Stuffed Pork Loin

Key Ingredients and Substitutions

Pork Loin – get a boneless center-cut pork roast, sometimes labeled “center cut pork loin” and “pork loin roast.” Fat cap can be partially cut off or left on. If the fat cap was left on, it will actually make a juicier roast and you can score it to get your seasonings through to the meat. Try to find a pork loin around 4 lbs.

How much pork per person? pork loin is a great protein for a dinner party or as a holiday main dish. A 4 lb. pork loin should to feed around 8 people. If you need to feed a larger crowd, you can get a larger cut, but you will rarely find a boneless pork loin roast larger than 5-6 lbs.

Shallot – a mild, sweet cross between onion and garlic. Shallots offer a more subtle and refined flavor than onions. They provide a mild, sweet bite without harshness. I usually recommend substituting half of a Vidalia onion if you can’t find shallots.

Mushrooms – you can use all baby bella (cremini) or play around and throw in some oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, white button mushrooms or any you love.

Gluten free substitution – the only ingredients you need to substitute is the

How to Cut Pork Loin to be Stuffed

Place the pork loin on a large cutting board vertically, fat cap up. Using a long, sharp knife, start cutting along the side of the meat, right where the fat cap ends, cutting in about 1/2 inch deep. Cut through a couple of inches of meat and then gently pull away the uncut part to kind of “unroll”.

Keep cutting along and “unrolling” the meat, keeping the flat, cut part at about 1/2 inch thickness. Eventually, you’ll end up with a flat rectangle of pork that’s ready for stuffing.

To even out some of the parts where it is a little thicker, cover the pork with a large piece of plastic wrap and then use a flat side of the meat tenderizer to pound it. Don’t use the pointed end or it will shred the meat and make holes! You’re not looking to make it thin, you just want to make the pork uniform thickness of about 1/2 inches throughout the rectangle.

How to Make Stuffed Pork Loin

Heat up a pan with some olive oil. Sauté garlic and shallots until softened and starts to get golden, then stir in the diced mushrooms and seasonings to the pan. Add the butter at this point and continue to cook.

Once the mushrooms are completely tender and cooked, transfer them into a mixing bowl and mix them with grated Gruyere cheese.

Stuffing and cooking pork loin:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line your roasting pan with aluminum foil. This will help with the clean up tremendously! Fit a rack inside the roasting pan to elevate the meat from the bottom of the pan. This will help with uniform cooking of the meat.

Season the inside of the meat with salt and pepper. Seasoning the meat is important so that the meat is flavorful and not just the filling! Spread the Dijon mustard evenly over the pork and then the mushroom filling. Starting at the left (or right) long side, roll up the pork! Keep it tight but don’t squeeze or you will squeeze out the filling.

Use twine to tie the loin. Keep it tight but not so tight that it’s cutting into the meat! Season the tied pork on all four sides. Once seasoned, place the tied pork loin onto the rack in the roasting pan. Cook until the inside of the meat reaches 140°F.

Take the roasting pan out of the oven and loosely tent the meat with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then, cut the twine and let it rest another 10 before serving. It’s always important to rest the meat so that all the juices that condensed while cooking to spread back out throughout the meat. This is an important step to juicier meat.

Making the gravy:

If you have any drippings left in the pan, you can use those and combine them with chicken broth for more flavor. Melt the butter in a pan, sprinkle the flour all over the top. Quickly whisk in flour into melted butter until smooth.

While still whisking, start pouring in the chicken stock mixture and keep whisking until all combined. Taste first and then season with salt and pepper as needed. Keep stirring slowly but constantly as the gravy is getting smooth and thick!

Tips for the Best Stuffed Pork Loin

Rest the cold pork loin on the counter before preparing it to let it warm up for 30-45 minutes. You don’t want to introduce cold meat to high heat or it will seize and result in dry texture.

It’s always best to track the internal temperature of the meat with a thermometer rather than looking at a time! Time can’t tell you if the meat is done since every cut is different in it’s own little ways. Use an instant read, leave-in meat thermometer to track the temperatures of your pork loin.

Don’t forget to rest the pork loin before and after taking off the kitchen twine! This will give the juices that were condensed during cooking a chance to spread back throughout the meat tissue. And then once again after cutting off the twine. Through testing, I found this two step resting process is the best.

Can I Make This Meat Ahead of Time?

I always caution preparing raw meat ahead of time but it can definitely be done with some things to keep in mind.

• Make sure to wrap the stuffed pork air-tight in plastic wrap and place it into a baking pan to hold it. Do not store raw meats in plastic storage containers.
• Refrigerate (at no higher than 40°F) right away and for up to 24 hours.
• Place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, not above any cooked or ready to eat foods.

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. When done, pork will be tender, juicy, and slightly pink in the center. Don’t be afraid of the pink! A little bit of pink in the very center is perfectly alright in pork.

Serving Suggestions

Think a balance of comforting and fresh vegetables. Having too many hearty dishes will be an overload, you want to bite into something fresh from time to time to balance the starch and carbs:

Potatoes – Instant pot mashed potatoes, roasted fingerling potatoes, hashbrown casserole.

Vegetables – Italian roasted asparagus, sauteed green beans with bacon, roasted zucchini.

Go all in on a mushrooms – make some sauteed mushrooms in the pan or roasted mushrooms in the oven.

Storing and Reheating Recommendation

Store – in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator, for 3-4 days.

Reheating – it’s very easy to overcook the pork so I don’t recommend microwave or stove-top. Through lots of testing, I found that it’s best to reheat the pork in the oven at 325°F. Wrap one or two slices in aluminum foil. It’s a good idea of add just a splash of broth to the bottom of the foil before wrapping to help with moisture and reheat for 10-15 minutes.

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More Pork Recipes To Make!

• Pot Roasted Pork Loin
• Garlic Pork Loin
• Apple Bacon Stuffed Pork Chops
• Pork Cutlets
• Apple Maple Dijon Pork Loin Roast

Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in November 2021.