Our Best Pork Loin
This is a great basic recipe for pork loin, NOT pork tenderloin. There is a difference. I have made it with a loin as small as 2 pounds up to 5 pounds. Both turned out tender and juicy. The key is to keep tabs on the temperature close to the finish time.
Ingredients
• Pork loin roast, up to 5 pounds
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, more if needed
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp black pepper
• ½ Tbsp onion powder
• ½ Tbsp garlic powder
• ½ Tbsp ground cumin (optional)
• 1 tsp ground sage (optional)
Preheat oven to 400°F. You will need a baking pan with a rack
Instructions
1. Thoroughly rub pork loin with olive oil. Mix seasonings together and pat on all sides of the loin.
2. Place pork on rack in roasting pan with fat side up.
3. Cook at 400°F for 12 minutes; lower heat to 350 degrees F and cook for 20 minutes per pound. Temperature
should read 145°F when probe is placed in the middle.
4. Remove pan from oven; let meat rest for at least 10 minutes loosely covered with foil.
5. Transfer to a cutting board. Slice to your liking.
KEYWORDS
best pork loin, easy pork loin, basic pork loin
Recipes are like stories; they can change from person to person. Everyone has their idea of how a recipe should be, even
though it may have changed from the original. We will never know the true author of the original recipe, regardless of
what some may say. That's why I go back and look through the oldest cookbooks that I can find. Sometimes it's not the
recipe in the books that I find, but the tiny pieces of handwritten recipes and newspaper articles that are stuck within
the pages. That's where the real story is, finding those simple Southern recipes. -Mac