This Tarragon Pork starts with a bone in pork loin roast, cooked on the stove-top with a wine, mustard and tarragon gravy.
If you are a fan of my Pork Loin with Wine and Herb Gravy, I know you will love this one as well. It’s similar, but different :) The main difference is the use of tarragon and mustard in the wine gravy, which is a treat if you are a tarragon lover, like me!
Also different with this one is that it starts with a bone-in, centre-cut pork loin roast. I find these roasts on sale often and can never resist popping one in the freezer. It’s not always easy to find nice ways to cook them up though, which is why I love this recipe.
Even though this one starts with a bone-in roast, I will often remove the meat from the bone and thinly slice it, as I’ve done here. Alternately though, as this is a bone-in roast, you can cut it into wide “chops” from your roast and serve drizzled with the delicious gravy. This method of cooking the pork ensures a lovely, tender piece of pork whichever way your decide to serve it.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Pork Loin – a pork loin is different from a pork tenderloin. While a pork tenderloin is small, long and skinny, a pork loin is thicker and may or may not have a bone in it. This recipe specifies a bone-in pork loin. You can make this with a boneless pork loin, but the cooking time will vary. A boneless pork loin will cook more quickly. If you want to try this recipe with the smaller, thinner pork tenderloin, it will cook a lot more quickly (30-45 minutes), depending on size and thickness of the pork cut. Be sure to test internal temperature often during cooking to gauge progress.
Tarragon – tarragon is a somewhat divisive herb. You either love it or hate it. So obviously, you hopefully you will know which camp you fall in to before you start this recipe :)
White Wine – Use a nice, dry white wine here. Any wine you would enjoy drinking will work nicely here.
Recipe Tips
- If your pan is free of liquid when the roast is cooked and you have removed it to rest, add a splash of wine to the pan to deglaze, before adding the stock/cream etc.
- Be sure to test the sauce and season with salt and freshly ground pepper, as needed. You can also add a bit more mustard/tarragon to the sauce if you feel it needs it.
- I tested my roast for internal temperature when I checked it every 20 minutes and found the following: at 20 minutes it was 56F (roast was still cool from the fridge), at 40 minutes it was 70F, at 1 hour it was 102F, at 80 minutes it was 129F. I cooked a further 5 minutes (so 1 hour, 25 minutes total) and the temperature was 135F when I removed it from the pan. This makes for a wonderfully moist, but ever so slightly pink pork. You may wish to cook to 140F if you prefer no pink, but still lovely and tender. Roast will rise a further 5F as it rests.
Top Tip
Be sure to check the pan while it is cooking to make sure there is still wine in it. You don’t want the pan to go dry! I will often need to add a splash of extra wine for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
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Get the Recipe: Tarragon Pork
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
- 3 medium shallots, peeled and quartered
- 3 lb bone-in, centre-cut pork loin roast, *or see Notes below for options
- 3 inch length fresh tarragon
- 1 1/2 cups dry white wine, any kind you enjoy drinking
To finish:
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 Tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
To thicken, if necessary:
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium-high in a large, heavy-bottomed pot with a lid, such as a Dutch oven, big enough to hold your roast. Season roast with salt and pepper. Place top/fat-side down into the pan and allow to cook until golden. Flip over roast and allow to cook another few minutes. Add garlic cloves and shallots to the pan and stir around the pan a minute or so to soften (watch closely so they don't scorch).
- Add wine to pan and allow to boil for a minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low, placing the lid over-top slightly ajar, so that pot is not completely covered. Cook for 20 minutes, flip roast and stirring, making sure there is liquid in the pan that is at a gentle simmer. Continue cooking, flipping and checking every 20 minutes, for a total of about 1 1/2 hours, adding more wine if necessary if pan gets dry, or until the roast internal temperature reaches 135-140 degrees when tested with a thermometer. Remove roast to a cutting board and tend loosely with foil.
- To the pan, add chicken broth, heavy cream, Dijon and tarragon. Bring to a simmer, stirring pan to loosen any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper. If necessary, thicken sauce by stirring together water and cornstarch and adding a bit at a time to the gravy until sauce thickens as much as you'd like.
- Keep sauce warm. Cut pork away from bone in one large piece and thinly slice to serve with gravy or alternately, cut down through the roast and bone into thicker chops and serve drizzled with sauce.
Notes
More Pork Loin Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Very delicious! I added a splash of marsala wine with my riesling. I didn’t use chicken stock/broth since hubby has poultry allergy. I also added alot of heavy cream. I used an onion since I didn’t have shallots and it was marvelous! Infact, I just had leftovers for lunch. My hubby was raving how tender the pork was (cooked at 135). I served over quinoa, but I would’ve preferred egg noodles or rice. Definitely recommend!!
Thanks Kayla and so glad you enjoyed it!
What would you suggest I serve to go with the sauce?
Hi Donna, this one is nice with rice or a wild rice blend. You can also never go wrong with mashed potatoes, I think :)
This was a really good recipe for a fantastic sauce.
I only had a boneless pork loin so the cooking time was reduced and I had a lot of wine liquid left over but was able to reduce that. I switched beef stock for chicken stock (because that’s all I had on hand), added mushrooms and doubled the cornstarch/water mixture. Now I have extra tarragon leftover for chicken salad sandwiches.
So glad you enjoyed it, Jessica and loving the sound of those chicken salad sandwiches with the leftover tarragon :) Thanks!
Do you have a recommendation on how to adapt this recipe for butterflied pork chops instead of a loin roast?
Hi Paige and I think I would change two things. First, I would cut the ingredients in half, as you don’t want that much “sauce”. Then I would just reduce the cooking/simmering time drastically, as the chops won’t need nearly as long to cook as the pork loin. I can’t say exactly how long, but if you have a thermometer to check, just simmer until the chops are 140F. Hope that helps :)
Awesome and highly recommended! Tarragon raises this warm and comforting meal to a whole new level!
So glad you enjoyed it, Jenelle :) Thanks so much!
You refer to original post. Where is that found?
Thank you.
Hi Lesley, It just refers to the post where you are reading the recipe. Sometimes people print out only the recipe card and miss the “Cook’s Notes” in the post (above the recipe card).
I LOVE tarragon and I don’t use it nearly enough. We grow a lot of it during the summer and I should be using more. Delicious pairing with pork and that creamy sauce. Bet it’s lovely with a glass of white wine!
Thanks Dawn! Tarragon is one of my favourite herbs and yes, perfect with a glass of white wine :)
Love the white wine and tarragon flavors – this is a pork dish I’d be happy to savor…I guess I better roll up my sleeves, lol. PS. Last night had to use up a bunch of asparagus and make a quick dinner. Decided on a quiche, but didn’t have crust. Then came across your hash brown crust asparagus quiche recipe – yum! It was great with mozzarella and grated Parmesan.
Thanks Milena and so glad you enjoyed the quiche, too! I love that potato crust :)
I love pork any way it’s served! This is a gorgeous meal! Can’t wait to try it!!
Thanks Annie :)
We love pork and eat it often Jennifer. And tarragon is one of my favorite spices. This sauce looks amazing. Can’t wait to give your recipe a try!
Thanks Mary Ann! This is one of my favourite ways of cooking a pork roast. So tender and flavourful :)
Absolutely gorgeous Jennifer! I am truly making this recipe asap. I’ve been craving a beautiful pork roast and love the mustard and tarragon. Another winner :) PINNED and printed!
Thanks so much, Tricia :)
I love pork, but for some reason I don’t eat it often enough. This pork loin is making me want to change that immediately! That tangy tarragon gravy looks to die for delicious!! I bet this tastes even better than it looks! Can’t wait to give it a try!
Thanks Cheyanne and I think you will love pork done this way :)
This was a really good recipe for a fantastic sauce.
I only had a boneless pork loin so the cooking time was reduced and I had a lot of wine liquid left over but was able to reduce that. I switched beef stock for chicken stock (because that’s all I had on hand), added mushrooms and doubled the cornstarch/water mixture. Now I have extra tarragon leftover for chicken salad sandwiches.
I love tarragon but don’t have that many recipes that call for it. This looks like a delicious way to use both tarragon and pork loin. Love the look of that sauce!
Thanks Chris. Tarragon is a favourite of mine, so I love to find ways to use it :)