How To Smoke A Pork Loin On A Pellet Grill

To smoke a pork loin on your pellet grill, place your pork loin directly on the grill grates. Set your temperature between 225F – 250F. The size of your pork loin will determine how long to smoke your pork loin.

You want your pork loin to be tender and moist after removing it from the grill. Let’s take a look at the best way to do this.

Frequently Asked Question

Getting Your Pork Loin Ready For Grill

Before I do any seasoning of my pork loin, I look to see if there is a large fat cap. At times there will be, if so, trim it back to 1/4 inch thickness. This is so there is not an excess of fat when cooking.

There are several ways to get your pork loin ready for the grill. By using this method, I have great flavor and tenderness from my pork loin. Taking it out of the wrapper, I will apply my rub to it to allow it to start the marinating process. During this process, I will put my loin in a pan with apple juice, if I am going to let marinate overnight. I cover the pan with foil to prevent any evaporation of the apple juice.

The next day, I pull the loin out of the apple juice applying more rub for a deeper, fuller flavor. Creating a deeper, fuller flavor is what you desire when smoking a pork loin. You have found this process to be so easy

Smoke A Pork Loin After Preparing Your Grill

You are getting acquainted with your pellet grill but still, need to learn all of its functions. Let’s get going on setting your pellet grill up for smoking a pork loin.

First, place your control setting to smoke, leaving the lid open. Next, wait the ten minutes suggested, this allows your grill to heat to the proper setting. Close the lid to allow the chamber temperature to reach the smoke setting. You will then want to select the temperature at the setting for smoking a pork loin. I like to use 275F myself.

I have found, for me, this temperature works the best, it allows me to get the best flavor and cook the loin at the speed that works best for my family. Spritzing your pork loin about every 30 minutes to keep it moist. Another thing you can do to help retain moisture is to have a small pan filled with apple juice in the cooking chamber. This allows moisture to be in the air at all times to help your pork loin smoke evenly by allowing more smoke to stay on your meat.

Pellet Grills Offer Great Flavor Like In This Video

Smoking A Pork Loin

Conclusion

Experimenting with different seasonings and temperatures has given me an insight into how to smoke a pork loin. This deals mainly with temperatures and how much time I have to prepare my pork loin for an event.

Cooking my 5-pound loin at 225F for 3 hours gives me a perfectly cooked loin that is not dry. However, if I want my loin to be slightly rare but still fully cooked, I would cut the time down by about 30 minutes. Be sure to use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature, make sure it is at 145F for doneness.

If I choose to cook a 4-pound loin at 250F, it will take about 2 hours. You still need to spritz your pork loin every 30 minutes to keep it from drying out. Check the internal temperature to be sure it is at 145F minimum.

Another thing you can do to enhance the flavor is to brine your pork loin. Many people are not familiar with brining but it can really bring out the flavor. To make your brine combine 1 quart of water to 1 tablespoon of salt(kosher), you can add sugar or aromatics to your brine for extra seasoning. You will need to find the proper ratio of each.

Some people will heat 1/2 of their brine beforehand and cool it with an equal amount of ice, before putting their pork loin in the brine. One important feature of doing this, it allows the flavors to mix well together before putting your pork loin into the brine. A rule of thumb when brining in this manner is one hour of brining per pound of meat. This will enhance your flavor significantly.