Bacon-wrapped pork loin is a simple dish completed in the oven. You could give it a try in the slow cooker but you will definitely want to broil that bacon afterwards to get the awesome, crispy texture!
During the summer months, I find a lot of meat goes on sale at our local grocery store. Mostly different cuts of steak, but ribs and pork are common, too.
My husband loves steak and 99% of the time asks me to marinade it. But he does the cooking. He has a method he prefers so I have nothing to do with steak when it comes to cooking! But other BBQ/summer meats? Well, that is all me!
Pork loin has been popping up a lot and I know one of the most popular uses for it is pulled pork (which I finally experimented with!) I actually prefer to cook this meat in the slow cooker, but the other day I was short on time (started dinner too late) so I had to go about cooking it in the oven. While some would think pork chops, I decided to leave the cut whole and create a bacon-wrapped pork loin with roasted veggies. One word: delicious! So quick and simple (I cooked my veggies separately in the meat juices afterwards,) this recipe was big enough to create a couple of leftover lunches for Mr. TCW. UPDATE: I prepared ahead of time and cooked the veggies with the pork loin. The veggies still needed some extra cook time, so while the pork rested, I placed the veggies back into the oven.
Lunches... My demise! I try to make meals big enough for the three of us so Mr. TCW has enough to take to work for a couple of days. This allows me to create recipes in between that do not make a large quality (or do not do well the second day for lunch.) However, more times than not Mr. TCW and kiddo gobble up an obscene amount of food, leaving me to figure out a lunch for the following day! I love cooking, but having to cook again after already making a large meal can sometimes be annoying (I love you both but sometimes I like to do things outside of the kitchen!) This does not help when I make one meal for them, and a vegetarian version for myself. Oh well, this will only become worse when kiddo starts school this September!
Now, depending on the size of your cut of meat, this bacon-wrapped pork loin SHOULD be large enough to serve a family of four or more. Should being the key word! Since I had some time on hand, I used the leftover juices from the meat and cooked some veggies in it to offer as a side dish along with the rice. I guess I could have cooked the veggies with the meat, but I did not think of that at the time (house renovations sure consume your head!) UPDATE: I recommend cutting the veggies quite small so they finish on time with the meat (mushrooms can be sliced large.) Also, I wanted to point out that the bacon may begin to brown a bit before the actual pork loin is finished cooking. No worries! Just place a piece of foil over top to help keep the bacon from burning (I had to in the last 10 minutes.)
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin
Ditch the traditional pulled pork & use the pork loin to create an awesome bacon-wrapped pork loin dinner that is easily made in the slow cooker if desired!
Ingredients
- 2 ½ - 3 lb pork loin
- 8 slices of bacon
- Black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. freshly chopped ginger
- ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup soy sauce (use GF sauce for gluten-free.)
- 1 tbsp. coarse whole grain mustard
- 1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1 lb Creamer potatoes, quartered
- ½ lb button or cremini mushroom, sliced
- 1 onion, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Place the pork loin in the pan and score the top of the meat. Season with pepper. Arrange potatoes, onions, and mushrooms around the roast.
- Combine the garlic, ginger, chili flakes, soy sauce, mustard, vinegar, and honey into a small bowl. Whisk together until combined, seasoning with pepper. Pour half the mixture over the pork loin and veggies. Take your bacon slices and wrap them around the pork (I did not go underneath the pork, just kind of draped it.) Pour on remaining sauce.
- Bake for 1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 145/150F. If you bacon is looking dark, cover pan with aluminum foil.
- Allow meat to rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving!
Notes
My 2.5 lb pork loin took 1 hour to cook to 145F internally. For a larger cut of meat, add on another 15+ minutes. Pork is safe to eat at 145F so if you take the meat out then, it will have time to rest and climb in temperature.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 4Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1003Total Fat: 47gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 352mgSodium: 898mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 119g
I really love simple dishes such as this bacon-wrapped pork loin. During the summer, I know many do not like to spend too much time cooking, so I am sure you could adapt this recipe to suit the slow cooker. In the end you may just have to broil the meat so the bacon gets some color to it, but otherwise, I see no harm in using the slow cooker. These last few weeks, between home renovations and summer classes/activities, I can see why people want simple recipes! I only have one child and balancing everything has proven interesting.
Love this bacon-wrapped pork loin?! Try some of these recipes:
Amanda
This is SOOO happening tonight!!! YUM!!!
Kacey
Woohoo!! You know I would totally make it for you!
Marlynn @UrbanBlissLife
We haven't made bacon-wrapped pork loin in ages, and I love the combination of spices and herbs you put together for the seasoning. Love your idea of making this in a slow cooker, to!
Kacey
Here I thought I was being unique with the bacon-wrapping, haha. Thanks for stopping by!
Stephanie @ Back for Seconds
Oh man. My husband would LOVE this!
Kacey
If he is anything like my husband, than I couldn't agree more!
Justine | Cooking and Beer
You had me at bacon-wrapped. <3 <3
Kacey
Bacon-wrapped anything seems to be amazing for meat-eaters 🙂
Sara
This looks amazing, the bacon really makes it something special and it looks so fancy too!
Kacey
I like to think it looks gourmet 🙂 Thanks, Sara!
Krista @ Joyful Healthy Eats
Bacon just makes everything better! This looks amazing and the crispy crunchy exterior sounds awesome!
Kacey
The bacon definitely adds that crunchy element, Krista!
Michelle @ Blackberry Babe
I love pork loin! So inexpensive and yummy. Always looking for new ways to cook it, thanks for sharing!
Kacey
Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle @ The Complete Savorist
Oh my delicious. I love pork loins and you've made a spectacular one.
Kacey
Thank you, Michelle 🙂
Amber | Caleigh's Kitchen
Anything that has bacon wrapped around it immediately has my attention. Wow, I can almost taste the juiciness from here! Looks great!
Kacey
Haha, many people must agree with you because my bacon-wrapped recipes are usually the most popular!
Nutmeg Nanny
Sign me up for bacon wrapped anything! LOVING the way this looks....yum!
Kacey
Haha, I will add you to the list!
Meg @ With Salt and Wit
I feel like anything wrapped in bacon would have to be delicious 😉 This is definitely a great dinner idea!
Kacey
Thanks, Meg 🙂
James
Got this is the oven for my first anniversary with my man!!
Kacey
Enjoy!!
Sara
So I want to make this with vegetables, can I put vegetables underneath the meat so they cook with it the whole time? I was thinking potatoes, green beans, red peppers, and onion. Maybe mushrooms too?
Kacey
You could! The roast will probably finish cooking first depending on what veggies you use (and how large they are.) If they are under-cooked, just remove the roast and put the veggies back in the oven until done 🙂
Doreen Herrin
PIg wrapped in Pig, how can you go wrong; it's whats for dinner tonight
Kacey
Now that you put it that way... Haha, hope it goes well!
GENNY
Hi, I was wondering if you could recommend a marinade or brine or does it not even need one at all. Just curious, thank you!
Kacey
I have never done a brine but if you are familiar with them there is no harm in trying 🙂 But honestly, I don't see a marinade needed here (you could always marinade the meat in the sauce mixture overnight and then wrap it in the bacon the following day.)
Tina
My husband sliced up our last pork roast, would it work to skewer them together, wrap in bacon and do it this way?
Kacey
I have seen people do pork kebabs wrapped in bacon so I can see that being plausible! Just need to adjust the cook time 🙂
Jackie
Made this tonight and it was delicious!! So moist and flavorful! My whole family loved it - even my picky eater! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Kacey
Yes! I love reading comments like this 🙂
Brandi
I have this cooking right now! Omg my house smells amazing!
Kacey
The smell is only telling you how awesome your dinner is going to be!
Helen
Can't wait to try this!!!
If I do use a slow cooker how bling do you think it will take?
Kacey
I have never cooked it in the slow cooker so I don't want to cause any issues! I usually say 4 hours on high, or 6-8 on low. If you have a meat thermometer, you can always poke it in around the 4 hour mark just to be safe! Good luck!
jen camp
i am a little confused...is the pork roast sitting on the counter getting cold while the vegetables are cooking for an hour? (steps 3 & 4)
Kacey
Sorry, Jen. You could easily cook the veggies with the roast but definitely want to pre-boil the potatoes first. When I first made the recipe I only cooked the roast and found I had so much extra liquid that I did not want it to go to waste (hence why I cooked the veggies afterwards.)
Karrie
I stumbled across your blog last week and I made this for dinner the other night on a whim- holy cow. It was amazing and made for delicious leftovers for our lunch the next day where our friends were jealous of the sight and smell- well done! Will be frequenting your blog in the future!!
Kacey
Woohoo! I am so happy to hear that 🙂 Plus, making friends jealous sometimes is okay 😉
Joy Brochu
Could you make this with pork tenderloin, and if so how long in the oven?
Kacey
It could definitely work! Pork tenderloin is a lot smaller and so easy to overcook. I would begin checking the meat at 25-30 minutes. Pork can register as low as 145F for medium-rare and 160 for fully cooked.
Joy Brochu
Thank you for replying, I think I'm going to try it.
Kacey
Let me know how it goes! I just updated my honey-glazed pork tenderloin recipe yesterday and with a 2 lb cut of meat at 400F, it took 25 minutes to cook. Hope that helps a bit!
Jean Jarvis
I used a 4 lb. pork centre cut loin roast so it was in the oven for about an hour and a half to come to a temp of 145. At the 45 minute mark the bacon was black so I covered it with foil. By the time the temp was where it should be and it had sat for a few minutes, the roast was absolutely dried out!! I hated it! What did I do wrong?
Kacey
That is so strange! 145F is the lowest safe temperature for pork, so do not cook lower than that. At that temperature it should have been nice and juicy. I also tend to allow my meat to rest minimum 10 minutes, up to 20 minutes because if you cut into meat too soon it will leak all the juices out (no more moist meat!) I also rest my meat on a cutting board, covered, and not in the pan it was cooked in because that pan will have residual heat. Even though it is only 1 lb more, it adds quite a bit of cook time (compared to 2 1/2 - 3 lbs,) so next time I would definitely cover the pan from the beginning as the bacon cannot survive that long in the oven at that heat. Sorry about that! I really wish it had worked out!
Lora Deanne
Made this tonight, it was perfect, exactly as the recipe is written. No problems with the bacon over cooking - I did use thick cut. my husband thought it was fantastic. Definitely a keeper recipe. thank you!
Kacey
I am happy to hear!! I've been buying thicker cut bacon and it makes such a difference. When I make this recipe again (which happens a lot, lol) I am going to give my new bacon a try 🙂
Suzi
Hello! I just stumbled upon your recipe and cannot wait to make it for dinner tonight! My only issue is that my husband is unfortunately allergic to mustard. Do you have a suggestion for a substitute? I usually just pass on recipes that call for mustard, but this sounds so delicious. Please help! Thank you in advance.
Kacey
Hey Suzi! I think you should be good just omitting it 🙂 But I think ground turmeric would make a great substitute. I would say maybe a couple of teaspoons to start. You can always try the sauce and add more if needed. Mustard lends a nice tang to this recipe, so anything tangy would also help, but I wouldn't worry too much over it 🙂 Hope you enjoy it!