What temperature should a pork loin roast be cooked at

Everything you need to know to ensure it's just right every time.

Updated on October 14, 2022

Table of Contents Show

Everything you need to know to ensure it's just right every time.
Tough Cuts of Pork: Cooking Time and Temperature
Tender Cuts of Pork: Cooking Time and Temperature
History of Trichinella
Today's Pork Is Leaner Than Ever
USDA Updated Guidelines in 2011
The Target Temperature for Pork Is 145 F
What temperature does a pork loin roast need to be?
What temp is pork loin most tender?
How do I cook a pork loin so it doesn't dry out?
Is pork loin done at 160 degrees?

Regardless of the cut of pork, the finished cooking temperature should be 145°F for tough and tender pork alike. For an accurate temperature reading when checking for doneness, make sure your meat thermometer is not touching bone, fat, or gristle. It's also imperative to allow the meat to rest for a few minutes. The USDA guidelines say that the meat should rest for at least three minutes as this time allows for the last of any harmful bacteria to be killed by the 145°F temperature, but for most large cuts of meat (like a tenderloin or pork chop), the meat should rest for at least 15 minutes so the juices in the meat do not leak from the flesh when cut (Fresh Pork from Farm to Table).

In terms of safety, the main focus should be ensuring you raise the internal temperature of the meat to 145°F. However, the other most important factor is taste. Cooking meat is complex because the composition of meat varies across different meat cuts. No two are exactly the same. Different muscles have varying amounts of collagen, fat, and meat fibers. Therefore, the best way to prepare a particular cut of meat will vary as well—whether they will need to be prepared with a certain kind of heat, or cooked for either a short amount of time or a prolonged cook time.

Illustration by Kailey Whitman

Tough Cuts of Pork: Cooking Time and Temperature

Muscles that are more responsible for movement or weight bearing are tougher and have larger deposits of collagen in the meat. Collagen breaks down into gelatin when the meat maintains a temperature of 160°F for a prolonged period of time, and it's this liquified gelatin that makes the meat succulent and moist when prepared properly.

The juiciest pork ribs and the tenderest pork shoulders—otherwise known as Boston butts—are always prepared with lower heat for longer periods of time to allow plenty of time for the collagen to break down and achieve the aforementioned succulence. These muscles should be cooked for a long time at a temperature at or below 275°F until the meat is tender. For this reason, these cuts are often used in slow-cooker recipes because the slow cooker gently cooks the meat at a lower temperature for hours at a time. But with this prolonged time comes the threat of moisture loss, so a liquid for the meat to cook in is essential to maintaining the right level of moisture in the meat.

Tender Cuts of Pork: Cooking Time and Temperature

The muscles that are used the least by the animal are the most prized for their tenderness and juiciness. If they are prepared like the tough cuts of meat, the more tender pork pieces will come out dry and hard—which is why you will never find a good pork tenderloin slow cooker recipe. The general rule is that these cuts should be cooked at a high temperature for the briefest period of time it takes to reach an internal temperature of 145°F. Cooking them any longer risks drying them out.

The most foolproof way to prepare a cut like a pork tenderloin or a nice bone-in pork chop is to sear the outside of the seasoned meat in a cast iron skillet to make a nice crust before transferring the cast iron to a hot oven (425°F) until a thermometer reads 145°F at the thickest part of the meat. As soon as the thermometer indicates the proper temperature, the meat should be set aside to rest, as the tender (and expensive) cuts are the easiest to overcook. Compared to the several hours it takes to prepare a larger, tougher cut of meat, these cuts are done cooking much faster—typically less than half an hour. This quick method of cooking allows for minimal muscle fiber firming and moisture loss, resulting in mouth-watering and tender cuts of pork.

Firming up your knowledge of the science behind the times and temperatures best suited for different cuts of pork will help make you a formidable cook. You will develop the intuition so many professional chefs rely on in their day-to-day work. And with this knowledge and intuition, you'll be able to cook up the perfect cut of pork in your very own kitchen.

One of the most common misconceptions about pork is that it needs to be cooked well-done. For quite a few decades, it was common practice to cook pork to a minimum internal temperature of 160 F. The slightest trace of pink in a grilled pork chop or roasted pork loin was cause for alarm. Generations of people grew up wholly unaware that pork could be served in any way other than overcooked. It's the only way they'd ever tasted it. A pork loin roasted to 160 F is going to be tough, dry, and thoroughly flavorless. The good news is, it doesn't have to be that way.

History of Trichinella

Why do so many people learn to cook the pink out of their pork? It all started with a parasitic worm called Trichinella. Fairly prevalent in pork in the 1930s and '40s, trichinella caused a particularly unpleasant and sometimes fatal disease called trichinosis. To combat it, the government urged people to cook their pork to 160 F, which would kill the parasite.

As it turns out, 160 F was overkill. The trichinella worm is actually killed at 137 F. For all those years, people had been drastically overcooking pork for no good reason at all. In later decades, stricter laws governing the ways pork can be raised and handled helped drive the prevalence of trichinella way down, to the point where by the mid-1990s it had been nearly completely eradicated.

Today's Pork Is Leaner Than Ever

Modern pork is much leaner (less fatty) than it was in decades past, making it much more prone to drying out if it's overcooked. Even so, people kept right on cooking their pork to 160 F, despite the fact that 160 F was always too high and trichinella had been wiped out in any case. It was just the way they'd always been told to cook pork. Additionally, the USDA continued to recommend cooking pork to a minimum internal temperature of 160 F.

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USDA Updated Guidelines in 2011

In 2011, the USDA updated their recommendations. The USDA now lists 145 F as its recommended safe minimum cooking temperature for fresh pork. This cooks pork to medium as opposed to well-done. A pork loin cooked to 145 F might look a little bit pink in the middle, but that's perfectly all right. In fact, it's great.

Some intrepid souls, in search of ever more tenderness and juiciness, might even dare for 135 F to 140 F. But even if you stick to 145 F, your pork is going to be lifetimes more tender, juicy and flavorful than you've ever tasted before. A great tool to help you stay on top of your temperatures is a digital probe thermometer that can be set to alert you when the meat reaches its target temperature.

The Target Temperature for Pork Is 145 F

Because of something called "carry-over cooking," you have to remove your pork roast from the oven when its actual temperature is 5 to 10 degrees below its target temperature. The meat's internal temperature will continue to increase for a while, even after you take it out of the oven. The bigger the piece of meat and the higher your cooking temperature, the greater this effect will be.

One last note: The USDA's guidelines only apply to whole pork cuts like chops, roasts and so on. Ground pork, like all ground meats, still needs to be cooked to 160 F. Now get out there and enjoy some juicy pork roasts and chops.

What temperature does a pork loin roast need to be?

The safe internal pork cooking temperature for fresh cuts is 145° F. To check doneness properly, use a digital cooking thermometer. Fresh cut muscle meats such as pork chops, pork roasts, pork loin, and tenderloin should measure 145° F, ensuring the maximum amount of flavor.

What temp is pork loin most tender?

How do I cook a pork loin so it doesn't dry out?

Brush the pork tenderloin with additional marinade, then bake in a preheated oven at 425°F for about 15-20 minutes, until the pork reaches a temperature of 145°F, then remove it from the oven. Cooking the pork tenderloin at the high temperature of 425 degrees F helps it cook quickly and prevents it from drying out.

Is pork loin done at 160 degrees?

Here are the current USDA recommendations: Pork chops, pork loin, and pork tenderloin: Cook to 145° F (63° C), then rest 3 minutes. Ground pork: Cook to 160° F (71° C). Grinding pork exposes more surface area to bacteria, so it needs to be cooked to a higher temperature than other cuts of pork.