It’s about to get fancy in here. I’m talking about the kind of fancy that impresses your family and friends, but is really simple to put together. This cranberry pork loin is big on making an impression, but is so very easy to do. If you’re looking for an easy and fancy holiday meal, or a great way to use extra cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving, then I’ve got you covered.
Let’s talk pork loin for a minute here. It’s one of our favorites for a weeknight meal, and I used to put it in the crockpot and call it a day. Easy, quick, but sometimes it got a little dry. After years of this, I somehow stumbled upon another way to cook a pork loin that is just as easy, but comes out so much better – the sear and roast method. Trust me on this – it’s so tender and gives perfect results every time. The other great thing about this is that you can adapt it to different seasonings, so it’s versatile…plus, once you get the searing done, you can walk away while it cooks.
For us, we’ll usually roast up a sheet pan of veggies while the pork loin is in the oven. This way everything is ready around the same time and you can sit down in almost no time at all. This cranberry pork loin is wonderful with roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, red potatoes…I could go on!
The other key to this is the cranberry sauce. I love to make this with extra cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving because, let’s face it, I don’t want any to go to waste and I love it so much. You can find my recipe for spiced cranberry sauce here, but other whole cranberry sauce would work well too.
This dish is also perfect for a winter or holiday dinner. I’m dreaming of roasted root vegetables, maybe some farro, or even some crusty whole grain bread on the side. Mmmm. Ok, enough daydreaming about this holiday dinner, and go make this cranberry pork loin. Enjoy!
Cranberry Pork Loin
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork loin
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1/2 tsp fresh sage, chopped
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- Olive oil
- 2 Tbsp cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400F.
- Trim excess fat from pork loin and pat dry with paper towels. Season evenly on all sides with salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, and garlic powder.
- Heat olive oil in an oven safe skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add pork loin and sear for 2-3 minutes on one side until it starts to brown. Turn pork loin and sear on the next side for 2-3 minutes until it starts to brown. Continue turning and browning for 2-3 minutes on each side until you have browned all sides of the pork loin.
- Remove skillet/dutch oven from the burner, then using a spoon, spread cranberry sauce over the top and sides of the pork loin.
- Set the skillet/dutch oven onto the middle rack of your preheated oven. Roast at 400F for about 20 minutes, or until the temperature in the center of the pork loin reaches 160F. Remove from oven, and cover with foil (or the lid to your dutch oven), and let pork loin rest about 5-10 minutes.
- Once pork loin has rested, remove foil/lid, slice, and serve. Top with additional cranberry sauce, or serve with some extra cranberry sauce on the side.
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