I love easy dinners, and this Brown Sugar Dijon Crusted Pork Roast definitely qualifies as easy…it’s not only easy, but the resting period after roasting it allows for plenty of time to finish off your veggies or other side dishes. Plus, it’s a crowd-pleasing favorite with it’s sticky, tangy, crusted coating! Serve with my red skin mashed potatoes and garlic green beans for a fantastic dinner meal!!
So juicy and roasted to perfection with a lovely tangy brown sugar, honey, and Dijon mustard coating!
Brown Sugar Dijon Crusted Pork Roast
This is such a quick and easy dinner that it definitely deserves to be called a ‘go-to’ recipe! All it takes is a nice big pork roast portion and just a few ingredients that are staples in my home, and you’re ready to go!
The tangy and sweet flavor is perfect in this sticky pork roast glaze! I do recommend the coarse ground Dijon, although that is just a preference with this roast. You can certainly use whatever Dijon mustard you have on hand 🙂
How To Cook A Pork Roast
To best ensure that your cooking times will be as close to the times mentioned here and in the recipe card with video, your pork roast should be completely thawed! Trying to cook a roast that is completely cold, or still frozen in the center, will drastically affect your results and increase the cooking time needed.
Also, if you can allow your roast to set on the counter and take the chill from the refrigerator off, you will have a huge advantage for a quick cooking time. I usually set my roasts out about 30 minutes prior to preheating my oven.
Preheat your oven to 375 ºF ( 190 ºC ) and grease your baking dish with either olive oil or a non-stick cooking spray.
In a small bowl, combine the light brown sugar, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic, paprika, ground sage, salt, and pepper. Use a basting brush to coat the entire surface of your pork roast ( top, bottom, and sides ) then place the roast into your baking dish.
Roast in the oven uncovered at 375 ºF ( 190 ºC ) for 35 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 145 ºF ( 63 ºC ). Remove the roasted pork from the oven and ‘tent’ the aluminum foil loosely over the roast. Allow the pork roast to rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.
*When roasting, the times may vary depending on several factors. Check the roast’s internal temperature with a digital meat thermometer to ensure that your roast has reached at least 145 degrees F and is done. See USDA food safety guidelines.
Update: We are using a larger pork roast in the video below (4 lbs, recipe doubled for the glaze) and roasted for 1 hour 10 minutes. We only rested the roast for 20 minutes before slicing it up to serve…and who can blame us, the house was filled with the amazing smell of this roast!
Pork Roast Cooking Times
Pork roasts should be cooked in the oven at a minimum temperature of 350 ºF ( 175 ºC ).
It is generally 20 minutes per pound of pork roast when cooking at 350 ºF. I am cooking at a slightly higher temperature and allowing the roast to finish cooking while resting.
Since the Brown Sugar Dijon Crusted Pork Roast is still being removed from the oven at the lowest safe internal temperature, it could have a pink interior. However, if you wait the full resting period this should not be the case.
Brown Sugar Dijon Crusted Pork Roast
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork roast (shoulder or rump, trimmed of excess fat)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard (coarse ground recommended)
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 Tbsp ground sage
- 1/2 tsp each, salt & pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and grease your baking dish with either olive oil or a non-stick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, combine the light brown sugar, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic, paprika, ground sage, salt, and pepper. Use a basting brush and coat the entire surface of the completely thawed pork roast (top, bottom, and sides) then place into your baking dish.
- Roast in the oven at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 35 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 145 - 150 degrees F (63 - 66 degrees C). Remove the roasted pork from the oven and over with aluminum foil loosely, and allow the pork roast to rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Angela is an at home chef that developed a passion for all things cooking and baking at a young age in her Grandma’s kitchen. After many years in the food service industry, she now enjoys sharing all of her family favorite recipes and creating tasty dinner and amazing dessert recipes here at Bake It With Love!
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Question: The sage measurement is 1/4 TABLEspoon. Is that a typo or on purpose? It just seems to be an odd measurement. That’s why I ask.
I’m making it no matter what! =)
Ha! That was me thinking I like it with a 1/2 tablespoon probably. Depending on the use of fresh sage, ground sage, or rubbed sage your flavor will vary in intensity and I’m sure I was caught in between. Rubbed sage is less concentrated, use a 1/2 tablespoon. Ground sage is more powerful, use 1 teaspoon (or a 1/4 tablespoon = 3/4 teaspoon which isn’t a typical measurement) and approximately 6-7 fresh sage leaves will equal 1 teaspoon of ground sage. Thanks for asking! Enjoy!!
Trying this for the first time – using a 5.5# split pork loin we had in the freezer. I’ll let you know how it turns out! I use Reynolds non-stick foil on the bottom of pans when roasting something with a marinade that will stick badly to the bottom of the pan. Honestly – the non-stick foil by Reynolds (don’t buy the generic, it sticks!) is a god send.
Maybe it’s because I used a pork loin (cut in half lengthwise then tied back together) but it was dry and the ingredients ran off after sitting for a bit before I put it in the oven. The ingredients were thick initially but just melted off the top before it made it into the oven. It just didn’t have any flavor 🙁 The non-stick foil was a success though. I sprayed the pan (in case some seeped thru) with Pam and then put the nonstick down. It worked well. Now if only the roast had. Maybe I’ll try it again sometime with a roast.
Aw, Susan, I wish I had seen your comment earlier! Using a pork loin with much less fat marbling would be harder to keep the roast moist. With the same sauce, I would have sealed the roast for most of the cooking time and only uncovered it for the last few minutes. Which of course, also works for a butt or shoulder pork roast to yield an exceptionally moist roasted pork. I’m glad to hear that the non-stick foil was a success though!
Do give the roast another try, perhaps the larger roasts hold the brown sugar dijon coating better due to size and shape. If you ever have any questions, I check my angela @ bakeitwithlove .com email at least a couple of times daily on weekdays!
Hi! I’ve made this twice and it doesn’t stay crusted. All the ingredients just melt off. Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Hello Grace, I haven’t run into that problem with this roast in particular. However, with other roasts when the fat is rendering and my seasoning is running into my pan, I move my roast to a lower position to keep the top heating element from blasting the top of the meat. Also, if when you mix the glaze, and it appears like runny add a touch more brown sugar (a tablespoon at a time) to get a thicker consistency.
Hope that helps, and please feel free to reach out to me with any other questions or more specifics to help me identify the problem better!
how many does this serve?
Hello Carol, the amount of servings depends on the size of the roast and portion sizing. We always have leftovers after serving 6+ per roast (typically 2-3 lb roast). Thanks for asking! Angela
That’s amazing! ! 2.5 lb roast serves 3 of us with no leftovers.
The servings are based on a combination of recommended serving sizes, and how many servings I typically get out of any given recipe. I also do a lot of my cooking on the weekend with leftovers or leftover meals in mind for an easy week 🙂 So…no one is allowed to have more than what I serve them.
It looks yummy. the time for roasting seems quite short to me, will the meat be tender enough? Thanks!
Thank you! Yes, it is quite yummy 🙂 I do get asked frequently about the cooking time, but as with all things you may need to make adjustments depending on the size of the roast portion that you have and your oven’s cooking heat. For the short cooking time, it is very important to allow the roast to rest for the appropriate amount of time (I know, it’s so hard to wait to dig in!). The roast continues to cook while resting and turns out absolutely tender and moist, truly succulent. Thanks for asking!
I plan on making this tomorrow. I usually allow at least 15 minutes per pound when cooking meat.
Found the cooking time to be too short. Pork was still rare. Add at least 15 minutes. Great flavor.
I’m updating this response as I have added the video and noted longer cooking time with a roast twice the size, but with equally wonderful results. Additional comments have been added to the page itself and as always please rely on your internal temperature (like you did, Pam). So glad you liked the flavor!
Do you cover the roast in oven?
Not in this particular case, however, if I felt that the surface crust was getting too cooked I would cover with aluminum foil until the pork was ready to rest. Thanks for asking!