This Pork loin recipe is stuffed with a delicious homemade dressing and then roasted to perfection. It is the perfect, rich dinner, great for serving with basically any side dish you can imagine.
For more great pork recipes, why not try and make these Best Juicy Brown Sugar Baked Pork Chops? Or try a different pork loin recipe with this Apple Butter Pork Loin?
Stuffed Pork Loin
Pork loins have a pretty unfair reputation as being this delicate, difficult thing to prepare, especially as part of a regular family dinner.
While pork loins definitely do have a pretty unique and gentle flavor, when prepared right, they are incredibly easy to make as part of a regular dinner rotation.
With good stuffing and the right cook times, pork loin turns into something you can easily prepare, cook and enjoy in a surprisingly short amount of time.
Stuffed Pork Loin Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.
Pork Loin
• Pork loin roast
• Salt & black pepper
Stuffing Mixture
• Panko crumbs
• Chicken broth
• Bacon
• Apples, peeled and diced
• Shallot
• Minced garlic
• Fresh rosemary
• Pecans
• Dried cranberries
How To Make Stuffed Pork Loin
• Place the panko crumbs in a medium bowl
• In a large skillet, cook the bacon until tender and crisp
• Drain the fat, reserving 1 tablespoon for frying the next ingredients in
• Add the diced apples and shallots to the skillet and cook until softened, about 4 to 5 minutes
• Add the garlic and cook until browned and fragrant, about 2 minutes
• Add in the rosemary, pecans, and cranberries and sauté for 1 minute
• Remove from the heat and scoop the bacon mixture into the panko crumbs and stir in, mixing completely
• Add enough chicken broth just to bring the stuffing mixture together
• Butterfly the pork loin
• Place the pork roast flat on a cutting board
• Starting at one end, slice through the middle of the roast, keeping your knife parallel to the cutting board to maintain the same thickness. Stop cutting when you have around 1 inch of meat left at the end, then open up the roast like a book. The end that you don’t cut will keep the roast together
• Place a piece of plastic wrap over the roast and then pound thinner with a meat mallet
• Remove the plastic wrap and season the pork generously with salt and pepper inside and out
• Spoon out the stuffing mixture on top of the pork loin in an even layer.
• Roll up the pork loin and tightly secure it with kitchen twine
• Place in a roasting pan on a rack
• Roast in the oven for 10 minutes to brown the top, and then turn the oven down to 325 °F
• Roast until the internal temperature is 140°F, and then remove and tent with foil, and let the roast rest 15 minutes before slicing
How To Get The Best Cut Of Pork Possible
One problem a lot of people might struggle with for this recipe is obtaining the pork loins themselves.
While they are usually sold in the supermarket pretty regularly, the ones that you can buy easily tend to be really cut down, and barely any meat at all.
This recipe works best when you can get a whole pork loin or at least a pretty sizable cut of one.
The best thing to do to get what you need for this recipe is to speak to a butcher and talk to them about what you are planning to do with it.
A good butcher can imagine what you are making and recommend the perfect cut of pork loin, including how big to make it and where to make the cuts, depending on how many people you are cooking for.
Could You Use Other Fruit For This Recipe?
This recipe calls for the use of dried cranberries, as well as some apples, for the stuffing. You don’t often see fruit included in a meat recipe, but it contributes a huge amount of both flavor and sweetness when mixed with all of the other ingredients in the stuffing.
Cranberries and apples are pretty traditional when cooking with pork, and they naturally pair well together, but you shouldn’t feel tied to using only those fruits.
Feel free to play around with totally different fruits, like pears and cherries, or oranges and kiwi fruits! Just make sure you are smelling and tasting as you go so that you can easily adjust the flavors so that they are to your liking with every single addition or substitution you make.
Do You Really Need To Use Panko Bread Crumbs For The Stuffing
Pretty much every recipe out there that involves the use of breadcrumbs will call for the use of panko breadcrumbs.
Panko breadcrumbs are made using electrolysis, meaning the bread dough is cooked through an electrical current rather than with direct heat. This results in an extremely unique texture, with plenty of surface area and crunchy flakiness.
This texture is what makes panko breadcrumbs so great for this recipe and for pretty much any other recipe.
Their texture just cannot compare to other breadcrumbs. Plus, they stay crispy and crunchy even after soaking up all of the liquid and fat in the stuffing, so they are definitely a must.
Of course, if you really cannot find panko to use in this recipe, just use regular breadcrumbs – you will get a bit of a less than satisfying texture, but other than that, it won’t make too big of a difference.
Looking for more delicious Pork recipes? Try these out:
• Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
Happy Cooking
Love,
Karlynn
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Stuffed Pork Loin
Ingredients
Pork Loin
- one 4 pound pork loin roast
- salt and ground black pepper
Stuffing Mixture
- 3/4 cup panko crumbs
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 6 slices bacon (chopped)
- 3/4 cup peeled diced apples
- 1 shallot (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Place the panko crumbs in a medium bowl.
- In a large skillet, cook the bacon until tender crisp.
- Drain the fat, reserving 1 tablespoon for frying the next ingredients in.
- Add the diced apples and shallots to the skillet and cook until softened, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook until browned and fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the rosemary, pecanse and cranberries and saute for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and scoop the bacon mixture into the panko crumbs and stir in, mixing completely.
- Add enough chicken broth to just bring the stuffing mixture together.
Butterfly the pork loin
- Place the pork roast flat on a cutting board.
- Starting at one end, slice through the middle of the roast, keeping your knife parallel to the cutting board to maintain the same thickness. Stop cutting when you have around 1 inch of meat left at the end, then open up the roast like a book. The end that you don’t cut will keep the roast together!
- Place a piece of plastic wrap over the roast and then pound thinner with a meat mallet.
- Remove the plastic wrap and season the pork generously with salt and pepper inside and out.
- Spoon out the stuffing mixture on top of the pork loin in an even layer.
- Roll up the pork loin and tightly secure with kitchen twine.
- Place in a roasting pan on a rack.
- Roast in the oven for 10 minutes to brown the top, then turn the oven down to 325 °F.
- Roast until the internal temperature is 140°F, then remove and tent withfoil, and let the roast rest 15 minutes before slicing.
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