Yes, you can cook a stuffed pork roast in your air fryer, and the roast will come out tender, browned, and delicious. In this recipe, you'll stuff a boneless pork loin with a mixture of spinach, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and cheese. A little Dijon mustard and bacon crumbles provide extra flavor and saltiness. The filling is easy to do, as is preparing the roast for the stuffing. I generally tie my stuffed roast with butcher's string, but it's not absolutely necessary, if you don't have any. The roast is fairly small, and you won't be turning it to brown it, as the air fryer will do the browning for you. The recipe is special enough for a Sunday and easy enough to do on a weeknight. Keep in mind that the roast will slice and taste best if you let rest/stand a bit before trying to cut into it. If you can't wait--the roast smells incredibly good--just be prepared for some of the stuffing to ooze out and push it back in. The roast will taste as great as it smells. Enjoy!
Air Fryer Stuffed Pork Roast -- Serves 4+
2-4 pound boneless pork loin roast
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 cup of chopped onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of chopped mushrooms (4-5 mushrooms)
1/2 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of plain yogurt (low or non-fat is fine)
2-3 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of bacon crumbles (the real version from a bag is just fine)
2 cups of spinach, chopped coarsely
Line the bottom and about two inches of the sides of your air fryer basket with two layers of aluminum foil and spritz the foil (you want to create a sort of sling to lift the roast out later). Pat the pork dry with paper towels. With a sharp knife, cut from the side of your roast, making the cut about one-third of the way from the bottom of your roast and slicing from one side of the roast to the other (but don't cut all the way through). You want to be able to open the roast like a book. Next, with the roast opened up, make another, similar, cut, starting at the thicker part and moving to the edge of the roast (but don't cut all the way through). The thickness of the roast, laid out in front of you, should be about the same. If it isn't, you can pound the roast a bit with a meat mallet to get a uniform thickness. If that seems more complicated than you want to attempt, just cut an incision along the side of the roast to open it up like a book (it won't be as fancy, but it will taste great). Salt and pepper the roast on both sides.
Next, in a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine the onion, garlic, and mushrooms with a teaspoon or two of water. Microwave the veggies for a couple of minutes on high to soften them. Then stir in the cheese, yogurt, mustard, bacon, and spinach. The heat of the veggies should cause the spinach to soften into the mixture. Stir the mixture well, then spread it over the pork loin to about an inch from the edge. Roll or fold up the pork loin. You can tie the loin with butcher's string to keep it closed, if you like. Place the loin--fat side on top--on the prepared foil in the air fryer basket. Spritz the top of the pork loin with a little non-stick cooking spray or olive oil, put the basket in the air fryer and air fry the stuffed loin for 40-50 minutes at 300 degrees. The internal temperature of the pork loin should reach 145 degrees. Remove the loin carefully from the air fryer basket using the aluminum foil and let the loin stand for 10-15 minutes before trying to slice it, if possible. If the filling falls out, just stuff it back in to the individual slices. Life will go on, and the pork will be delicious!
