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Dive into your favorite summer vegetables with roasted Pork Loin with Ratatouille, an easy and delicious dinner option for weeknights and Sunday supper!
It’s still summer, so people just want to keep things easy at mealtime. If you’re browsing, try my Grilled Pork Tenderloin or Grilled Pork Chops; served with Israeli Couscous Salad with lots of pickled shallots or bright and sunny California Pasta Salad… what’s not to love?
Got a dinner party coming up? This one-pot dish is dressed to impress everyone you invite. Hands down, it is the easiest, most beautiful, and colorful recipe you’ll make all summer long. Serve up juicy slices of tender pork loin over the provençal ratatouille made of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and eggplant. Every bite is heavenly.
That’s just about all you need; well, maybe that and some fresh flowers on the table. And maybe a bottle or two of rosé.
Other than turning the vegetables in the oven a couple of times during cooking, this recipe is largely hands-off, so you have a little more time to be lazy in the hammock. It is summer; who could blame you for grabbing every last moment of it?
Making Pork Loin with Ratatouille for a larger group? Fun! Click and slide the number next to “servings” on the recipe card below to adjust the ingredients to match how many you’re feeding—the recipe does the math for you, it’s that easy.
What is ratatouille?
Other than completely fun to say (rat-tat-TOO-ee) and a super cute movie, ratatouille is wonderful all on its own. Hailing from the Provence region of France, ratatouille is a rustic vegetable dish made of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and summer squash, stewed together with garlic, onion, and herbs. in other words, the taste of summer in one recipe.
Traditional ratatouille recipes differ depending on the cook; some use thinly sliced veggies layered carefully in a shallow baking dish, while other recipes mix the ratatouille ingredients together in a pot, every which way. Every version is phenomenal.
For this recipe, the vegetables are chopped up and scattered all around the pork loin. They’ll roast and sweeten as they cook down at the higher temperature. By the time the roast is done, all the flavors have mingled together into one amazing dinner.
How to make Pork Loin with Ratatouille:
- First, make your pork loin spice rub. Gather together black pepper, garlic powder, and dried oregano. Blend everything together and rub it all over that beautiful pork loin. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Next, place the spiced pork loin in an oiled roasting pan that’s large enough to hold all the vegetables. Scatter all the vegetables around the pork roast, then add the basil, garlic, and season everything with salt and pepper. Finally, sprinkle on the capers and the brine. Then pop the roasting pan into the oven and cook for about 1 ½ hours.
- Once or twice, as the pork cooks, turn the vegetables in the pan so they cook evenly and release their juices. The pork is done when it reads 155-160 degrees with a meat thermometer. It should be pink in the center; you don’t want dry pork.
- Remove the pork from the pan onto a carving board, and then tent the roast with foil for a few minutes to let the meat rest before carving. When you’re ready to eat, arrange slices of roasted pork on a platter and surround with the gorgeous summer ratatouille.
Some thoughts on the vegetables:
- Did you forget to peel the eggplant? Don’t worry about it. This is rustic. It’s okay.
- Tomatoes not quite ripe? Use a few canned whole tomatoes instead; cut them up into chunks.
- Did yellow squash look better than the zucchini? Use them instead. They’ll be great.
- Love extra peppers? Throw them in. The more the merrier.
- Hate capers? Go ahead and leave them out. This is your ratatouille!
What kind of eggplant should I buy for ratatouille?
If you’re relatively new to cooking eggplant, here’s how find the right one.
Baby Globe eggplants are generally 3 to 5 inches long, and look just like their larger relative, the American Globe eggplant. The baby variety has a thinner skin than the mature eggplant–and may be less bitter. If you can’t find it, look for slender dark purple Asian eggplant or the slender pale lavender variety, the Chinese eggplant.
If all you can find is one variety of eggplant, the American Globe, or the Italian eggplant, buy it. The recipe will still work wonderfully.
Can I make this dish even if I hate eggplant?
You can. Switch out button mushrooms for the eggplant. It will still be delicious.
What’s the difference between pork loin and pork tenderloin?
It’s easy to whiz through a recipe for pork and think that pork loin and pork tenderloin are the same.
They’re not!
Both are relatively lean cuts of boneless pork, but there are some notable differences. Pork tenderloin, sold whole, is smaller, thinner, and cooks quickly. It would be terribly overdone in this recipe! Save it for the grill.
Pork loin is a bigger cut, more of a roast. Pork loin can go by other names, too. It’s also known as center-cut pork loin roast, center-cut pork roast, pork center loin roast, pork center cut rib roast, pork loin center cut, pork loin center rib roast, pork loin roast center cut, or pork loin rib half. Whew, that’s a lot of names. It helps to memorize a couple and go into your butcher prepared.
Can you make pork loin in a slow cooker?
Yes, you can, but this recipe takes advantage of a relatively short cooking time with higher heat to really caramelize the vegetables. This recipe probably won’t turn out the same if you use a slow cooker or crockpot, unfortunately. If you’re hungry for slow cooker pork recipes, try Magic Slow Cooker Pulled Pork served on toasted buns!
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Pork Loin with Ratatouille
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 3 pounds boneless pork loin roast
- 3 tomatoes coarsely chopped
- 3 baby globe eggplants (aubergines) peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 zucchini cut into chunks
- 1 red or green bell pepper seeded and cut into chunks
- 1 yellow onion cut into chunks
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons capers including brine
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To make the spice rub, combine the oregano, garlic powder, and pepper in a small bowl.
- Pat the pork dry with paper towels and rub all over with the spice rub. Place the pork in an oiled heavy roasting pan just large enough to hold it comfortably.
- Arrange the tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, bell pepper, and onion around the pork. Sprinkle with garlic, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Scatter the capers over all.
- Roast the pork until it is cooked through but still slightly pink in the center, about 1 ½ hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the pork should read 155-160 degrees. Turn the vegetables twice during roasting.
- Transfer the pork to a carving board, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let stand for 10 minutes. Slice and arrange on a warmed platter. Surround with the vegetables and serve.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This is my first time visit and I made this and it was so good thank you
Pork is already my favorite, but this one is definitely a keeper!