My local grocer had pork loins on sale recently. Whenever cuts of meat are on special, I’ll buy a few to throw in the freezer to stock up and save money. I decided to use half of a large one to make a recipe, and was stumped with what to do with it for a minute. I happened to have a jar of yellow banana peppers sitting on the counter and thought to myself, that works. I then remembered that I once stuffed whole banana peppers from my garden with sausage, and they were quite delicious. The rest of the recipe for this stuffed pork loin then fell neatly into place.

This is a very simple recipe, and one that I used a grill to cook. I am sure this creation would work amazingly well in a smoker, yet I am not so sure about a slow cooker due to the water content. It would cook on low for 6 hours, yet I really do recommend grilling/smoking it. Besides the pork, sausage, and peppers, all you need is a meat mallet (mandatory for the recipe), tooth pics or ties, parsley, granulated onion, and a large ziplock bag. Super easy as always, and it came out far better than I expected. Hope you love it!

What you need:

• One 3 to 4 pound pork loin. Butterflied and pounded flat. 
• 1/2 to 1 pound of hot Italian ground pork sausage.
• One 12 oz jar of banana peppers in vinegar, and the juice from the jar to use as the marinade.
• Salt & Pepper.
• Dried parsley.
• Granulated onion.
• A meat mallet.
• One large ziplock bag.
• Wooden tooth pics, butcher’s twine, or silicone bands to secure the loin.
• Aluminum foil.

How you make it:

1. Butterfly open your pork loin. If you are not familiar with this technique, check out this video. 
2. Use your meat mallet to pound your pork loin as flat as you possibly can.
3. Press a thin layer of sausage onto your loin, leaving some room around the edges.
4. Use a strainer or colander to drain your peppers, so that the juice is left in a bowl. It is needed for the marinade.
5. Layer peppers on top of your sausage and press them down slightly.
6. Season the peppers with some parsley and granulated onion.
7. Roll up your loin, staring with one of the narrower sides.
8. Secure your loin shut with either tooth pics, butcher’s twine, or silicone bands.
9. Place the loin in the bag and dump in the pepper juice. Remove excess air from bag and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour.
10. Get your grill hot.
11. Season the outside of your loin with salt and pepper.
12. Place your loin on the hot grill seam side down for a couple minutes to help seal it.
13. Remove from grill and wrap in foil.
14. Cook for at least 10 more minutes with the lid shut to ensure the sausage cooks, yet times are not approximate.
15. Finish by removing from foil and placing back on grill to sear as desired.
16. Note: if you have to remove some of the sausage and peppers that wouldn’t fit in your loin as you rolled it, simply save them for your next breakfast skillet!