasted juices and onions to a sieve placed over a clean pot, and strain. Press the rest of the onions through the sieve.

    pressing onions throught a sieve.

    STEP 6: Slice the pork shoulder into ½ inch (1,5-2 cm) thick slices and serve.

    sliced pork roast.

    ➜ Serving

    Oven-roasted pork shoulder tastes best with potato dumplings and braised red cabbage. Arrange on a plate and pour over the juices you have prepared from the onion and fat.

    Roasted pork shoulder served with potato dumplings and red cabbage.

    ➜ Should I Cover Pork Shoulder in the Oven?

    No, the pork shoulder is roasted uncovered. This creates the desired crispy crust on the outside while the meat remains tender on the inside.

    Roast a pork shoulder weighing about 3 pounds at 400°F for the first half hour, then reduce the temperature to 300°F and slow cook for another hour and a half.

    ➜ Useful Tips

    • Roast the pork shoulder in the oven with the top and bottom heat on. Do not use the fan-forced function; else, the meat will dry out.
    • Start with a short burst of high-heat roasting first; the meat becomes crispier on the surface. Only then lower the temperature and slowly finish cooking.

    More pork recipes

    • Pork patties – with mustard and onions
    • Slow roasted pork belly – Czech Pečený bůček
    • Beef and pork meatloaf – Czech sekaná
    • Pork chops with gravy

    Tried this recipe?

    Leave a review down in the comments! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Follow me on Facebook and Pinterest. Subscribe to my newsletter. Send me any question about Czech cuisine to my e-mail. I love hearing your feedback!

    Roasted pork shoulder recipe

    Roasted Pork Shoulder – Czech Vepřová pečeně

    This is an easy recipe for a Czech-style pork shoulder roast! Soft inside, with a crispy crust, tastes excellent anytime.
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 2 hours
    Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
    Servings: 6
    Calories: 509kcal
    Author: Petra Kupská
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: Czech
    Keyword: Pork Recipes

    Ingredients

    • 3 lbs (1,4 kg) pork shoulder whole
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 tsp caraway seeds crushed
    • 2 cloves of garlic mashed or pressed
    • 3 onions medium
    • 2 Tbsp pork lard or sunflower / canola oil
    • ½ cup (120 ml) water

    Instructions

    • Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. If the meat is irregular in shape, tie it with kitchen string.
    • Peel and mash the garlic. Rub the surface of the pork on all sides with garlic, salt, and crushed caraway seeds.
    • Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Grease a roasting pan with lard, spread the onions on it. Place the seasoned meat on the onion base. Pour about ½ cup (120 ml) of water into the bottom of the roasting pan.
    • Roast in a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) – lower and upper heating only – for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 300 °F (150 °C) and roast for another hour and a half. After every half hour or so, baste the meat with the drippings. If there are not enough juices in the roasting dish, add a few tablespoons of water.
    • Set the finished roast aside, transfer the roasted juices and onions to a sieve placed over a clean pot, and strain. Press the rest of the onions through the sieve.
    • Slice the pork shoulder into ½ inch (1,5-2 cm) thick slices and serve.

    Notes

    1. SERVING: Oven-roasted pork shoulder tastes best with potato dumplings and red braised cabbage. Arrange on a plate and pour over the juices you have prepared from the onion and fat.
    2. Roast the pork shoulder in the oven with the top and bottom heat on. Do not use the fan-forced function; else, the meat will dry out.
    3. Roast on a higher heat first; the meat becomes crispier on the surface. Only then lower the temperature and slowly finish cooking.

    DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:

    Conversion chart

    Nutritional Estimate pro portion

    Calories: 509kcal
    Do you like the recipe?I would be happy for your feedback! Please, rate the recipe and share your opinion or questions in comments bellow. Thank you very much.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Dashka

      October 13, 2021 at 2:21 pm

      5 stars
      Omg I love your recipes. My husband is Czech and we live in Canada . He often misses Czech food. After my mother-in-law visited us I found your website and making some Czech foods everything turns out perfect. It’s my second recipe I tried so far and I love it . And my husband said this one and the other meal I made tastes as good as his mom made. You are a god send I am going to try all your recipes
      Thank you so much
      Lots of love from Canada

      Dashka

      Reply
      • Petra Kupská

        October 18, 2021 at 3:02 am

        Ahoj Dashka, thank you for your lovely comment! I'm so glad your meals are a hit and that your husband is happy. You know, the recipe is only part of the success, it's who cooks it that's more important 🙂 Many greetings from the Czech Republic, Petra

        Reply
    2. Dashka

      November 30, 2021 at 6:27 pm

      What if my pork shoulder has bones in would it still work? My husband is coming home from work . I wanna greet him with one of his favorite dish. And I just realized I defrosted bone is pork shoulder

      Reply
      • Petra Kupská

        December 01, 2021 at 6:13 am

        I think the pork shoulder with bone will be easy to make with this recipe as well. When portioning the roasted meat, you have to be careful of the bone and either remove it or point it out when serving. Fingers crossed! Petra

        Reply
    3. Anna

      January 11, 2022 at 12:27 pm

      5 stars
      My grandmother and her entire family were from the Czech republic. I made dinner for my daughter and her family last night and this was well received. My goal is to try to make one Czech meal a week and this was a great first choice. I served the roast with the red cabbage and potato dumplings and strawberry dumplings for dessert. Thank you for your website.

      Reply
      • Petra Kupská

        January 13, 2022 at 4:04 am

        Thank you for your nice comment, I am happy to hear you had success with the roast duck! Red cabbage and potato dumplings pair perfectly with roasted duck. Fruit dumplings are also one of the most delicious Czech dishes. I believe your family enjoyed your care! 🙂

        Reply
    4. Carol

      February 09, 2022 at 10:39 am

      5 stars
      I love the flavor of caraway so this recipe caught my eye. It turned out as delicious as I imagined. Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
      • Petra Kupská

        February 09, 2022 at 12:22 pm

        Thank you very much for your kind words, Carol!

        Reply
    5. Lucie Leonard

      February 25, 2023 at 4:43 pm

      5 stars
      My pork is roasting in the oven and smells wonderful. We can’t wait to dig in… I haven’t made this in years.

      Reply

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    Hi there, I’m Petra, a self-taught home cook and a Czech mom of two teen boys with more than 20 years of cooking experience. I am here to share traditional recipes from the Czech Republic, a small country in the very heart of Europe.

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