Delicious pork loin that’s wrapped in bacon is both juicy and flavorful. The bacon helps seal in moisture and my oven roasting method is foolproof.
Pork loin gets a reputation for being dry and hard to cook. To this statement, I would agree, unless you know how to cook pork loin really well. It’s easy to do, you roast in the oven until it’s just done, let it rest, and then return to a very hot oven to finish and get a nice crust. Bacon-wrapped pork loin is a great idea.
Video: Wrapping Pork Loin With Bacon
Cooking Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin
Why is bacon-wrapped pork loin so smart? Because bacon adds flavor and fat. Wrapping a piece of meat that can easily be dry with bacon seals moisture into the meat. I also love doing this with pork tenderloin but note that pork loin and pork tenderloin are not the same thing, and are cooked differently.
Cooking bacon-wrapped pork loin is very easy, I just use the same method that I do to roast pork loin. Once you have the loin wrapped in bacon, you lay it into a roasting pan (I like this one) and it cooks at 350°F for about an hour and a half, or 20-25 minutes per pound.
The trick is to cook the loin until it’s 145°F internally, and then let it rest, covered in foil to further seal in the juices of the meat. To really brown the bacon and give the dish a nice crust, I place the meat back in the oven at 475°F or under the broiler for a bit to get that desired texture.
Safe Cooking Temperatures For Pork
The USDA’s recommendation for pork is to cook to an internal temperature of 145°F and that is what I prefer. It will be moist and slightly pink in the middle. For this recipe, I take my pork out of the oven when the internal temperature is 140°F and then as it rests it will rise up to the safe temperature.
If you know, however, that you prefer your pork to be fully white and well done, you can cook it a little longer. If you grew up with the old guideline of 160°F for pork, you may be more comfortable cooking till your instant read thermometer reaches 155-160°F. It won’t take much longer to get there, maybe 15 minutes more to the the first cook time (not 15 extra minutes per pound).
What To Serve With Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin
This is a great dish to serve to guests because it’s pretty hands-off. Once you wrap the pork in the bacon, it stays in the roasting pan. While it cooks, you’re free to prep other dishes, tidy up, or mingle! Try serving with whole roasted Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes.
More Bacon Recipes
If you love bacon as much as I do, you have got to check out my favorite bacon recipes:
- Bacon Gravy
- How To Cook Bacon From Frozen
- Bacon-Wrapped Fillet Mignon
- Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
- Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp
- Easy Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf
Podcast Episode: Making Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this pork loin, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Delicious pork loin that’s wrapped in bacon is both juicy and flavorful. The bacon helps seal in moisture and my oven roasting method is foolproof.
Ingredients
- 3–5 lb. pork loin roast
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 lb. bacon
- Roasting pan OR 3 celery ribs for cooking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Season pork roast all over with salt and pepper.
- Lay one piece of the bacon down under one end of the pork. Secure it with a toothpick, and wrap the bacon around the pork.
- Place the end of anther piece of bacon on top of the end of the first piece to hold it in place. Wind it around the roast. Secure strips of bacon with toothpicks, as needed. Repeat these steps until the entire loin is covered with bacon.
- Put the roast on a rack in a roasting pan. If you don’t have a rack use 3 stalks of celery lying side by side.
- Roast until internal temperature is 140°F, 20-25 minutes per pound.*
- Leave roast in roasting pan to rest for 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 475°F. Uncover roast and remove the thermometer. Roast for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the toothpicks and carve and serve immediately.
Notes
*145°F is considered safe for pork according to the USDA. It will be moist and slightly pink in the center. If you prefer your pork fully white and well done, then cook till 155 – 160°F.
- You’ll notice I haven’t called for salt, I think the bacon adds plenty. However, feel free to add to taste after you serve.
This was PERFECT! The pork was juicy and had some bacon flavor to it. The bacon was cooked well. Will be making it again!
So glad you enjoyed, Kristine! Thanks for the comment.
Do you use regular or thick cut bacon to wrap the loin? I’m thinking of wrapping a stuffed loin for Christmas.
Stephen, good question! I would actually go with a medium-slice (regular) here. The roast is going to be in the oven for at least an hour. A thinner cut of bacon could get quite dark in that time. A medium will be less likely to burn. Then, when you put the roast back into the oven at high heat at the end, it will crisp up. A thick cut might work, but it might add quite a bit of fat to the pan, and it might not crisp up as well in the end.
Enjoy your Christmas dinner!
I learned something from you today. Reverse searing and how it’s done. Thank you for the recipe idea.
I will definitely rest bacon wrapped anything before searing.
You’re welcome, Donna. Enjoy!
to make it simpler, could I not immediately put the roast in at 475 after reaching 145 degreees and then let rest for 30 minutes?
Patti, great question! And yes, you could do that. Our general roasting method, using the reverse sear at the end after the roast has rested, and then immediately carving and serving it, means that the crust on the roast is nice and crispy when you serve it. If you let the roast rest after it crisps, the moisture in the roast steams out a bit during that resting time and makes the crust less of a crust. So, you can do it the way you suggested, it just won’t benefit from the perks of the reverse sear technique. You can learn more about this technique over here – https://cookthestory.com/how-to-roast-pork-perfectly/ Thanks!
I made this today for lunch and my husband said it was very flavorful. He insists on well done meat so it was a little dry but still very flavorful! I love the way the roast looks like an armadillo too!
Thanks for sharing, Joanne! Glad it was flavorful even well done.
Hi I’m making this now. Do I
Cover the pan while the it’s
Roasting?
Hi. I’m making this now. Do I cover the pan while roasting
Hi, Alisha! You don’t need to cover the pan while roasting, but do cover with foil during the rest. Hope you enjoyed!
I’m trying this tomorrow :) What happens if you don’t put the loin in a clean pan when you put it back into the 475 degree oven? I was going to roast the loin over root vegetables…
Any drippings that were in the pan would burn at that last high temperature, Jamie. It just makes the pan hard to clean, but it’s unlikely to affect the taste of the roast. If you are roasting veggies in there, I would definitely take the veggies out.
Love the wrapped bacon loin. Have cooked 4 so far. I did do a mixture of crushed dried rosemary, smoked garlic powder, and white pepper, rubbed this on all sides of the loin prior to wrapping with the bacon. YUM
That sounds wonderful, Kaye!
I’m making this today. Don’t I need some kind of liquid in the pan before it goes in the oven? Also I was planning on adding potatoes onions and carrots while cooking. Im starting to question that someone please advise? Its an already wrapped pork loin about 4 pds from Sam’s Club. I don’t want to mess this up!
You don’t need liquid in the pan, Karen. You’ll want to put the pork on a rack in a roasting pan.
Sounds delicious. Im cooking it tomorrow … Ill let ya know how it turns out.
Yay! Hope you enjoyed, Connie!
Thank you! I’ve tried a couple of recipes with iffy results…. This worked perfectly! We paired with grilled red potatoes and asparagus. Will definitely make again.
Sounds like a delicious meal! Glad that you enjoyed it!
I bet that bacon adds a ton of flavor. Going to have to try this one!
Absolutely! Enjoy, Sharon!
Wow ! This is gooooood :-) :-) :-) Thank you and enjoy your day :-)
Glad you enjoyed it!