Cranberry Apple Stuffed Pork Loin
A perfect holiday entertaining dish, this cranberry apple stuffed pork loin roast is festively filled with chopped apples, pecans, apple cider, and cranberries. The ultimate fall or winter meal using seasonal ingredients and fresh marinated pork from Smithfield.
If you are looking for a festive roast for a special dinner or holiday celebration, look no more. This cranberry apple stuffed pork loin is the perfect option because it uses seasonal ingredients and is bursting with flavor. Not to mention, the presentation is gorgeous and the roast is easy to prepare.
The stuffing ingredients are classic for the holiday season since we are using apples, pecans, cranberries, apple cider, shallots, breadcrumbs, and rosemary. Those flavors work wonderfully with the marinated pork loin.
Using Smithfield Fresh Marinated Pork Loin
I partnered with Smithfield to create this recipe using their fresh marinated pork loins. Smithfield offers fresh pork loin fillets and tenderloins in a variety of delicious marinades for quick and easy weeknight meals. The flavors include roasted garlic and herb, portabello mushroom, smoked bacon & cracked black pepper, and applewood smoked bacon.
For this recipe, I chose the roasted garlic and herb marinated pork loin because it complements the flavors of the cranberry apple stuffing perfectly.
Take advantage of a hot sale on Smithfield fresh marinated pork loins and tenderloins at Safeway this month, just $5.99 each through December 27th as part of the Big Book of Savings. That’s a great price point for picking up a few roasts for holiday entertaining.
To prepare the stuffed pork loin recipe, you will first need to butterfly the pork loin. This may sound difficult if it’s your first time, but it’s not that hard as long as you follow the steps below.
The most important part of butterflying a pork loin is to use a long sharp knife. Otherwise, you may not be able to cleanly cut through the pork.
How to Butterfly a Pork Loin
You must first trim the fat and silver skin off the pork loin because even after cooking, you will not be able to chew through it, so you want a clean roast to start with. Because we are using a Smithfield pork loin, there is very little silver skin and fat, so this step should just take 1-2 minutes.
You can leave a little fat for flavor and help keep the roast moist, but most should be removed. Place the tip of your knife under the silver skin (tough white iridescent fat) and gently cut it away from the meat.
You’ll notice that one long side of the pork loin roast will be thicker, and one side thinner.
Using a sharp knife, make a long cut an inch or so from the edge from the thinner long side of the roast at about a 45° degree angle, stopping a half inch from reaching the bottom of the roast.
Then angle the knife so that it is flat, parallel to the cutting board, and make slow, shallow cuts into the roast, along the same line.
As you cut, you can unroll the top part of the roast like you’re unrolling a newspaper. Keep making slow, even cuts until you have “rolled” the roast out completely.
Pound the butterflied roast to an even thickness by covering it with plastic wrap and pounding it with a meat mallet. If you don’t have a meat mallet, you can also use a rolling pin or a heavy jar to pound the pork to an even thickness.
Once the pork is butterflied and is evenly pounded, you are ready to stuff the pork and roll it. Simply place the prepared stuffing inside the pork and then roll from the bottom up.
As soon as you have the pork loin rolled, you’ll want to heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, coat the pan in olive oil and add the rolled and stuffed pork loin with the seam face down. This seals the pork loin so that your stuffing doesn’t fall out. Cook for about 7 to 8 minutes until you get a nice sear on the seam. Don’t try to turn or move the roast at this point.
Brush the pork loin top with olive oil and place the cast iron skillet into your pre-heated oven, and cook the roast for around 40 minutes on 350 degrees until the roast is cooked through to 160 degrees internal temperature. I like to broil the roast for the last 5 minutes to create a golden top.
If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, you can roast the pork on a baking sheet. I would recommend that you tie the roast using cooking twine so that it stays together while cooking. Tie the roast every 1 1/2 inches or so with a piece of twine and transfer to your baking sheet. You’ll cut the twine after the roast is cooked.
Cranberry Apple Stuffed Pork Loin
Ingredients
- 1 boneless pork loin about 3 to 4 pounds
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 cup panko
- 3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
- 1 cup peeled chopped apples (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp are great)
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup toasted chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup minced shallots
- 1 teaspoon minced rosemary
- olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Using a sharp knife, make a long cut an inch or so from the edge from the thinner long side of the roast at about a 45° degree angle, stopping a half inch from reaching the bottom of the roast.
- Then angle the knife so that it is flat, parallel to the cutting board, and make slow, shallow cuts into the roast, along the same line.
- As you cut, you can open up the top part of the roast like unrolling a newspaper. Keep making slow, even cuts until you have "rolled" the roast out completely.
- Pound the butterflied roast to an even thickness: With the pork roast unfolded, cover with plastic wrap.
- Pound with a meat mallet to flatten to an even thickness. Remove plastic wrap.
- Make the filling: Combine panko, apple cider, apples, pecans, cranberries, shallots, and rosemary and stir to mix together.
- Spread the filling over the surface of the pork.
- Starting with the bottom of the roast rectangle, roll up the roast.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Coat with oil and place the roast in hot cast iron with the seam side down to seal the seam for about 7 to 8 minutes. Do not move or try to flip the roast.
- Finish cooking uncovered, for about 40 minutes on 350 in the oven, or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 160°F.
- Rest and serve: Tent the roast with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice into 3/4 inch slices and serve.
Also, check out the delicious Pork Medallions in a Creamy Herb Mushroom Sauce recipe I created using the Smithfield Portabello Mushroom Pork Loin. It’s total comfort food, perfect for a cold winter night.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Smithfield® Marinated Fresh Pork. As always, opinions and recipes are my own. I appreciate and encourage your support of the brands that make this site possible.
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