BHA & BHT Free Apple Cider Roast Pork Loin
Savory, warmly spiced, and built around real whole ingredients, this roast pork loin is the kind of centerpiece dish that makes a weeknight feel like a Sunday celebration. The rub combines dried herbs, ground ginger, turmeric, and Ceylon cinnamon with coconut oil, creating a fragrant crust that blooms beautifully in a hot oven before the roast settles into a low, slow braise. Unfiltered apple cider, bone broth, apple cider vinegar, and honey form the braising liquid — no packaged sauces, no mystery additives, just clean pantry staples doing serious flavor work. The bed of apple wedges and onions underneath the pork softens into something almost jammy, and every bit of that goes into the pan sauce thickened with arrowroot starch. For anyone navigating preservative sensitivities, the beauty of this recipe is that every single component is straightforward and easy to source without label anxiety. The two-stage roasting method — a blast of high heat followed by a gentler finish — keeps the loin juicy and gives you that gorgeous browned exterior without drying anything out. Finished with a spoonful of glossy pan sauce and a scatter of fresh thyme, it's a genuinely impressive plate that happens to be completely free of synthetic antioxidants.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the pork
- 2 ½ lb boneless pork loin roast
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp ceylon cinnamon
For the roasting pan
- 3 medium apples (such as honeycrisp or fuji), cored and cut into 1-inch wedges
- 1 large yellow onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
For the braising liquid
- 1 cup unfiltered apple cider (not hard cider)
- 1 cup bone broth
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
For the pan sauce
- 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
- 2 tbsp cold water
For serving
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Pat the pork loin completely dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, stir together the salt, dried thyme, dried rosemary, ginger, turmeric, and Ceylon cinnamon. Rub the coconut oil all over the pork, then press the spice mixture evenly onto all sides.
- 2
Scatter the apple wedges, onion wedges, smashed garlic, and fresh thyme sprigs across the bottom of a large roasting pan or oven-safe skillet. Pour the apple cider, bone broth, apple cider vinegar, and honey over the apples and onions, and stir briefly to combine.
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