Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce

My family loves this savory and sweet, Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce recipe. Impressive enough for company, yet easy enough for a weeknight!

I was inspired to make this cherry sauce when I saw this package of frozen cherries at Trader Joes.

I knew right away that I wanted to make some sort of sauce for pork. It was like the skies opened up and I heard a choir of angels singing… Okay, well maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was definitely an inspired moment. Anyway, I’m thrilled with the results; this was seriously good. My family kept going up for seconds and thirds, I bet yours will too.

I’ll be serving this to extended family this weekend as we celebrate my husband’s birthday. He is three weeks younger than me, and during the weeks between our birthdays, he likes to rub it in that he is a younger man. Hah! Not for long my dear!

I want to warn you that the cherry sauce stains the meat a purplish-red, so you should wait to put it on the pork right before serving. You also might not want to serve it on fancy table linens, unless they are machine washable.

We had our Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce, served with ginger mashed sweet potatoes and haricot verts

For step-by-step instructions with photos, scroll down past the recipe.

Step-by-step instructions with photos:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash and pat dry the pork loins. Season loins with dried thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a wide pan over medium heat, (I used a Dutch oven). Melt 1 Tbs of butter in the pan. Brown the pork loins for 3 minutes on the fronts, three minutes on the backs, and then 2 minutes on each of the sides. You can prop the loins up against the sides of the pan, or you may need to use tongs to hold the loins in place as they brown.

Turn off the burner, and transfer the browned pork loins to a foil-lined baking sheet. Insert a digital meat thermometer into the thickest part of the loin, and cook in a 350-degree oven until the loins reach 145 degrees, (about 20 min).

Allow the loins to rest for 10 minutes; the temperature will continue to rise out of the oven, (mine reached 158 degrees). This produced “medium” pork loins with just a blush of pink inside.

While the pork loins are in the oven, prepare the cherry sauce in the same pan that was used to brown the pork. Set the burner to medium low, add 1 Tbs of butter and sauté the chopped shallot until it becomes translucent and fragrant, 2-3 minutes.

Raise burner to medium, add the chicken broth and red wine. Deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits.

Stir in the mustard, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and final tablespoon of butter.

Stir in the frozen cherries and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn burner to low. When cherries are heated through and softened, use a potato masher to break them up.

Simmer mixture stirring frequently, until the cherries are broken down and the sauce has reduced, (about 5 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the pork loins width-wise, on a bias, and serve topped with the cherry sauce.

Note, top with the cherry sauce right before eating. The cherries will stain the meat if left sitting too long.