By Linda Garrould · Updated 7 August 2026
Pork must be cooked all the way through — no pink meat, ever. Unlike a joint of beef or lamb, where a pink centre is safe once the outside has been seared, pork is treated the same way as chicken: the Food Standards Agency’s guidance is that it must reach 70°C for two minutes at the thickest part, with the juices running clear. Once you’ve got that settled, the rest is arithmetic: 35 minutes per 500g plus 35 minutes, starting hot at 220°C (200°C fan, gas 7) for the first half hour, then down to 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4) for the remainder, so a typical 1.5kg loin takes about 2 hours 20 minutes. Set the weight below and the timer works it out for you — including the point at which the oven needs turning down, and a countdown for the rest.
Cooked, safely: Pork has no doneness choice — current FSA guidance groups it with poultry: it must reach 70°C for 2 minutes at the thickest part, with no pink meat and juices running clear, before it comes out. Unlike beef or lamb there is no carryover margin to lean on here — it must already be at temperature when you pull it, not merely close.
Take the joint out of the fridge 30–60 minutes before roasting, pat it dry, and let a properly preheated oven do the rest. The timer below is your guide — the thermometer is the final word.
Pork loin cooking times by weight
The timer above and the chart below run on the same figures, so pin whichever suits you to the fridge door. All times are for a boned pork loin joint, rind on and scored for crackling, using the two-stage method: 220°C / 200°C fan / gas 7 for the first 30 minutes, then down to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4 for whatever’s left of the total. The oven change splits the time the formula gives you — it doesn’t add anything on top.
| Weight | Total roasting time | Serves |
|---|---|---|
| 1 kg | 1 hr 45 min | 4–5 |
| 1.25 kg | 2 hr 3 min | 5–6 |
| 1.5 kg | 2 hr 20 min | 6–7 |
| 1.75 kg | 2 hr 38 min | 7–8 |
| 2 kg | 2 hr 55 min | 8–10 |
| 2.25 kg | 3 hr 13 min | 10–11 |
| 2.5 kg | 3 hr 30 min | 11–12 |
As a rough rule of thumb for portions, allow about 200–225g of raw pork per person — a commonly used guide rather than an exact science, and one that leaves a little for sandwiches the next day, which nobody has ever complained about.
Why pork can’t be served pink — and chicken can’t either
This is worth understanding properly rather than just obeying, because it explains almost everything else on this page. With a whole, intact cut of beef or lamb — a joint that hasn’t been rolled, tied or mechanically tenderised — contamination is assumed to live on the surface only. Sear that surface and you’ve dealt with the risk, so the inside can safely stay pink; that’s why our roast beef timer and leg of lamb timer both offer a choice of finish.
Pork and poultry are different. Per current Food Standards Agency guidance, both can carry bacteria throughout the meat, not just on the surface — so searing the outside doesn’t clear the risk the way it does with a whole beef or lamb joint. That’s why pork is cooked exactly the way our roast chicken timer treats chicken: all the way through, no exceptions, with the same numerical target the FSA sets for poultry — 70°C for two minutes at the thickest part of the meat, or an equivalent combination such as 75°C for 30 seconds. No pink meat, and the juices should run clear rather than blush pink when you pierce it.
Worth knowing, purely as background rather than as guidance to follow here: some countries take a different view. The USDA in the United States permits a lower endpoint for whole cuts of pork — 63°C (145°F) followed by a three-minute rest — on the basis that modern US pork-farming practices have reduced the specific parasite risk that once justified well-done pork everywhere. This page follows current UK Food Standards Agency guidance, which is stricter, and 70°C is the number the calculator above uses. If you’re cooking from a US recipe or cookbook, bear that difference in mind rather than assuming the temperatures translate directly.
The two-stage oven, explained
Pork loin has a conflict of interests: the meat wants a gentle, even oven so it doesn’t dry out over a couple of hours, while the rind wants a fierce blast to blister and crisp. The two-stage method resolves it by giving the joint both, in sequence, rather than trying to compromise on one middling temperature throughout.
The first 30 minutes at 220°C (200°C fan, gas 7) gets the scored rind blistering early, while the oven is at its hottest and the joint is at its coldest — the combination that produces the best crackling. The oven then drops to 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4) for the rest of the calculated time, letting the interior come up to temperature gently rather than racing past “cooked” and drying out the loin, which is a leaner cut than a leg or shoulder and has less fat to cushion a mistake. The total time from the formula — 35 minutes per 500g plus 35 — already accounts for both stages; the oven change splits that total, it doesn’t add to it.
Crackling, done properly
Good crackling is the whole point of a pork loin, and it rewards preparation far more than it rewards oven heroics. This is where most of the trouble happens, and where most of it can be avoided:
- Score it properly, at finger-width intervals. The cuts should go through the rind and into the fat, but not into the meat itself — deep enough that the fat can render and the rind can separate into shards as it crisps. If you’re not confident with a sharp knife, ask your butcher to score it for you when you buy it; most will do this without being asked twice.
- A dry rind is the single biggest lever you have. Pat it completely dry with kitchen paper, and if you have time, leave the joint uncovered on a rack in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before cooking. A damp rind steams instead of crisping, however hot the oven — this one habit fixes more soft crackling than anything else on this list.
- Salt the rind generously, just before it goes in the oven. Rub fine or flaky salt well into the scored lines. It draws out the last of the surface moisture and seasons the crackling as it crisps.
- Roast uncovered, throughout. Never cover the joint, and never cover the rind, at any stage of cooking. A lid or a tented sheet of foil traps steam, and steam is crackling’s only real enemy.
- Keep it uncovered at resting time too. This is the mistake that undoes an otherwise perfect crackling: tenting the whole joint in foil to rest, as you might with a beef joint, turns crisp rind soft and leathery within minutes as the trapped steam gets to work. If you want to rest the meat loosely tented for warmth, tent the meat only and leave the crackling exposed to the air. Better still, lift the crackling off in one piece before resting and let it sit uncovered on a wire rack — it will hold its crispness, and a very brief return to a hot oven will re-crisp it if it’s softened at all.
If the crackling still isn’t blistering evenly by the time the meat’s temperature is nearly there, a short final blast at the top of the oven with the rind close to the heat will usually finish it — keep an eye on it rather than walking away, as it can catch quickly once it starts to go.
Resting: for juiciness, not for safety
Rest the joint for at least 10 minutes before carving — shorter than the 20–30 minutes we’d suggest for a beef or lamb roast, and worth being precise about why. With a rare or medium-rare beef joint, resting does double duty: the meat continues to climb in temperature from residual heat as it sits, so some of the cooking genuinely happens during the rest. Pork doesn’t get that luxury. It must already be at a safe 70°C when it comes out of the oven, not merely close and trending in the right direction — there’s no carryover margin to lean on the way there is with a joint that’s allowed to finish pink.
So treat the pork’s rest as being purely for carving and juiciness: it lets the muscle fibres relax and the juices settle back through the meat rather than running out onto the board the moment you slice it, exactly as with any other roast. Ten minutes is enough for a loin this size; any longer risks softening the crackling, which is one more reason to lift it off and let it sit separately if you’re not carving straight away.
Tips for the best roast pork loin
- Buy it with the rind still on and scored. A rindless loin will never give you crackling, whatever else you do — check with your butcher or the packaging before you get it home.
- Let it come to room temperature first. Thirty to sixty minutes out of the fridge before it goes in means the joint cooks more evenly, so the outside isn’t overdone by the time the centre reaches 70°C.
- Use a thermometer rather than guessing. With no doneness choice and no margin for error, a decent instant-read probe is the one piece of kit that removes all the anxiety from this joint — and it’s inexpensive. Browse instant-read food thermometers on Amazon here. (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.)
- Lift it off the base of the tin. Sit the joint on a trivet, a rack, or a bed of roughly chopped onion and carrot, so the hot air can circulate underneath and the base doesn’t stew in its own fat — the vegetables underneath also make the start of a good gravy.
- Don’t baste the rind. Basting anywhere near the crackling reintroduces the moisture you worked to remove. Baste the exposed meat at the ends of the joint if you like, and leave the rind alone.
- Check two spots, not one. Probe the thickest part of the loin itself, and if the joint tapers noticeably at one end, check there too — that thinner end is often the first place to reach temperature and the easiest place to accidentally overcook while you wait for the thick end to catch up.
What to serve with roast pork
Apple sauce is the classic pairing for good reason — its sharpness cuts through the richness of the meat and the crackling in a way gravy alone can’t manage. A well-made sage-and-onion stuffing, cooked separately in its own dish rather than inside the joint, is the other fixture of a proper pork Sunday lunch. Round it out with crisp roast potatoes, a green vegetable, and a jug of gravy made from the pan juices once the fat’s been poured off.
More kitchen timers
If this was useful, the rest of the family is covered too: the roast chicken timer, the roast beef timer and the leg of lamb timer for the rest of the roasting rota, and the dippy egg timer and poached egg timer for the smaller jobs that are somehow easier to get wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Can pork be pink in the middle? Is it safe to eat slightly pink pork?
No. Current Food Standards Agency guidance treats pork the same way as chicken: it must be cooked all the way through, with no pink meat, because pork can carry bacteria throughout the flesh rather than just on the surface. This is different from a whole beef or lamb joint, where contamination is assumed to be surface-only and a pink centre is safe once the outside has been seared. For pork, confirm 70°C for two minutes at the thickest part and juices running clear before serving — there is no doneness choice, unlike our beef or lamb timers.
How long does a 1.5kg or 2kg pork loin take to roast?
Using the two-stage method (220°C/200°C fan/gas 7 for the first 30 minutes, then 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 for the rest), a 1.5kg loin takes about 2 hours 20 minutes in total, and a 2kg loin about 2 hours 55 minutes — based on 35 minutes per 500g plus 35 minutes. Always confirm 70°C at the thickest part before serving.
What temperature should pork be cooked to?
70°C for two minutes at the thickest part of the joint, or an equivalent combination such as 75°C for 30 seconds — the Food Standards Agency’s safe-cooking guidance for pork and poultry. On an instant-read thermometer, 70°C held for a couple of minutes is the simplest target to work to at home.
How do I get crispy pork crackling?
Score the rind at finger-width intervals (ask your butcher to do this if you’re not confident), pat it completely dry — ideally leaving it uncovered in the fridge for a few hours first — and salt it generously just before roasting. Roast uncovered throughout, and never cover the rind while cooking or resting. A dry rind, salted late and never steamed, accounts for most of what separates good crackling from soft.
Why has my pork crackling gone soft or chewy?
Almost always because it’s been covered at some point — foil over the joint during cooking, or tenting the whole thing to rest — and the trapped steam has softened what was crisp. The fix next time is to keep the rind uncovered from start to finish, including at resting, or to lift the crackling off before resting and let it sit separately, uncovered.
How long should pork rest before carving?
At least 10 minutes — shorter than the 20–30 minutes we’d suggest for beef or lamb, because pork must already be at a safe 70°C when it comes out of the oven rather than relying on carryover heat to finish cooking. The rest is purely for juiciness and easier carving, not for reaching a safe temperature.
How much pork do I need per person?
A commonly used rule of thumb is around 200–225g of raw pork per person, which allows a little extra for sandwiches the next day. A 1.5kg loin on that basis serves about six to seven.
Is pork cooked the same way as beef or lamb?
No. Beef and lamb whole cuts can safely be served pink because contamination is assumed to sit on the surface only, which searing deals with. Pork is grouped with poultry instead: it can carry bacteria throughout the meat, so it must be cooked all the way through with no pink centre, to 70°C for two minutes at the thickest part.
Sources: Food Standards Agency — Cooking your food, which distinguishes poultry and pork (cook all the way through) from whole cuts of beef and lamb (surface-only contamination, pink permitted); Waitrose — How to Cook Roast Pork. This page is general cookery guidance, not a substitute for the instructions on your joint’s packaging.