Pork Tenderloin

By Food & Wine
Updated March 08, 2017
Photo © Martin Morrell
F&W's favorite methods for preparing juicy pork tenderloin include maple-brining, braising, grilling and more.
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Red Chile Pork and Celery Stir-Fry


Credit: © John Kernick
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Pork tenderloin is ideal in a stir-fry because it cooks so quickly and stays tender and juicy. Food & Wine's Justin Chapple combines it with crunchy celery and hot chiles for a dead-simple and deliciously spicy weeknight dinner with minimal ingredients.

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Roast Pork with Fingerlings and Grapes


Credit: © Abby Hocking
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Food & Wine's Justin Chapple loves to make pork tenderloin for weeknight meals because it cooks so quickly. Here he roasts it alongside fingerlings and juicy red grapes for a super one-pan meal.

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Penang-Style Pork with Soft Tofu

Credit: © John Kernick
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Chef Cathal Armstrong packs this deeply flavorful, very spicy curry with tender pork and tofu and tops it with crispy garlic.

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Grilled Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes and Scallions

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Cook a whole meal—meat, potatoes, and a vegetable—on the grill. The pork tenderloin is coated in a sweet-and-spicy paste that's similar to Jamaican jerk marinade. Scallions, not often served as a cooked vegetable, deserve to be used as more than a raw garnish.

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Cider-Brined Pork Tenderloins with Roasted Apples Save Recip

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It's worth taking the time to brine High Acheson's tender pork dish overnight, since the brine imparts tangy, sweet flavor to the meat.

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Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Raisin-Ginger Pan Sauce

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Pam Anderson likes to serve sliced tenderloin—a very lean cut of pork—with a tangy raisin-and-ginger-flavored sauce that tastes much more decadent than it actually is, thanks to a secret ingredient: cornstarch, which gives the sauce body while avoiding added fat.

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Pork with Arugula, Prosciutto and Tomatoes

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Cookbook author Nancy Verde Barr created this winning combination of pork with prosciutto, arugula and balsamic vinegar.

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Spicy Lemon-Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

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Pair this spicy pork with an aromatically intense, peppery Syrah.

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Spice-Roasted Pork Tenderloin

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Slice 2 of the tenderloins and reserve the rest for making Pork Tenderloin Tacos with Avocado Salsa on a busy weeknight.

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Three-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Peach-Cucumber Salad

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This peppery pork tenderloin cooks in almost no time, making it a quick and delicious weeknight dinner.

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Grilled Pork Tenderloins with Vegetable Curry

Credit: Photo © John Kernick
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Instead of using high-calorie coconut milk, Sue Zemanick of New Orleans' Gautreau's substitutes coconut water (the clear liquid inside young coconuts) and a touch of full-fat sour cream to add richness to this curry sauce. Lime juice and red curry paste contribute superb tanginess and flavor, too.

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Stuffed Pork Tenderloins with Bacon and Apple-Riesling Sauce

Credit: Kirsten Strecker
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Debra Whiting loves the fresh goat cheese from the local Lively Run Dairy so much that she always works it into her dinner menu. Here, she mixes the cheese with apple, sausage and greens, then stuffs it inside a bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin.

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Maple-Brined Pork Tenderloin

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Scott Boggs keeps his pork tenderloins extra-juicy by soaking them in a spiced, maple-sweetened apple cider brine; the sugars in the syrup caramelize as the meat roasts.

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Peanut Noodle Salad with Cucumber and Roast Pork

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Tossed with a tangy peanut dressing, this cold noodle salad with pork tenderloin is hearty but still refreshing.

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Grilled Pork with Curried Apricots and Napa Cabbage

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"My mother and I go foraging for elderflowers for two days each May," says Trina Hahnemann. They pick enough flowers to make cordial to drink throughout the year and then use in dishes like this pork tenderloin quickly braised with fennel. Anyone not living near a Nordic meadow can substitute St-Germain elderflower cordial for the homemade kind.

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Pork Medallions with Curry-Honey Glaze

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Steamed basmati rice and sautéed chayote or cucumber slices make ideal accompaniments to this dish.

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Pork Tenderloin Braised with Elderflower and Fennel

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Because stovetop smoking is so fast, lean pork tenderloin won't become too dry.

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Seared Pork and Pickled Eggplant Panini

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This recipe comes from Barbara Lynch, the chef at Boston's No. 9 Park.

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Jerk Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Salsa

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Pork tenderloin is leaner than skin-on chicken and delicious in the spicy, smoky recipe here. Capsaicin, the chemical that makes chiles taste hot, can help boost metabolism; for extra fire, add the chile seeds to the marinade.

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Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Hazelnut Vinaigrette

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In the late 1990s, Octavio Becerra fell in love with Middle Eastern flavors while helping his friend Nayla Audi open Atlas Café in Beirut, Lebanon. The rub on this pork is his take on za'atar, a spice blend that gets its pungency from ground sumac. Becerra remembers, "Everyone in Beirut had his or her own version of za'atar," so he suggests experimenting with the ratios of spices to see what tastes best.

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Pork Tenderloin Smothered in Onion and Mustard

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Grace Parisi was thinking about the typical ingredients in a German beer-hall kitchen—onions, mustard, dill—when she created this luscious dish of pounded pork tenderloins.

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Roasted Pork Sandwiches with Sauerkraut Relish

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Carrie Dove has spent many summers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the Betty Rock Cafe made sandwiches that inspired this recipe. Dove lays slices of roasted pork tenderloin on a baguette, then piles on smoky sauerkraut-bacon relish and a sweet-tart chutney of pears, ginger, vinegar and mustard seeds.

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Milk-Braised Pork Tenderloin with Spinach and Strawberry Salad

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Braising a seared pork tenderloin in milk gives it a lovely silkiness, and the milk a delicious, savory caramel flavor. The milk will gently curdle as the meat cooks, forming small lumps; pureeing it with an immersion mixer will smooth it out again. The strawberries in the salad can be simply halved, but julienning them whimsically disguises their shape (they begin to resemble sliced red peppers)—making their sweetness a pleasant surprise.

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Pork Tenderloin Marinated in Amber Ale

Credit: Photo © Martin Morrell
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Chef Luca Cerato makes good use of a beer-and-vegetable marinade here: The pork takes on a subtly delicious beer flavor, then the vegetables are simmered in the ale until tender and pureed into a simple sauce.

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