Honey Chipotle Glazed Pork Loin with Apple, Bacon & Sweet Onion Relish

My last post wasn’t all that great, so I had promised a better one for this time.  I’m not sure if this counts, but today I’ll unveil my attempt at coming up with some recipes of my own. 

My base for this recipe was a plain 1 ¾ lb pork loin filet that I’d picked up last time we went grocery shopping.  Pork loins are nice because there are a wide variety of marinades that can be used for them.  Most of these marinades are also pretty simple.

I finally decided I’d like to go with a honey chipotle type of sauce.  I had made a steak recipe awhile ago that involved letting the steak sit in an apple cider vinegar and pepper mix for the seasoning. Using these ideas, I came with the following:

Pork Loin in a Honey Chipotle Glaze

By: Kammie Cooks

·         1 pork loin filet (1 ½ - 1 ¾ lbs)

·         ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

·         1 tsp brown sugar

·         ½ tsp smoked paprika

·         2 dashes soy sauce

·         1 dash garlic powder

·         generous amount of ground black pepper

·         ¼ cup honey

·         3 chipotles in adobo sauce

In a small bowl, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, smoked paprika, soy sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper.  Place the pork loin in a glass pan and begin brushing the mixture over the meat.  Continue to apply all of the mixture, coating all sides of the meat.  Place plastic wrap over the pan, and leave in fridge to marinate for up to an hour.

In the meantime, finely chop 3 chipotles.  Mix the chopped chipotles and the honey in a small container.   This will only be applied toward the end of cooking.  The amount of chipotles used can be up to your individual taste.  Three may turn out to be a bit too much heat for some, but I have a husband who buys the type of hot sauce that has skulls or biohazard warning signs on the bottle. 

Cook the pork loin at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.  Pull the pork loin out of the oven and brush the honey chipotle mixture on all sides.  Cook for another 10 minutes.

Although I’m guessing the pork loin would be fine on its own at this point, I also decided to add a little something to this recipe.  Awhile back, I ran into Not Quite Nigella’s amazing looking Bacon Jam recipe.  This got me thinking about jams, relishes, etc, so I thought I’d come up with something to top the pork loin. 

Apple, Bacon, & Sweet Onion Relish

By: Kammie Cooks

4 slices bacon

2 apples

1 sweet yellow onion

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

Cook the bacon slices in a skillet and remove when cooked.  Reduce heat to low.  Cook the diced onion in the bacon grease for about 15-20 minutes.  Peel and dice the apple. (I used one Honey Crisp and one Granny Smith.)  Add the apples and cook another 15 minutes until soft.  Crumble the bacon and add it back in the mixture.  Add the apple cider vinegar and brown sugar.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring fairly frequently so the brown sugar doesn’t burn.  The mixture will start to thicken and caramelize.  Place on top of sliced pieces of pork loin.

As for a side dish, the smoky chipotle flavor brought to mind mashed sweet potatoes. I was wanting a little something to add a bit of bite to the potatoes, and finally decided a little balsamic drizzle would do the trick.  For that, I combined about 1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar with a teaspoon of sugar.  Heat while stirring constantly until the sauce thickens enough to get a little syrupy.  Drizzle just a little bit of balsamic glaze on each helping of potatoes.

We’re still dealing with some cold, snowy weather in my neck of the woods, so my Helpers were more concerned with finding somewhere warm and cozy to sleep than with helping me cook.

Yes, that is a heating vent that is barely visible under one of the cats.