The Ultimate Guide to Cooking a Pork Loin Roast

Last Updated on January 3, 2024 by Michelle

I have my suitcase open in the bedroom and laundry on the line, packing for Homesteaders of America conference this weekend. (If you catch my presentation on Homeschooling Kids Who Change the World, please say “hi”!)

And I have our pork customers’ cut sheets laying out on my desk, finalizing the details for next weekend’s butchering… I can’t tell you how amazing it feels that we have been able to raise enough meat the past two years not only for our own family but for many others as well. With the crazy cost of meat at the stores these days and my complete lack of trust in the food supply chain ever since 2020, I feel very blessed.

But I wanted to sit down in the midst of today’s busyness and share another one of our family’s favorite pork recipes with you. Because this baby is going in the oven for our dinner tonight and I’m pretty sure your kitchen needs this deliciousness one night soon…

Go here for an up-to-date list of all the tips I’ve been sharing in my Cooking Your Way Thru the Pig series.

And if you’d like a better understanding of meat (and, in today’s world, we all should, no?), this book is engaging, deeply informative, and… dare I say it… truly “fun.”

What is a Pork Loin Roast?

I explained in my last post (did you grab my pork chop recipe?), many hogs are bred to have extra long loins (go here for some tips on choosing a breed)… much longer than my lame drawing below (yeah, no one said I was an artist)… so picture the loin about twice the length as I drew it…

 

btw, I made my lowsy attempt at art because I knew I will be sharing all my pork recipes and tips for eating your way through a pasture-raised pig here on the blog in the year ahead. As I add more recipes and details you will find them all right here.

Because they have been bred this way, one pig can have up to 17 ribs, which is pretty crazy compared to cows, which have 13.

And there are a lot of options for a butcher with this wonderful long section. The entire pork loin could be turned into roasts or it could be cut into individual pork chops or thinner pork cutlets (I’ll share a delicious recipe for those soon too).

Then there’s the tenderlion (the rear of the loin section) and the baby-back ribs (from the upper ribcage of the loin). I kid you not, some great stuff comes from a pig’s back, no? There’s even the fat back, which can be used for lard. (We’ll get into that too in a future post in this series.)

Turning Pork Loin into a Taste of Heaven

If you ever butcher your own pasture-raised pigs and have a butcher who is happy to take the time to remove some of the fat lining around the organs, known as the caul fat, you have a true delicacy in the making if you wrap a piece of the caul fat (like a giant piece of bacon) around your pork roast. Watch this to see what I mean:

 

How to Cook a Pork Roast

Here are two fabulous options that our family loves. Both recipes are for a 4 pound roast.

Herb Pork Roast

Generously rub roast with garlic pepper* then mix this meat rub:

• 1 tsp. dry thyme
• 1 tsp. crushed, dried rosemary
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 TB maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Rub your mix onto all sides of pork loin roast
3. Place roast, fat side up, in covered roasting pan
4. Bake for roughly 3-3.5 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (I use this so I know for sure.)

 

Maple Pork Roast

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 TB worchester sauce
• 1 TB red wine vinegar
• 4 cloves crushed garlic

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Cut up potatoes and carrots and onions to cover bottom of roasting pan.
3. Generously rub roast with garlic pepper*
4. Place roast over potatoes
5. Pour maple sauce over meat
6. Place lid on roasting pan
7. Bake for 3-3.5 hours or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F