With succulent pork, hard cider, onions, apples, and thyme, our Hard Cider Roasted Pork Loin is a cozy and delicious main dish that’s an ode to fall flavors!
Table of Contents
This recipe is…
Pork can be a little “persnickety.” When done right, the meat can be oh-so succulent, tender, juicy, and browned. But it’s easy for pork to become dry, tough, and (maybe least appealing of all)…an unappetizing shade of gray.
Given pork’s finicky reputation, it might surprise you to learn how easy it is to cook up delicious results using a few simple strategies. Take this mostly hands-off pork loin recipe: we start by searing the meat to give it a nicely browned crust, which both increases the flavor of both the roast, and the liquid it’s braised in. Next, we slow-cook the pork loin in the oven along with hard cider, browned onions, garlic, sweet apples, and thyme. The sweet-and-savory not only keeps the meat incredibly tender and juicy, but it adds a beautiful medley of fall flavors too.
Pair this pork loin roast recipe with an easy veggie side like root veggie roast, kale salad with apples, roasted butternut squash, or shredded Brussels sprouts with apples and cranberries for a meal brimming with the cozy and warming flavors of fall.
Why You’ll Love This Pork Loin Recipe
- A foolproof and easy way to cook up juicy and succulent pork
- Most of the time is hands-off in the oven: only 20 minutes of prep
- Delivers a beautiful medley of autumnal flavor, with hard cider, onions, apples, and thyme
Pork Loin Roast Recipe Ingredients
This easy recipe is brimming with a cornucopia of fall flavors. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Pork – boneless pork loin is the star of this recipe
- Thyme – you’ll need 1/2 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme, plus some sprigs for garnish
- Salt – we call for ½ tablespoon of coarse sea salt
- Black pepper – you’ll use ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil will be used to sear the meat
- Apples – pick up 2 apples of any variety you like
- Onions – you’ll need 2 white or yellow onions
- Garlic – 6 cloves garlic give this roast deep flavor
- Hard Cider – we call for a 13-ounce can dry hard cider here, but you could use non-alcoholic apple cider or chicken broth instead
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
Here are a few simple ways to adjust this pork loin in oven recipe to your taste:
- Braising liquid – If you’d rather not use alcoholic hard cider, feel free to swap in nonalcoholic apple cider, or low-sodium chicken broth
- Herbs – No fresh thyme on hand? No problem. Substitute dried thyme or other herbs like sage, parsley, or rosemary.
How to Make Pork Loin
Here’s how this easy, hands-off recipe comes together.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325 F. Heat the olive oil a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add the onions and whole garlic cloves and cook 3-4 minutes per side until browned. Remove from the pan.
Step 2: Season the pork roast liberally with the salt, pepper, and thyme, then place in the pot.
Brown the pork for 4-5 minutes on one side, then repeat for the 3 remaining sides. Remove the pork and set aside.
Step 3: Add the cider to the pot, and whisk to release the browned bits.
Step 4: Add the pork, onions, garlic, apples, and thyme springs back to the pan. Place the lid on the pot and bake at 325 F for 1 hour.
Remove the roast from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before slicing, then serve alongside the apples, onions, garlic, and additional sauce. Enjoy!
Recipe Tip
Rest the meat – For the juiciest results, don’t skip this step! After you remove the roast from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing. This gives the juices in the meat time to redistribute off the heat. (Slicing into the meat while it’s straight from the oven will cause the juices to run out, yielding drier results.)
How to Serve
After giving the meat about 15 minutes to rest, slice the roast and serve it alongside the apples, onions, and garlic mixture.
How to Store and Reheat
If you’re not going to eat all of the pork roast right away, leave it unsliced, which will help keep the meat moist.
Store the pork with the apple, onion, and cider mixture and reheat leftovers gently in the oven until just warmed through.
Frequently Asked Questions
“Why does my pork dry out?” is a common cooking question. But there are a few simple strategies we use in this recipe that help keep the pork moist and tender.
While these two cuts of pork sound similar, they do have key differences. While the tenderloin is a long, narrow, and boneless cut that comes from the muscle that runs along the backbone, the loin, which comes from the back of the animal, is wider and flatter, and can be purchased either as boneless or bone-in.
More of Our Best Pork Recipes
If you tried this recipe for Hard Cider Roasted Pork Loin, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Hard Cider Roasted Pork Loin
Ingredients
- 1, 2.5-3 pound boneless pork loin
- 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- ½ tablespoon coarse sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 apples, cored and cut into 6 wedges
- 2 onions, quartered
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1, 13 ounce can dry hard cider, may substitute non-alcoholic apple cider or chicken broth if desired
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F.
- Heat olive oil a large Dutch oven, or other heavy-bottomed lidded pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the onions and whole garlic cloves and cook 3-4 minutes per side until browned and remove from the pan.
- Season pork roast liberally with the salt, pepper, and thyme, then place in the pot. Brown the pork for 4-5 minutes on one side, then repeat for the 3 remaining sides. Remove the pork and set aside.
- Add the cider to the pot and whisk to release the browned bits. Then, add the pork, onions, garlic, apples, and thyme springs back to the pan.
- Place the lid on the pot and bake at 325 F for 1 hour.
- Remove the roast from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before slicing, then serve alongside the apples, onions, garlic, and additional sauce. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Sounds delicious! Wpuld you recommend a dry or sweet cider??
Hi Dani! We recommend a dry, hard cider. Enjoy! -Team FF
Hi! Could this be done in the instant pot (after searing)? How long do you think?
Definitely! We recommend setting your Instant Pot to cook on high pressure for 20 minutes!
Any alterations you would recommend to do this in a Crock-Pot?
Ingredient amounts should stay the same, Ashley. Typically slow cooker cook time is 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. I haven’t tried this one in the slow cooker, though!
Another successful pork recipe from Fed and Fit! I can’t digest onions, so I had to leave them out. The only reason I went 4 stars instead of 5 was because the flavor was just a hair under what I expected. But, still tender and juicy, and I seasoned my slices after the fact.
So glad you liked it Katrina!
Like Erin, I was wondering if you had a particular brand of cider in mind, as I have not seen it in cans.
What cider do you recommend?