Roasted Pork Loin with Potatoes

This shop/post has been compensated by Collective Bias, INC. and The Coca-Cola Company, all opinions are mine alone. #ServeWithACoke #CollectiveBias

Food has been bringing people together as far back as anyone can recount. While we have a large extended family, for many of our holiday meals we prefer an intimate home setting. Rather than cooking a huge potluck-type meal, we enjoy a smaller meal with close friends or family. This Roasted Pork Loin with roasted vegetables is a family favorite. A bonus is that it is easy enough for any beginner cook to accomplish, too.

For the potato choice, this recipe may be used with sweet potatoes or baby potatoes. I do not recommend traditional russet potatoes. These baby potatoes or sweet potatoes have a thinner skin that allows the oil and the spices to flavor the potato pieces.

Do you have a beverage that reminds you of past holidays? Coca-Cola™ classic glass bottles do that for me. They are a perfect holiday pairing for festive meals. Even their color is a festive red! Whether you are cooking at home or traveling, they are a tasty holiday meal pairing. 

Ingredients for Roasted Pork Loin:

• 3 lb. pork loin
• Olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon crushed rosemary
• Ground black pepper
• Pink Himalayan sea salt

Ingredients:

• Small potatoes or sweet potatoes
• Olive oil
• Ground black pepper
• Pink Himalayan sea sat

Begin with the pork loin. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the crushed rosemary and garlic powder. Add Pink Himalayan sea salt and black pepper to taste. Combine.

Pour in olive oil, small amounts at a time, and combine with the spices. Add olive oil until the ingredients have made a paste. The combination should NOT be runny.

Cover a baking dish with aluminum foil. Using a fork, poke holes all over the pork loin. Rub the paste over the entire pork loin, lightly pressing the paste into the holes.

Bake for approximately one hour until the pork loin reaches 165 degrees internally.

While the pork is baking, cut the potatoes into small pieces. If using the baby potatoes, quarter the potatoes. Add the potatoes to a large bowl. Cover with olive oil. Add ground black pepper and Pink Himalayan sea salt and combine to coat the potatoes thoroughly.

Cover a pan with the aluminum foil. Pour the potatoes onto the pan.

Add the potatoes into the oven beside of the pork loin during the last 15 minutes of baking. Remove the pork loin and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm while the potatoes are roasting.

Once the pork is out of the oven, bump the oven temperature up to 425 degrees. Roast the potatoes for at least another 20 minutes. The potatoes are finished when they are slightly browned around the edges and a fork pierces them easily.

If desired, you can roast green beans during this time, as well. When I roast vegetables, I typically place them in individual pans (unless they are peppers or onions). When veggies of different thicknesses are in the same pan, it is easy for some to get done faster than others, and the smaller ones will sometime burn. I threw a few fresh green beans on a covered pan, covered them with olive oil, black pepper, and Pink Himalayan sea salt, and placed them in the oven beside of the potatoes. The green beans are done when they have light brown spots and are easily pierced with a fork.

On a large serving platter, add the pork loin, potatoes, and any other vegetables.

I shared yesterday how my grandmother always had a refrigerator of Coca-Cola for us grandkids when we would come over for the holidays. Seeing these Coca-Cola glass bottles in the store always brings back those memories for me, and I can’t resist picking up a pack whenever the holidays come around.

Find more Coca-Cola food pairings here!