Traditional Italian porchetta is a whole pig that is stuffed with any combination of fennel, rosemary, and garlic and then roasted whole in a large wood-fired oven. Particularly in Tuscany, it is commonly served from street food vendors that over stuff the porky meat into a soft spongy roll for a delicious and tasty snack.

Since roasting a whole pig is quite an undertaking, a typical simplified recipe is to take the pork loin, stuff it with the same seasonings, and then wrap a slab of pork belly around the loin. That gives you that crispy skin, fatty belly, and the moist stuffed loin.   But even this recipe can be a bit daunting, both in terms of buying the right cuts of meat and the time involved in preparation.

So here is an even simpler recipe for Tuscan porchetta-style pork that you can make on your TEC Infrared Grill. This recipe uses bacon for that crispy pork skin flavor, the same aromatic stuffed loin, and course, the grill will give it that juicy wood-fired flavor!

Easy Tuscan Porchetta Grilled Pork Roast
Author: TEC Grills
Ingredients
  • 4-6 slices of thick cut bacon
  • 1 boneless pork loin, about 2-3 pounds
  • 1 large bulb of fresh fennel, bulb shaved and fronds roughly chopped
  • 2-3 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2-3 large stems of fresh rosemary, leaves pulled off stems and roughly chopped
  • About 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs
  • Olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Lay bacon slices on a foil lined sheet pan. Place bacon in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or just until they start to brown and get crispy. Do not let them brown too much! They should still be pliable, and may not be cooked all the way through. Place on a paper towel lined sheet, pat off excess grease, and set aside.
  3. Meanwhile, roll cut the pork loin so that it is a flat piece of meat about 1/2 inch thick. For a great how-to on roll cutting, [url href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz391Urnk30″ target=”_blank” title=”How to Roll Cut Pork Loin”]view this video[/url].
  4. Lay out the pork loin on a cutting mat. Evenly spread the shaved fennel, fennel fronds, garlic slices, rosemary, and panko bread crumbs all over the pork. Season all over with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil.[br][br][br]
  5. [url href=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2220-300×300.jpg”][img src=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2220-300×300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”300″ class=”alignnone size-medium” title=”IMG_2220″][/url][br][br][br]
  6. Starting at one of the short ends, carefully roll up the pork loin into a roulade. Don’t roll too tightly or the stuffing will squeeze out. Season the outside of the pork loin with salt and pepper all over.
  7. Lay the bacon slices on a cutting board with the side that is most cooked facing up. You want the side that is less cooked facing down, so that it will get cooked when the roast is grilled.[br][br][br]
  8. [url href=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2222-300×300.jpg”][img src=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2222-300×300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”300″ class=”alignnone size-medium” title=”IMG_2222″][/url][br][br][br]
  9. Place the rolled pork loin on top of the bacon, and wrap the bacon around the pork roast. Tie the roast with cooking twine.[br][br][br]
  10. [url href=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2223-300×300.jpg”][img src=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2223-300×300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”300″ class=”alignnone size-medium” title=”IMG_2223″][/url][br][br][br]
  11. Preheat the grill on medium heat.
  12. When the grill is hot, place the roast directly on the grill grates. Grill, turning occasionally, until the bacon is seared all over and starting to crisp.[br][br][br]
  13. [url href=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2224-300×300.jpg”][img src=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2224-300×300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”300″ class=”alignnone size-medium” title=”IMG_2224″][/url][br][br][br]
  14. Turn the heat down to low, and move the roast off the grill grates to the resting rack so that it is not in direct contact with the heat. Close the hood, and continue grilling, turning occasionally, until the roast reaches an internal temperature of about 150 degrees F (about 35-45 minutes). You don’t have to worry too much about over cooking the roast. Since you are using infrared heat on a TEC Grill, the meat will be juicy and moist![br][br][br]
  15. [url href=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2225-300×300.jpg”][img src=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2225-300×300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”300″ class=”alignnone size-medium” title=”IMG_2225″][/url][br][br][br]
  16. Remove the roast from the heat, and let rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.[br][br][br]
  17. [url href=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2228-300×300.jpg”][img src=”https://tecgrills.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_2228-300×300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”300″ class=”alignnone size-medium” title=”IMG_2228″][/url][br][br][br]