How To Make Easy Pork Loin Roast cooked with the most incredible Honey Garlic Butter Sauce! Oven and slow cooker methods included for an easy dinner idea.
This Pork Loin recipe is simple to throw together and impressive enough to feed your guests. Whether you choose a crock pot OR your oven, this ‘no-stress’ recipe will give you the most incredible roast ready and on the table in no time!
Inspired by our amazing Honey Garlic Butter Pork Chops, our pork loin recipe is another easy dinner recipe to rock your world.
PORK LOIN RECIPE
Skinless and boneless pork loin NEEDS a good sauce, being that it is a lean cut of meat. Cooking it in a deep flavoured Honey Garlic Butter Sauce is PERFECT and gives you the ideal sauce to serve it with!
Apart from the tender pork meat, the sauce is truly memorable — a dinner that you will be thinking about long after leftovers have disappeared.
Make sure you get a good quality cut of Pork Loin for this recipe. Not to be confused with pork tenderloin, pork loin is a thicker and wider cut usually found with a fatty layer on top. Pork Tenderloin is long and a lot thinner (see this recipe here for reference).
HOW LONG DO YOU COOK A PORK LOIN ROAST
This pork loin recipe needs three steps before giving you an incredible tasting pork:
- SEASON: Seasoned in a delicious rub with paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, optional red chili powder and brown sugar for caramelization. Pat meat dry with paper towel first so that the seasoning sticks and absorbs better.
- SEAR: Where the DEEP flavour begins.
- COOK!
Slow cooking pork loin in a crock pot at a low temperature is perfect and isn’t going to dry out or ruin your pork.
2 pounds (1 kg): 3 1/2 hours on low
3-5 pounds (1 1/2 – 2 1/2 kg): 4-5 hours on low
6 pounds (3kg): 6 hours on low
Oven roast pork loin covered for the first half hour which results in steaming/braising the meat. Then roast uncovered to get some beautiful charred/caramelized edges thanks to the brown sugar in the rub and the honey in the sauce.
SAUCE
Made with mouthwatering pan juices left in the slow cooker or baking pan when its done. This pork recipe creates its own stock while cooking, mixing through the honey garlic sauce to create some magnificent flavours.
Honey, unsalted butter, low sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar (or cider vinegar), and a good kick of garlic is all you need. I use low sodium to control the end result.
This recipe makes SO MUCH SAUCE to drizzle all over rice, noodles, veggies and potatoes.
WHAT INTERNAL TEMPERATURE SHOULD PORK LOIN BE COOKED?
The National Pork Board recommends cooking pork loin, chops, roasts and tenderloin to an internal temperature of 145° F (62°C), followed by a 15-minute rest.
HOW TO MAKE PORK LOIN AHEAD OF TIME
Pork and sauce can be prepared up to 1 day ahead:
- Pour sauce over seared/browned pork (store in your slow cooker bowl, baking pan or a large, shallow dish).
- Cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.
- If preparing more than 12 hours ahead, keep the sauce in separate dish.
- Slow cook or roast as per recipe.
LEFTOVERS
Refrigerate with the sauce for up to 3 days, or freeze for 3 months. The sauce soaks through the pork while stored and tastes even better the next day!
MORE PORK RECIPES
Pork Chops With Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Crispy Pork Carnitas
Pork Roast With Crackle
Sticky Pork Ribs
Spinach Stuffed Pork Chops
Pork Loin Roast Recipe
Ingredients
PORK LOIN:
- 4-5 pound (2-2.5 kg) pork loin roast, trimmed of skin and fat
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
RUB:
- 2 teaspoons paprika (mild or smoked)
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder
- 1/2-1 teaspoon red chili powder, (optional)
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black cracked pepper
HONEY GARLIC BUTTER SAUCE:
- 1/2 cup (125 g | 4-oz) honey
- 1/2 cup (125 g | 4-oz) unsalted butter
- 6 cloves garlic, finely chppped or minced
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, (or cider vinegar)
- Good pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
ADDITIONAL:
- 1/2 cup low sodium beef or chicken stock/broth, (FOR OVEN METHOD ONLY)
- 1/2 cup water (FOR OVEN METHOD ONLY)
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
Instructions
PORK LOIN:
- Pat dry pork with paper towel. Combine 1 tablespoon of oil with rub ingredients. Season pork, rubbing the mixture into the meat.
- Heat remaining oil (about 2 teaspoons) in a large pan or skillet over medium heat. Sear pork all over until golden browned, rotating the pork around to avoid spices burning.
SAUCE:
- Melt butter in the same pan the pork was in while scraping up any leftover bits in the pan. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in remaining sauce ingredients; bring to a rapid simmer for 1 minute.
SLOW COOK:
- Place seared pork in a 6-qt (litre) slow cooker. Pour sauce over pork; cover with lid and cook on LOW heat setting for 4 - 5 hours.
- Transfer pork onto serving dish and tent loosely with foil. Let rest for 10-15 minutes.
- While pork is resting: pour juices from the slow cooker bowl into a pot large enough to fit the liquid. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of the juices with 4 teaspoons of cornstarch (cornflour). Whisk cornstach slurry into sauce and let simmer for a good 5 minutes, or until thickend into a syrup-like consistency. (For a thicker sauce, repeat this step with 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water. Add into sauce and cook until thickened (please note: sauce will thicken as it cools). Continue this step until reaching your desired consistency.)
- Slice pork and serve drizzled with Honey Garlic Butter Sauce.
OVEN ROAST:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Place seared/browned seasoned pork in a roasting pan.
- Prepare sauce, as above. Reserve 1/2 cup sauce for basting. Pour remaining sauce over pork.
- Pour 1/2 cup stock and 1/2 cup water around the pork.
- Cover and roast for 20 minutes. Baste with half of the reserved sauce and continue roasting, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes. Baste again and roast for a further 10-15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 145°F (62.5°C) in the thickest part.(If pan dries out while cooking (it shouldn't), add a little more water.)
- Transfer pork onto serving plate and baste with pan juices. Tent loosely with foil and let rest for 10-15 minutes..
- Scrape up any browned bits leftover in the pan, mixing them through the pan juices and pour juices into a pot. Whisk cornstarch into an additional 1/2 cup water, whisk cornstarch slurry into the sauce and bring to a simmer. Slowly add in 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup additional, if needed, until reaching a honey-like consistency. (Please note: sauce will thicken as it cools).
- Slice pork and drizzle with Honey Garlic Butter Sauce.
Mia says
This was fantastic!!!!! Will definitely be added to the list of standing recipes in my kitchen.
Jon says
Very good recipe. The only issue I had was the cooking time was much shorter in my case probably due to the crockpot I find this method destroys food but it just might be my pot. After 3 1/2 hours my 3.5 lb pork loin was over 200* double checked the temp setting being “low”. Roast was still good still good. Served with garlic smashed red potatoes. The crockpot is not my friend.
TW says
This was INCREDIBLE! The best new recipe I’ve made this year!!!
I’m thinking of making it for Christmas Eve dinner.
Karina says
I’m overjoyed to hear that you found the recipe incredible and the best new one this year! What a wonderful choice for Christmas Eve dinner. I hope it adds to the festivities and becomes a holiday favourite for you and your loved ones!
Victoria says
I just made this recipe and it is the best pork loin I have ever made! I followed the directions exactly as written and read all of the tips, thank you. It’s perfect. I’m making a lot mein stir fry to go with it
Elle says
Broke the #1 rule of having guests over- don’t try a new recipe. Just don’t. Well I did, and it was fab! Had to switch up some ingredients, like maple syrup instead of honey, balsamic instead of cider vinegar, and red wine, because wine. Soooooooo good! I’m always nervous about drying out pork loin. This was most,and the sauce was dee- licious! Can’t wait to make it again.
Christopher Davis says
Easy and Amazing!! Thank you.