Stuffed Pork Loin
Stuffed pork loin is a juicy, flavorful, main dish that features tasty pork loin stuffed with a flavorful mixture of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and Gruyere cheese. Don’t forget to save the drippings from roasting the pork so you can make a delicious easy gravy!
It’s the holiday season! For so many of us, that means lots of family time and cooking for Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner. When you have family coming in town, you’re going to want to serve up something hearty, delicious, and special. Well, look no further, as this stuffed pork loin checks all of those boxes!
Tender, juicy pork loin is seasoned with delicious complimentary ingredients that help develop the natural flavors of the meat and stuffed with a tasty mushroom filling. The filling features a mix of mushrooms with addition of shallots, fresh garlic, Gruyere cheese.
Top if off with easy and flavorful pork gravy! It’s made with the pan drippings from the roasted pork loin, so the flavors are wonderfully complimentary to the meat. I promise you this quick and easy homemade gravy is so worth the one more cooking step.
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. 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
Start off by preparing the stuffing.
Heat up a pan with some olive oil. Sauté garlic and shallots, then stir in the diced mushrooms and seasonings to the pan. Once the mushrooms are completely done, transfer them to 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.
Season the inside of the meat with salt and pepper, then spread the Dijon mustard and mushroom filling evenly over the pork. Starting at the left side, roll up the pork!
Use twine to tie the loin before seasoning it with some seasonings 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.
Tent the meat with foil, and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then, cut the twine and let it rest another 10 before serving.
Last but certainly not least, let’s make the gravy!
Melt the butter in a pan, then quickly whisk in flour until smooth. While still whisking, pour in the pan drippings and chicken stock. Add salt and pepper as needed. Keep stirring until the gravy is smooth and thick!
Tips for the Best Stuffed Pork Loin
- Make sure you get pork loin, not Pork Tenderloin. Those are completely different meats and require a different cooking time and temperature.
- Choose a good cut of meat that is a nice pinkish color with some fat on top. If the fat was trimmed off, make sure there is still some of it on or you will have a dry pork loin.
- If the fat cap was left on completely, score it with a sharp knife, creating a diamond pattern to let the seasonings get through.
- 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.
- Make sure to tie the pork loin to keep its shape and to keep the filling intact.
- 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.
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.
More Pork Recipes To Make!
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Stuffed Pork Loin Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 lb boneless center-cut pork loin roast*
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- coarse kosher or sea salt
- black pepper
- garlic powder
Mushroom Filling:
- 2 shallots
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 lb mushrooms can use a mix of mushrooms
- 4 oz Gruyere cheese block, grated
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- salt
- black pepper
Pork Gravy:
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour use gluten free if needed
- 1/4 cup pan drippings from roasting pork if you have more, use more
- 1 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- salt optional, taste first
Instructions
- Take pork loin out of the refrigerator and let it rest on the counter for 30-45 minutes to let it warm up before preparing it.
Mushroom Filling:
- Finely dice shallots and mushrooms and mince the garlic cloves.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat and add some oil. Add diced onion and cook until softened and starts to get golden brown.
- Add garlic and sauté just until fragrant.
- Add diced mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, and thyme and stir to mix. Let it cook until mushrooms are completely done and liquid release by the mushrooms is mostly cooked out.
- Transfer mushrooms into a mixing bowl and mix them with grated Gruyere cheese. Set the filling aside.
Cutting Pork Loin:
- Place 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 will end up with a flat rectangle of pork.
- Some parts of the pork may be a little thicker, you can just even it out with a meat tenderizer. Cover the pork with a large piece of plastic wrap and then, use a flat side of the meat tenderizer to pound it. 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.
Stuff the Pork:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a roasting pan with aluminum foil to catch the drippings and make the clean-up easier.
- Season the inside of the pork with some salt and pepper.
- Spread Dijon mustard all over the top of the pork and spread the mushroom filling evenly as well. Make sure to leave about 1/2 inch at the top and the bottom without the filling.
- Starting at the left side (the end that was the inside of the pork loin), roll up the pork all the way.
- Use cooking twine to tie the loin all along the whole length in 1-inch intervals. Make sure not to tie too tight where it starts cutting into meat.
- Season the outside of the pork, on all four sides, with some garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Place tied pork loin onto the rack inside the roasting pan, fat cap up.
- Insert the probe of the leave-in meat thermometer through the side, toward the very center of the pork. (If you don't have a leave-in thermometer, you will need to take the pork out of the oven to take the temperature. Make sure to close the oven door each time you test to keep the heat in. Start testing after the first 45 minutes, and gauge from there, depending on the reading you get. Try not too test too often because poking holes in the meat will force the juices out.)
- Cook the pork in the oven until it reaches 140°F and take it out of the oven.
- Loosely tent it with foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
- Take the pork out of the pan and cut off the cooking twine. Tent the pork again loosely with the foil and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
Prepare the Gravy:
- Have all the ingredients measured and ready on hand before starting to cook because this recipe will go fast. (If you have more that 1/4 cup of pork drippings, use everything you have and just add enough chicken stock to make 2 cups total liquid.)
- Melt butter in a cooking pan over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in flour until smooth and blended.
- While whisking, start pouring in the pan drippings, and chicken stock. Keep whisking until smooth. Add pepper and taste to see if you need to add any salt.
- Slowly stir as the gravy comes to simmer and thickens. Cook for a couple extra minutes, stirring slowly, and take off heat.
- Slice pork after it rested and serve right away with gravy on the side.
Video
Notes
- Pork Notes: get a boneless center-cut pork 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.
Try to find a pork loin around 4 lbs. It’s great for a dinner party or as a holiday main dish to feed 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.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in November 2021.
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Categories:
Christmas Dinner Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Easter Recipes, Gluten Free 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’m making it for Christmas? How long on average does it take to cook?
Hi Anna,
I am sorry, I am just now seeing your comment in the future if you need a more immediate response please send me a message on Facebook or Instagram. How did the recipe turn out for you?
There’s just two of us. I doubt cutting the stuffed loin in half and freezing one half would be wise. What about freezing half after cooking, would that “work?” I’m thinking cutting that half into slices, freezing them, and then reheating them Sous Vide.
Well, freezing is always an option it won’t be as good. So my recommendation would be to cut the recipe in half. Pork is such a lean meat it could dry out.
Great recipe! I made it last Easter and everyone loved it. I am making it again this Easter. Question: can I make the gravy ahead of time, and just reheat it and add the pan drippings after the roast is done?
I am so glad you liked it! Yes, you can do that to save time.
Thank you so much for help me know how to make Stuffed Pork Loin. It is easy and simple
I’m making it for Christmas Day. Just put it in the oven. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Can this be prepared and refrigerated the day before and cooked the following day?
I am always very careful about preparing the meat ahead of time, make sure you cover it airtight and I wouldn’t do it more than 12 hrs ahead and then take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before putting it in the oven to cook it.
This is the best stuffed pork loin I have ever made, and I have made many. My family demanded to have it for Christmas eve.
That is so nice to hear! I am glad your family enjoyed it, Donna!
AMAZING!!!
Aw thanks, Stacy!
This sounds so delicious and exactly what i was looking for. Making it next weekend for guests. Thank you!
I hope everyone likes it, Victoria!
I made this for my husband and in-laws tonight. They all loved it! Thank you for the recipe.
Awesome! I am so glad they liked it! 🙂