Garlic Pork Loin
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HI! i made this wonderful dish and it worked really well. thank you. -Kylee
Pork loin is a great main course that you can serve at the holidays or weekend family dinner. It’s a great alternative to chicken and it is still a lean and light meat.
When you season it well, especially when you infuse garlic into the meat, it will be flavorful and aromatic. My favorite way to prepare this simple pork loin recipe is to infuse the meat with garlic throughout by inserting sliced fresh garlic right into it. This will flavor the meat as it cooks in the oven.
Pork Loin – also goes by names like “center cut pork loin” and “pork loin roast.” It is a wide and flat cut that comes from the back of the animal. Try to find a cut that is between 3 and 4 lbs. and if you need slightly bigger or smaller, adjust the cooking time accordingly. Additionally, look for one that’s pinkish red in coloring. Some marbling in the meat is also good! Fat can be very flavorful. With that in mind, avoid any meat that has dark spots on the fat.
Veggies – I use veggies as a base to cook the loin on for extra moisture, flavor, and heat circulation. Onions and celery will work but you can also add an apple and/or carrots.
Garlic – You will need fresh garlic cloves because it will be used to insert into the pork and to place some underneath. It will infuse a great amount of flavor into the meat.
Seasoning – dried herbs like thyme, sage, and rosemary along with salt and pepper.
How to Roast Pork Loin
Prepare the pork. Start by piercing the pork loin with a small knife in several areas over the top and on the sides. Slice garlic cloves into 3-4 thin slices and fit garlic slices into these slits in the meat. Mix the seasoning and then pat it all over the pork. The goal is to have the whole loin seasoned evenly.
Prepare the roasting pan. Chop the veggies nice and big so they lift the meat from surface of the roasting pan. Grease the roasting pan lightly and spread chopped onion, celery, and halved garlic in an even but thick layer. This layer will act and a bed for roasting the pork, it will infuse more flavor into the meat and create moisture. Place seasoned pork right on top of the veggies.
Cooking pork loin in the oven. Make sure to insert the leave-in meat thermometer probe into the center of loin, though the side end and towards the center, to track the temperature. Start cooking at 425° for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 350° and cook until the pork reaches 145° internal temperature.
Remember to rest the meat! It’s important to rest the meat after cooking to give the juices that condensed during the cooking process a chance to spread back throughout the meat. Once you pull the meat out of the oven, transfer it onto a platter and loosely cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil and let it rest about 15-20 minutes. (I usually take that time to prepare a side dish, sauce, or gravy like mushroom gravy.)
PRO TIP: You can save all the cooking juices and juices that accumulate during resting to make pan drippings gravy! Check the recipe below for instructions on how to make the gravy.
When is pork loin done cooking?
Pork is done at 145°F internal temperature. The best way to measure when the pork is done is to use a meat thermometer and take the temperature in the center of the meat. Don’t rely on just time because every cut of pork is different and will cook at slightly different rate.
Remember, it’s important not to over-cook pork or it will be dry. When done, pork will be tender, juicy, and slightly pink in the center. Don’t be afraid of the pink! A little bit of a pink hue in the very center is perfectly alright in pork as long at it got to the safe internal temperature.
Roasting In The Oven Tips and Tricks
Pork loin is not as tender of a cut as pork tenderloin so it cooks better roasted on lower temperature for longer period of time. Don’t try to rush it by raising the temperature.
To make cleaning easier, you can cover roasting pan with foil.
Stuffing garlic cloves right into meat infuses pork with delicious flavor throughout.
Chop onion and celery into large chunks so that it creates space between the meat and the pan.
Save the drippings and make some gravy! Strain the pan drippings (and the cooked veggies) from the roasting pan through a fine mesh strainer. Combine the juices accumulated from the pork and from the roasting pan together. This will be an unbelievably delicious gravy!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Pork Loin To Estimate Per Person?
The average pork loin cut that I’ve found in stores is actually about 3-4 pounds. If you are feeding a bigger crowd, you can always ask the butcher to cut you a larger sized pork loin. To estimate how much pork you will need just average 1/2 pound per person. So a 4 pound pork loin should feed 8 people. Of course, this always depends on the sides you are serving. So try to give people something heaty and filling along with a vegetable.
What temperature is best to roast pork loin?
Pork loin is not as tender of a cut as pork tenderloin so it cooks better roasted on lower temperature for longer period of time. Start cooking at 425° for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 350° and bake until the pork reaches 145° internal temperature.
Serving Suggestions
This is a very simply seasoned pork loin so you can serve just about any side dishes with it.
- Potatoes – mashed potatoes, home fries, hashbrown casserole.
- Lighter than potatoes – mashed cauliflower.
- Vegetables – Italian roasted asparagus, sauteed green beans, whole roasted cauliflower.
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Garlic Pork Loin Recipe
Ingredients
- 3.5-4 lb pork loin
- 4-6 garlic cloves sliced
- 2 tsp dried ground thyme
- 2 tsp dried sage
- 1 1/2 tsp dried crushed rosemary
- 1 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt more or less to taste
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper more or less to taste
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 2-3 celery ribs
- 3-4 garlic cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°. Drizzle olive oil into the roasting pan large enough to comfortable fit the pork loin but preferably one that is not too big. Tip: If you wish, cover inside of the roasting pan with foil to make the clean up easy.
- Chop onion and celery into large chunks and cut 3 or 4 garlic cloves in half, length-wise. Spread veggies in the middle of the roasting pan in one single layer, about the same size as the pork loin. (This will serve as the bed for the pork to cook on.)
- In a small bowl, combine dried herbs, salt, and pepper and mix well.
Prepare the Pork:
- Using a small paring knife, pierce holes in meat in several places over the top and sides. Make the holes to be about 1/2 to 1-inch deep, about the length of a garlic clove.
- Slice 4 or so garlic cloves lengthwise into 3-4 slices. Push a garlic slice into each hole. If garlic cloves are too big, cut them a little more.
- Place the pork loin in a rimmed baking sheet to season it easily. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over the pork and pat the mixture all over the top and sides. Pick up the pork and dip it into all of the seasoning that dropped into the baking sheet. Try to make sure that the pork loin is seasoned evenly on all the sides.
- Place seasoned pork fat cap up into the prepared roasting pan, on top of the veggies. Insert the instant read digital thermometer probe through the side of the pork towards the center. (Tracking internal temperature is the most accurate way to know when pork is done.)
Baking Pork Loin:
- Bake pork loin at 425°F for 15 minutes and the lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until internal temperature reaches 145°F, about 60 minutes but time depends on the size of the meat. For the 4-pound pork, the total bake time would be about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Estimate about 20 minutes per pound but rely mainly on the internal temperature.
- Once pork reaches the temperature, take it out of the oven and out of the roasting pan. Loosely tent it with foil and let it rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting.
- *Note: You can use the accumulated juices from roasting pork to make gravy. If not enough juices accumulated, add a little broth. (Use my pan drippings gravy recipe to create one with pork juices.)
(Optional) To Make Pan Drippings Gravy:
- Strain the pan drippings (and the cooked veggies) from the roasting pan into a measuring cup through a fine mesh strainer. Press a few times on the veggies in the strainer to get the juices out. Discard what is left in the strainer. After the pork has rested, combine the juices accumulated from the pork and from the roasting pan together.
- (If you don't have enough pan drippings, add enough chicken stock to the pork drippings to make 2 cups together.)Measure out 1/4 cup of all purpose four (or gluten free all purpose flour), and 4 tbsp. of butter.
- Melt butter in a cooking pan over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in flour until smooth and blended.
- While still whisking, start pouring in the pan drippings mixture. Keep whisking until smooth. Taste and add some salt if needed and about 1/4 tsp of black pepper (or more if you wish).
- Slowly stir as the gravy comes to low simmer and thickens. Lower the heat and cook for a couple extra minutes, stirring slowly, and take off heat.
Video
Notes
- How much pork loin per person: When making pork as a main course to be served with sides, estimate about 1/2 lb. per person. For those with bigger appetite or if you want to have leftovers, you can estimate up to 3/4 lb. per person.
- Storing: store any leftovers in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it will last 3-4 days.
- Reheating: it’s very important not to over-cook or heat up pork too much or it will before too tough. I recommend reheating slices, loosely wrapped in aluminum foil pockets, in the oven. Wrap a couple of slices in a foil pocket in reheat in the oven at 350° just until heated through.
Nutrition
More Pork Recipes To Try
We love pork loin in our family, try you other recipes like Stuffed Pork Loin and Pot Roasted Pork Loin with Gravy.
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in October, 2017.
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Categories:
Christmas Dinner Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Easter Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Most Popular Recipes, Pork Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I didn’t make any adjustments. It was really good. Thanks!
So glad you liked it! Thank you for trying the recipe and for taking the time to leave a comment. 😊
Where does the olive oil come in ?
Oops! Looks like I left that out. You’ll want to add the olive oil to the bottom of the pan before placing the pork loin and veggies in it. Thanks for catching that! I will update the recipe.
This was so good!
Thanks, Alice!
Perfect! It was great for your Saturday night family dinner 🙂
Can u let it marinade over night?
i cant wait to try this recipe… looks delicious!
HI! i made this wonderful dish and it worked really well. thank you. -Kylee Moore
Thanks, Kylee!
Well im cooking your recipe this evening. I’ve cooked many pork loins and pork tenderloins but I’m going to try it your way this time. Normally I season it somewhat similarly but not quite the same. And I use potatoes and carrots. We will see how it turns out!
Hi, Jason! I hope you liked it!!! 🙂