Here's a delicious and easy recipe for a pork tenderloin. One cut of meat that works for a fast and satisfying dinner is pork tenderloin. Pork tenderloin is versatile and quick cooking and can be seared, roasted, grilled, sautéed, or cut into medallions. They can be prepared elegantly enough for a company dinner or simply enough for a family dinner. For a delicious sauce, a good splash of famed liqueur, Grand Mariner ups the game for Roast pork tenderloin with maple glaze
Pork is the most consumed red meat in the world. If you’re concerned about eating healthy, pork tenderloin is a great choice. It's almost as lean as a boneless, skinless chicken breast. Today’s common cuts of pork are leaner and have less saturated fat as compared to the past.
Buying Tips
Good pork tenderloins will weigh between ¾ of a pound and about 1 ½ pounds. You can find larger ones in warehouse stores but bigger isn't better in this case. It’s worth seeking out a butcher or better grocery store meat counter that offers the smaller tenderloins.
Sometimes I can find organic pork tenderloin at Whole Foods and its terrific, or find pastured pork (versus industrially raised) at a good butcher. For quantity figure about 6-8 ounces per person in terms of raw weight.
Trim the Silverskin
To prepare the pork tenderloin for cooking trim the silverskin with a very sharp knife. This silvery-white tendon that sort of looks like packaging tape is tough connective tissue. Because it doesn’t melt away during cooking it must be removed as it will cause your meat to curl up, and it’s not pleasant to eat.
To trim the silverskin, hold your knife flat against the meat and starting at the end of the tenderloin, place the knife tip under the silverskin and free a bit of it from the meat for a piece to hold on to. Holding your knife flat, slice under the silverskin angling your knife blade up and trim the silverskin away.
Season and Roast
Coat the tenderloin with salt, pepper and granulated garlic, rub with a little olive oil, sear in a hot sauté pan, then finish in a 425 oven for 6-8 minutes or until it reaches 140° F. Test the internal temperature with a digital thermometer. The temperature will rise to 145° F as it is resting, easy and fast. If you cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil for fast cleanup.
The Glaze (Sauce)
You can use regular cognac or brandy if that’s what you have on hand, but the orange flavor of the Grand Marnier is very nice. Dry sherry works too. Don't buy a big bottle to cook with. Go for an airline size mini bottle.
If you like pork tenderloin, I bet you'll like these oven baked baby back ribs.
📖 Recipe
Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Maple Grand Marnier Glaze
Ingredients
Glaze
- â…” cup real maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or Tamari
- 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier sub brandy or cognac
Pork
- 1 ½ pounds pork tenderloin trimmed of silverskin
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon granulated garlic optional
- 2-3 teaspoons olive oil
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment. A quarter sheet tray work great.
- In a small bowl whisk together the maple syrup, mustard, vinegar, soy sauce and Grand Marnier. Set aside. Sprinkle the pork tenderloin with kosher salt, pepper and granulated garlic on all sides. Sprinkle on rosemary if using. Rub with a little olive oil.
- Heat a sauté pan or fry pan over medium heat. Sear the tenderloin on all sides until golden brown. Remove the tenderloin from the pan and place on the baking sheet. Place in the oven to roast. Depending on the size they will take about 6-8 minutes to reach 140°F-145°F degrees. Test with a digital thermometer. Remove from the oven and rest for 10-15 minutes for juices to redistribute.
- While the tenderloin is roasting make the sauce. Pour the sauce mixture into the hot pan used to sear the pork. Cook over med-low heat whisking until incorporated, bubbly and thickened. This will take just a few minutes. Keep sauce warm. If a smooth sauce is desired, strain through a small fine mesh strainer to remove any bits of pork or rosemary. Cut pork tenderloin into slices and serve with warm sauce.
Dave says
This is seriously one of the best pork dishes I've ever had. Had a dinner party over the weekend and it was a big hit! Thank you Chef Sally!
Chef Sally says
Hi Shannon-please let me know how you like the recipe. My family and clients all love pork tenderloin so I make it regularly and have some good recipes. It's always good to find more recipes! We'll both have to blog more on pork tenderloin. By the way, love your scripture reference. Perfect for a blogger! Mine is 1 Peter 4:10.
Shannon says
i needed a new pork recipe..i'm trying this one out this week.
by the way, thanks for all your sweet comments! 3 John 2 🙂
Wendy Bress says
I just want to tell everyone who might want to prepare this dish that Sally cooked it for our family a couple weeks ago and it was divine and it melted in your mouth. I am going to make an attempt to make it for Christmas dinner so I will let you know how I did.