What do you normally do for Easter?
When we were younger, Easter meant that we went out and got new Easter dresses, we found Easter baskets waiting for us in the den before we rushed off to church, which was followed by lunch at my Ma’s house (dad’s mom) and more Easter Baskets. Then we would pile into the car and drive up to my Nana’s (mom’s mom) house for more Easter baskets and maybe an Easter egg hunt and a family dinner.
Things have certainly changed now that we’re all grown up. We don’t have the hectic run, run, run schedule that we did when we were younger.
Now that we don’t run to grandparents houses or do Easter egg hunts (no kiddos for us yet), hubby and I normally sleep in (unless we go to Church), have breakfast at home (or at BigBear’s Parent’s house if his dad isn’t working) and then go over to my parents house for an Easter dinner.
And yes, even though I’m almost 30 and my brother just turned 25, we still get Easter baskets from my mom. haha.
Normally, my mom and dad split the holiday dinner prep with Big Bear and I. We make a menu and then choose items from it to make and bring to dinner. It makes it so much easier to not pile everything onto one person!
Last year was pretty simple, we grilled steaks on the grill outside and had a few side items like baked potatoes, Paprika Deviled Eggs and Broccoli Casserole. After dinner we sat around the fire pit and made s’mores.
This year though, I’m thinking that we need to switch it up a bit. I’m still all for eating outside on the patio as long as it’s not freezing but instead grilling out, I’m going to offer to make the main course and this Slow Cooker Ranch Stuffed Pork Loin is going to grace our table with the Red Skinned Potatoes that are cooked along with it!
Big Bear and I seasoned this pork loin with a dry ranch seasoning and cooked it in the slow cooker for about 9 hours with the red potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker. The pork was tender and juicy with the perfect amount of ranch flavoring and the potatoes were spot on! They cooked in the bottom of the slow cooker with a little vegetable broth and were smothered in the flavors of the pork loin as it cooked on top of them!
Big Bear’s Wife Tip: To get both sides of the pork loin super soft you may want to flip the pork loin half way through cooking. If you’d rather have one side super soft and tender and the other side crispier, leave it as is for the entire cooking process. I love both versions.
I’m sharing this Slow Cooker Ranch Stuffed Pork Loin with Red Skinned Potatoes with y’all today because I’m working along side of Ohio Pork to let y’all know about the contest their having and to help the Ohio Pork Council donate food to local food banks!
Between now and April 7th, 2015 the The Ohio Pork Council is hosting a “What Type of Kitchen are You?”survey on their website that they’ll choose three winners from!
Not only are they giving away three Fiestaware casserole dishes to three lucky winners who pin their “kitchen type” results by 4/7/15 BUT they’re also donating one meal of pork to a local food bank for each entry, up to 25,000! The Fiestaware casserole dishes are amazing but being able to help them donate meals to the food bank is even better!!
So jump on over there and, find out What Type of Kitchen you are and pin the results on one of your Pinterest boards!
I’m a modern kitchen, what are you? 🙂
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Slow Cooker Ranch Stuffed Pork LoinBy: Angie Barrett – BigBearsWife.com
3/25/15
Ingredients
5 pound pork loin
4 cups fresh spinach
16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons of ranch seasoning mix
3 pounds red potatoes, cut in half
1 cup vegetable broth
You’ll also need butchers twine
I used a 6 quart slow cooker for this recipe
Butterfly the pork loin. To do this, lay the pork loin out onto the cutting board and cut the pork loin horizontal across the side, opening it like a book.
In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of the ranch seasoning. Mix well.
Spread the cream cheese and ranch mixture all over the inside of one side of the pork.
Lay the spinach leaves in a layer over the cream cheese and ranch mixture.
Close the pork loin and use the butchers twice to hold it closed. We tied about 3 or 4 pieces of twine around our pork loin to secure it, one around the middle and one towards each end.
Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of ranch seasoning on each side of the pork loin.
Place the red potato halves into the slow cooker. Cover with one cup of vegetable broth.
Place the pork loin on top of the potatoes. Depending on the size of slow cooker you may need to push the pork loin down into the slow cooker for it to fit. The slow cooker will be quite full.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until done. Pork should reach a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F when done.
Once the pork is done, remove from the slow cooker. Cut and toss away the twine.
The pork will be super tender soft on the underside and crispy on top.
Big Bear’s Wife Tip: To get both sides of the pork loin super soft you may want to flip the pork loin half way through cooking. If you’d rather have one side super soft and tender and the other side crispier, leave it as is for the entire cooking process. I love both versions.
This looks like a great meal! I love ranch anything and I love the color that the spinach adds to this! YUM
awesome recipe and very cool contest!
Is it wrong I want to stuff that in my mouth? Swoon.
Oooooh, yum – this looks super tasty! The golden outside and stuffed inside, I can’t even form the words.
What a fantastic pork loin! I’m imagining the wonderful smells in the kitchen as it roasts in the oven!
I would have never thought of seasoning pork with ranch seasoning mix. Why in the world not? This sounds delicious!
What a wonderful cause and pork loin has become a recent family favorite. I think your recipe looks so flavorful! Great job, Angie!
I think it’s great that you still get Easter baskets…you’re never too old! This stuffed pork loin would be the perfect meal for any special occasion.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who still gets an Easter basket! haha. This pork looks delicious – I love all of that flavor you gave it!
This stuffed pork looks awwwwwwwesome! I’m so glad we both did the pink pork campaign together. Those potatoes in the slow cooker are great because then it’s a total one pot (one slow cooker?) recipe.
What a fantastic dish! Love that you’ve created new Easter traditions as grownups with your parents!
What a delicious pork loin! I love that your mom still gives you an Easter basket 🙂
OMG, I get an Easter basket from my mom too! And I’m just a little bit older than you LOL
I love those little family traditions! I left home almost 20 years ago now, but my mom still gives me a little bag of candied almonds for Easter. 🙂
This pork loin looks totally delicious. I love the flavours you used in your stuffing… such a creative use of ranch seasoning.
This looks so delicious! With a gluten-free broth and seasoning, this recipe looks like the perfect gluten-free dinner! Thanks for the recipe!
This looks amazingly delicious! Loved the quiz too, so fun! I got Shabby Chick!
WHAT?! Ranch stuffed AND made in the slow cooker!? This is the dinner that my dreams are amde of! I love pork, so this is happening! Pinning!
This looks phenomenal!! I don’t know if I’ve ever stuffed a pork loin but I’m definitely going to be doing that now!!
This looks so tasty! I’m always looking for new slow cooker recipes, and this is perfect!
What a neat recipe – love that the tenderloin is stuffed and cooked in a slow cooker!
Can I use a 2.5 lb pork loin? And if so do I need to half the ingredients and cut the time in half? Or just cut the ingredients in half but leave the cooking time the same? I want to make this asap. Thanks.
Veronica, I don’t see why you couldn’t use a 2.5 pound pork loin but I have not made this recipe with 2.5 pound pork loin. However If I were going to use a 2.5 pound pork loin, I would cut the spinach, ranch and cream cheese in half because the 2.5 pound pork loin wouldn’t be as big at the 5 pound therefore you wouldn’t have as much room to stuff everything into it.
I ended up just buying a 5 lb because this looks so amazing and I wanted leftovers but there were different pork loin roasts one of which was called picnic. Which do you buy? I just purchased a 5 lb pork loin roast and it didn’t come with a twine. I hope I bought the right kind. I was just wondering two more things. How long do you normally cook yours for? Was trying to see if it would be closer to 8 or 10 as I do’t want to start it too late. I know cooking times vary but I was just trying to get a closer estimate. Also and this may seem like a dumb question but how did you cut the pork? It looks like just straight down. Thanks for all your help. I’m making this in the morning and I just can’t wait.
Was is a picnic ham? That’s from the shoulder that’s a different cut of the pig. The Pork loin is from the pig’s back. The roasts don’t come with the twine, you have to buy that separately. 🙂 I normally find twine on the end rack where the kitchen tools are in places like Target and Walmart although some grocery stores may have it especially since ewe’re getting close to Thanksgiving. I cook mine closer to 8 hours, sometimes 8 hours and 30 minutes. I cut it down the long side so that it opens up like a book 🙂
So sorry, one more thing. If I don’t have twine what else could I use to hold the stuffing in place?
Hummm…. let me think. You may be able to use some type of cotton string but I’d wet it first. But to be honest I haven’t used anything other than twine but if it came down to using twine or not making it at all, I’d probably fill it, close it (like a book), sit it down into the slow cooker and then sticking a few wooden skewers (that have been soaked in water for about 30 minutes) into it hold it shut. I haven’t tested that method but if it were me I’d try it haha.
I forgot to ask, and if I leave the cooking time the same how do I know if I should cook it 8 or 10 hours? Thanks so much.
As far as the cooking time, if I was going with the 2.5 pound pork loin I would cook it on low for 6 hours and then start checking it with a meat thermometer. Pork should reach an minimum internal temperature of 145F. I am always worried about under cooking meats so I would probably say 6-7 hours on low but I would start checking the temperature after the 6 hour mark just because you don’t want it to get dry but you want it to be cooked all the way too.
Well I just made this today. I thought I followed everything exactly as written. Big Bear Wife’s looks browned on the outside and full of cream cheese center. I have a horrible looking, not browned most of the cream cheese gone and white soup on in the crock pot. This is the second recipe that I’ve tried that was a complete failure!
Hi Ty,
Sorry that you thought the Slow Cooker Ranch Stuffed Pork Loin with Red Skinned Potatoes was a complete failure. Did you try it after it was cooked? How was the flavor? I do admit that sometimes it doesn’t come out looking like a super model pork loin haha but I’ve never had an issue with the flavor. 🙂
Did you flip it half way through? I put both options in directions. If you flip it you won’t get the brown crisp top. The bottom however isn’t going to get brown and crispy ever because of how it’s cooked in the slow cooker. I’ve always thought it was a odd looking pork loin but the flavor makes up for that in our opinion. 🙂
There shouldn’t be too much thick cream cheese inside of the pork after it’s cooked. The finished pork loin is most definitely not stuffed with the cream cheese, the center should mostly just be the cook spinach with maybe a little cream cheese. When Cream cheese gets hot it melts, so it wouldn’t stay thick. It’s mainly there with the ranch to season the pork and then melt down and cook and season the potatoes. The “soup” like mixture is what you kind of want in the bottom, it’s the pork fat and cream cheese melted together. You want that because it makes the potatoes soft and flavorful.
What was the other recipe that was a complete failure? Maybe I can see what went wrong.
Muchos Gracias for your blog article. Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.