This pork loin roast recipe with paprika requires only that you rub some spices on a hunk of pork, shove it in the oven, and not forget about it. Pretty easy.
Pork Loin Roast with Paprika
This pork loin roast recipe with paprika isn’t elegant or even particularly gourmet, confess the authors, but it’s a traditional Basque technique to put dinner on the table that’s reliable and draws rave reviews. Pretty impressive considering all you have to do is slather some spices on a chunk of meat and shove it in the oven. If you don’t have time to wait for a roast, simply slice the spice-slathered pork into thick slices and cook them in a skillet as you would pork chops, which the authors assert is also quite traditional in the Basque region.–Renee Schettler
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Pork Loin Roast with Paprika
Ingredients
For the garlic paste
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup water
For the pork loin
- One (5-pound) boneless pork loin roast with a generous fat cap intact if possible, tied if desired
- 1/4 cup hot Spanish paprika
- 1/4 cup sweet Spanish paprika
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
Make the garlic paste
- Toss the salt and garlic cloves in a food processor and pulse until you have a rough paste, about 15 times. Then add the water, a little at a time, and pulse to form a thick but smooth paste. (You'll need at least 1/4 cup water to make the paste. Start with that. If necessary, dribble in more water, a little at a time, to achieve the proper consistency. You may need as much as 1/2 cup water total.)
Prepare the pork loin
- Rub the paste onto the pork loin, covering it evenly. Cover and refrigerate the pork loin for 30 minutes.
- Rinse off the paste and pat the pork loin dry. In a small bowl, stir together the hot and sweet paprikas, then stir in the oil to make a paste.
- Smear a thin layer of the paste over the pork loin and wrap everything in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, let the pork loin come to room temperature.
Roast the pork loin
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
- Unwrap the loin and scrape off any excess paprika paste to keep it from burning. Place the pork loin on a wire rack in a baking dish or roasting pan, shove it in the oven, and then immediately turn down the heat to 300°F (150°C). Roast the pork loin until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loin registers 145°F (63°C), which should be between 75 to 90 minutes. The exact timing will depend on the thickness of your pork roast.
- Loosely tent the pork loin with foil and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. After the wait, slice and serve immediately.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This pork loin roast recipe with paprika delivered that OMG first taste experience! The idea of marinating and roasting a large piece of meat might initially seem a little intimidating, but the results are a perfect roast with not a lot of fuss.
Both the garlic-salt brine and paprika mixture came together in minutes, and using a resealable 2-gallon plastic bag made it easy to store in the fridge. My paprika mixture used a combination of sweet and bittersweet Spanish paprika for the sweet portion and a hot Spanish paprika. None of these were smoked, though I can see that flavor working well here. We liked that the heat and flavor not only came through on the outside but also infused the roast.
The thick slices we served were uniformly pink and perfectly moist (thank you, dry brine!). The fat cap kept the roast moist but didn’t yield much in the way of juices. So if you don’t have a roasting pan that’s large enough, you can probably get away with using a sheet pan.
This recipe easily serves 8, possibly more if you aren’t serving thick slices or large portions. The 2 of us will be making many more meals out of it. I served my roast thickly sliced over a mash of red potatoes and alongside roasted asparagus. I’m planning on Cubano sandwiches, stir-fries, and more slices with mashed potatoes and asparagus like we had for our first meal. This was a complete success!
This pork loin roast recipe with paprika is a very simple but tasty recipe. The flavors of the garlic and paprika go very nicely with the pork. The preparation is simple, but it does take some planning because of the overnight rest in the paprika and garlic paste.
You also need to allow plenty of time for roasting because it’s a very slow roast in the oven at 300°F. I halved the recipe, using a 2 1/2-pound boneless pork roast, and it took over an hour to get to an internal temperature of 145°F.
Our halved recipe was easily cut into 6 nice boneless chops after roasting. It’s a dish that can be served with just about any type of potato and vegetable.
I had never heard of lomo adobado before seeing this recipe. I was convinced it was worth trying, though, after seeing that the pork loin would be swimming in a fair amount of garlic as well as a separate marinade of sweet and hot paprika. The end result is very juicy with a nicely colored bark. The marinating time is worth the wait.
I used 1/4 cup water to make the salt and garlic paste in the food processor. The paste came together easily and adhered to the pork loin well. The next day, I took the pork loin out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking time so it could come to room temperature. It took 1 1/2 hours to reach the recommended internal temp of 145°F. After letting the meat rest, I sliced it into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
There was quite a bit of pork left over, and I’m excited to play with it. I envision thin slices with eggs and toast in the morning, cold sandwiches with lettuce and avocado, or maybe some chili with the pork loin imparting its garlicky and spicy goodness to the mix. Oh, the possibilities.
This pork loin roast recipe with paprika is simple and imparts great flavors into your dinner with minimal effort.
I cooked two 2 1/2-pound pork loins. I served 6 people for Easter dinner and easily could have fed 2 more and still had ample leftovers. I added 1/4 cup water to make a thick garlic and salt paste. The overall taste of the meat was great—the garlic and paprika were in balance, and the meat was very tender and juicy.
Decided to try this roast pork loin recipe for our family’s Easter dinner. It was so easy to put together, with such a short but flavorful ingredient list. Plus, outside of smearing the pastes on the meat, it was very little hands-on time.
The low temperature of the oven obviously stretched out the cooking time, but the final product was moist and not dried out as whole pork loin sometimes can be.
It was also well-seasoned, but neither the garlic nor paprika was overpowering.
Originally published March 09, 2020
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Could this recipe be adapted for 1 pound pork tenderloins? If so, how? Thanks.
Carole, it could, yes, but we didn’t test it that way. Timings and such would change significantly. If you try it, please let us know how it turned out.
This recipe sounds delightful. Can it be done in a slow cooker? If so, for approx how long?
Hi Susanna, I would not recommend a slow cooker for this. Part of the loveliness of this recipe is the basque spice infused bark. A slow cooker would yield a different texture.
Made this for a special meal, and then shared it with several of my neighbors. Everyone loved it. Very tasty. It did take longer to cook than given in the recipe.
Debby, thanks so much for taking the time to let us know you love this as much as we do! As for the timing, so glad you paid special attention to that, different thicknesses of roasts tend to cook at slightly different rates. Looking forward to hearing which recipe on the site you try next!