Pork Tenderloin seasoned with a rub, seared until golden then oven baked in an incredible Honey Garlic Sauce until it’s sticky on the outside and juicy on the inside! A quick and easy pork fillet recipe with high returns for very minimal effort.
Pork tenderloin recipe
Pork tenderloin is like chicken breast – it’s a lean, tender cut of meat and when cooked just right, it’s juicy and succulent.
It is also easy to overcook, and overcooked tenderloin = dry and bland.
Hence the beauty of this pork tenderloin recipe. It’s unbelievable when the pork is cooked perfectly.
But if you go slightly over, no one’s going to notice with this outrageously delicious honey garlic sauce!
What you need
VERY few ingredients! This is another one of those recipes with high returns for low effort – minimal ingredients, less than 10 minutes of active effort for incredible flavours!
How to cook pork tenderloin
The best way to cook pork tenderloin is to start it on the stove and finish it in the oven. Sear the pork first to give it a nice crust (remember, colour = flavour 🙌🏻) then finish cooking it in the oven.
Can’t it be cooked entirely on the stove??
Yep, it sure can, but the outside ring of the tenderloin will be cooked more than ideal by the time the centre is just cooked. Reduce this uneven cooking by bringing the pork to room temperature before cooking.
What about in the oven?
Again, yep, you sure can, but you won’t get the same colour on the surface of the tenderloin so you’ll notice a loss of flavour. But with a sauce this good, it’s forgivable to skip the initial sear! 😇 Directions in the recipe notes.
Look at that sauce glazing the pork!!! Doesn’t it look incredible??!
The Honey Garlic Sauce used in this pork tenderloin recipe has made an appearance in various forms on my website, such as with Salmon, Chicken Breast and as a dipping sauce for the crispiest ever Baked Chicken Wings.
It’s just one of those terrific back pocket sauces that works with virtually every protein. Just a few ingredients that totally transforms when simmered on the stove into a savoury-sweet sauce.
It’s inevitable that it will make yet another appearance one of these days!
What to serve with pork tenderloin
Though you cannot see it properly in the photo above, that yellow/green blur in the background is this Lemon Potato Salad which I added steamed green beans to. A two-in-one carb + veg side that keeps for days, I’m a big fan of those! Here’s a few more:
Kale and Quinoa Salad and Garlic Butter Rice with Kale (kale is a nutrition powerhouse and these are 2 seriously tasty ways to eat it!)
Otherwise, serve it with a fresh garden salad tossed with a fresh vinaigrette like French, Italian or the everyday salad dressing used in this Cabbage Salad.
I’d also recommend something to slop up the sauce with – bread, mashed potato, or Cauliflower Mash. What looks like mash in the photo below is actually Mashed Cauliflower. Carb free, creamy smooth indulgence – you’ll see it in the recipe video! ~ N x ❤️
Watch how to make it
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Pork Tenderloin with Honey Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloin (pork fillet), 500g/1lb each (Note 1)
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (or butter)
- 3 garlic cloves , very finely chopped
Pork Tenderloin Rub:
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Honey Garlic Sauce:
- 3 tbsp cider vinegar (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, light or all purpose (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Mix Sauce ingredients together.
- Mix Rub ingredients then sprinkle over the pork.
- Heat oil in a large oven proof skillet (Note 3) over high heat. Add pork and sear until golden all over.
- When pork is almost seared, push to the side, add garlic and cook until golden.
- Pour sauce in. Turn pork once, then immediately transfer to the oven.
- Roast 15 – 18 minutes or until the internal temperature is 68C / 155F (Note 4).
- Remove pork onto plate, cover loosely with foil and rest 5 minutes.
- Place skillet with sauce on stove over medium high heat, simmer rapidly for 3 minutes until liquid reduces down to thin syrup.
- Remove from stove, put pork in and turn to coat in sauce.
- Cut pork into thick slices and serve with sauce!
Recipe Notes:
- Cider vinegar – white wine vinegar, rice vinegar or champagne vinegar. OR 2 tbsp normal white vinegar.
- Soy Sauce – Use light or all purpose. Do not use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
I love the robe so much, I got another one and put his name on it. Poor boy, now he’s been named and shamed….😂
So easy!!!
I doubled the recipe for starters, then I put all the ingredients in a ziplock bag and let the pork marinate in it. Then dumped the content of the baggie into a baking dish and baked for an hour in the juices. SO DELICIOUS!!!! I was hunting a new pork recipe and I found it! My almost 5 year old has dubbed this recipe “candy chicken” since it’s sweet and delicious!!!! Totally adding it to the rotation! Thanks for a great recipe!
Delicious and easy – big winner with my family tonight. Thanks Nagi you are a genius!!
This has been in our dinner rotation since we found it in 2019. Easy and the whole family loves it! Your my go to for dinner recipes.
so absolutely easy and delicious
Thank you Nagi for this recipe!! I made this today and it turned out perfect. My family loved it so much they went for seconds and some thirds. Very easy to follow recipe. Thank you again!!
Realy nice recipe
The whole family like it
I made the pork tenderloin for dinner tonight. All I can say is WOW! Best I’ve ever had.
Sure was a hit here in Sandusky, Ohio.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Hi Nagi – I made this pork tonight together with the lemon potato salad – with green beans – and the cauliflower mash. It was awesome! Your recipes are wonderful. I’ll be using the lemon dressing for sides when I do fish – it should be bottled!
I didn’t get to take a picture but…. my step daughter is 7 and a very picky eater. She tells me all the time she doesn’t like pork. I made this and she devoured it!!! She also told me I need to keep the recipe and make it atleast once a month.
This was soooo good, my family loves when I make this.
Pork is my daughter’s least favorite meat and she absolutely LOVED this and couldn’t get enough! My hubby and I massively enjoyed it too! This recipe is a keeper! So simple to prepare and the result is just so impressive! Thank you! Thank you!
I made this recipe and OMG! Even my daughter who hates pork ate everything on the plate and said “you can make this again”. Thank you for making pork taste so good.
This was delicious! I must have not seared long enough as internal temp took 25 minutes to reach, but while reducing the sauce leaving the two tenderloins tented, it was tender, succulent and pink inside. I’ve been cooking pork tenderloin WRONG for 40 years, all those other recipes are going bye-bye and this is the way I’ll cook it from here on out! I made Foodi pressure cooker glazed carrots and garlic potatoes in the time this took to cook and it was incredible! I look forward to trying your other recipes, Thank you so much!
Hi Nagi, have made your carnitas and red rice many times and it is the best! Planning on trying this tenderloin but my only concern is adding the garlic to high heat for browning without burning? Suggestions? Maybe sauté in separate lower heat pan then add to sauce? Thanks
I only have low sodium soy sauce on hand. What will happen if I use this vs. light soy? Thanks!
That’s what I used and it was marvelous!
Could you sear this on the grill And then wrap in foil? Curious how we could incorporate the grill.
My husband and I LOVED this recipe. The leftovers were just as good the second day in sandwiches! I’ll use it for guests also as it comes together very quickly and looks like I slaved all day!!
This recipe was excellent easy to do as well as quick. My picky family loved it
When this is going in the oven, is it with the lid on or off?
No lid. Cook uncovered in the oven.
Family loved this dish. My daughter has put it in her top 5 daddies dinners. Thanks for reintroducing pork tenderloin as a tasty meal, we normally had it stuffed and roasted but it was very dry.
Planning on making this next Sunday (sad I know, but I always plan ahead because I love reading recepis) but I don´t have an ovenproof pan (yet) but it´s on the list, especially after reading your post this morning, so if I transfer my meat to an ovenproof dish, do I pour the liquid from the pan into it and then back in the pan or do I just leave it in the pan while the meat goes in the oven? Thanks, Rakel x