Roasted Honey Garlic Pork Loin with Veggies

Today, a quick and easy recipe for a roasted boneless pork loin that is packed with sweet and savory flavors. This Roasted Honey Garlic Pork Loin and Veggies is the kind of dinner that comes together fast and with little prep work required (we love this so much!).

Slice a few baby gold potatoes (or not, you can leave them whole or leave them out), grate or mince a few tablespoons of fresh garlic, and you’ve basically done all of the prepping that this easy-going meal will ask of you.

You could make this with a pork tenderloin, yes, but I love a nice and juicy full-on pork loin and today, we’ll talk about how to properly and perfectly cook one in the oven (plus there’s a KILLER honey garlic sauce to go along with).

What is the difference between a PORK LOIN and a pork tenderloin?

Widely available, affordable, and always so tasty, pork loin is just about my favorite meat to cook. Often confused with pork tenderloin, a full-sized boneless pork loin is cut from the back loin muscle of the pig. A loin is fatter and wider (a more plump cut), while the tenderloins are longer and skinnier, this is how you can tell them apart at a glance. 

This distinction between the two cuts of pork is notable and worth discussing for a hot sec, because you can’t interchange one for the other – they require different cook times due to their varying degrees of thickness.

HOW TO ROAST A BONELESS PORK LOIN

Roasting a boneless loin of pork is simple and straightforward, and can yield wonderfully juicy results if done properly. But, simple though it may be, there are a few good tricks to keep in mind when roasting boneless pork loins.

1. SEAR IT: This is a worthwhile 10 minutes of your time, the searing part of the cooking process. While you could absolutely cook the pork loin without taking the time to brown the outsides, you won’t get the lovely color and the browned tasty bits all over. You also get brown bits in the bottom of your pan (called fond!) which contribute to the deliciousness of the sauce. It’s better for it, I promise. Just by searing the meat, you’ll get an entirely deeper layer of flavor in the final product than you would otherwise.

Just please don’t pierce or poke the meat with tongs or a fork or knife to flip it (this is a tempting move) because that will cause some of the juices to seep out – not at all what we’re going for. 

2. COOK IT: High heat + Temperature checks are key. A higher temp of 425 degrees, as opposed to 350 or 375, will yield the best results for your pork loin. This heat will result in a wonderfully browned outside and a perfectly juicy, ever so slightly pink inside (slightly pink pork is fine – it’s not going to hurt you). Because oven temps vary, be sure to check the pork loin’s internal temperature after about 25 minutes of cook time. (See below for more on pork temps.) You can use a simple meat thermometer to do this.  
3. REST IT:. Amen. More on this below, because it is clutch.

WHY REST IT?

As meat cooks, the juices tend to gather in the center (I used to imagine that they were all trying to get away from the hot outsides, but I digress). After the cooking process, when the meat is resting at room temperature, those juices tend to get less antsy and clingy to the center and they redistribute back throughout the entire piece of meat, so to speak. 

If you cut or slice into the meat before that has had the chance to happen, the chances of you getting a big juicy puddle on your cutting board are pretty high. You want the juices nice and evenly dispersed throughout the meat so when you slice it, they aren’t likely to just spill out in one, big puddle of lost flavor. 

What Should the Internal Temperature of Roasted Pork Loin Be?

Contrary to some vary time-worn popular conventions, pork doesn’t need to be cooked to death in order to eat it safely. Have you ever known anyone who got trichinosis? Probably not. Proper pork cookery asks that we treat our pork in a very similar manner to the way we treat cuts of beef – serving them not quite as pink or rare, but not too far off.

We’re aiming for a very light pink center to our pork loin here, a nice medium rare to medium, I’d say, and the internal temperature should read 145 to 150 degrees F for that.

Roasted Honey Garlic Pork Loin: The Breakdown

What you’ll need:

2.5 to 3 lbs. Pork loin (not tenderloin)

Salt and pepper, as needed

Oil for cooking (I use regular olive oil, not extra virgin)

½ cup honey (you can also use maple syrup or do a mix of each)

2.5 TBSP soy sauce

3 TBSP white or rice wine vinegar

3 garlic cloves, minced or grated

8 oz. fresh, trimmed green beans

2 cups (give or take) baby gold potatoes, halved (optional)

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Adjust the rack to the middle position.

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, stir together the honey, soy sauce, vinegar, and grated/minced garlic. Set aside. 

Season the pork loin all over with salt and pepper. Add 2 TBSP oil to a large, heavy-bottomed skillet set over med-high to high heat. When the oil shimmers, sear the pork loin on each side (4 sides) for two minutes, or until nice and brown. Pour the sauce all over and around the meat and place in the oven to roast. Roast for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature is 145 degrees F. 

When there are 12 minutes remaining, put the green beans in the pan with the roast, around the sides, and allow them to cook along with the pork. Spoon a little of the honey garlic sauce over the roast to baste it before going back in the oven to finish cooking.  

If you want to make potatoes as well, place the halved potatoes on a baking sheet, coat in about 1 TBSP olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 23 to 26 minutes in the oven, right alongside (or under) the pan with the pork and green beans.

Allow the meat to rest for at least 10 minutes prior to slicing. Serve with the sauce and veggies. 

If you like the looks of this Roasted Honey Garlic Pork Loin with Veggies, you might want to check out:

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