So awhile ago, I blogged about my new favorite side dish. And it’s still pretty much my favorite side dish, except now that fingerling potatoes are difficult to come by, I just buy a bag of red potatoes and pick out the smallest ones I can find and it works beautifully.
One of my favorite things about those potatoes isthis flavorful, garlicky/salty/tangy rosemary-infused crust that develops. Once, as I was secretly snacking on the roasted garlic crumbles washing the dishes after dinner, I was completely stricken with how fabulous the rub would be on a roasted pork tenderloin. And I tried it. And it was fabulous.
One of the best things about pork tenderloins is that they cook quickly and feel fancy, so, say you have a romantic Valentine’s Day planned with lots of skiing and canoodling and you want to cook a nice, romantic dinner at home, but you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. Or…say you spend Valentine’s Day wrangling children and cleaning up messes and you’re at your wit’s end and you want a nice dinner, but you’re too tired to cook. Well…lucky you…this recipe works either way!
Seriously–thirty minutes, you’re done (and a good chunk of that is spent sitting on the couch while the pork is roasting). You can mix a little extra olive oil with a little of the rub and toss it with some diced potatoes and bake them right on the pat at the same time. Or serve it alongside some asparagus or blanch some green beans for a minute or two and saute them in a little butter and garlic and Happy Valentine’s Day to YOU.
Garlic-Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
- Total Time: 30
Description
An easy and delicious pork tenderloin. Fancy enough for company and easy enough for a weeknight!
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 medium or small pork tenderloins
- 2 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 1/2 Tbsp. chopped rosemary leaves (strip them from the woody stem first)
- 2 1/2 Tbsp. coarse mustard
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
- A few turns of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Rinse pork tenderloin in cool water and trim any excess fat or the silvery membrane on the meat. Pat dry and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary leaves, mustard, garlic, Kosher salt, and black pepper. Carefully rub all over pork roast, particularly on top. Place in heated oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer reaches 155 degrees. When the meat is done, remove from oven and allow to stand 5-10 minutes before slicing.
- Now…say your instant read thermometer angered you and you threw it away and then you find yourself roasting a pork tenderloin, cursing yourself for throwing your thermometer away, then realizing a thermometer that doesn’t tell the correct temperature wouldn’t do you any good, anyway. All of this is completely hypothetical, of course. Anyway, if it boils down to the fact that you don’t have a thermometer, you’re going to have to do a little guesswork because if you overcook it, it will be tough, but you also don’t want to get sick. The tenderloin I used this go-around was definitely on the large side and I roasted it for about 25-30 minutes; the center wasn’t pink, but it was juicy and the ends were definitely done. For a smaller piece of meat, start around 20 minutes and go from there. Of course, large and small is all relative and a good meat thermometer is definitely an asset in your kitchen, so just be sure to make it known when you do find a good thermometer that you have very little tolerance for inaccurate temperature measurements…
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
Questions & Reviews
Thank you for the recipe! We’re having this tonight. I also do not have a thermometer – I did, for one meal, but in one of the dumbest cooking moves of my personal career, I closed the oven door on my brand new instant read thermometer for no longer than a second. When I opened the door, the thing was completely shot. I didn’t even tell my husband… just put it in the trash. That was ~$10 well spent. What a moron 🙂
Don’t be too hard on yourself Heidi, we have aLL done something (or more likely sometHINGS) lome that. I bet dinner was stil delicious!
I ran across this post and just had to comment. I LOVE my meat thermometer! It was recommended by a grilling chef on PBS. Thermoworks is the brand he likes. I went for a $20 model. I liked it so much I bought one for my mother-in-law . . now she’s hooked too! Here’s the link: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt600c.html. Just don’t forget to turn it off! There’s nothing worse than an awesome thermometer with a dead battery. 🙂
My 4 year old drew me a picture “as big as the whole world” to show me how much he liked this pork. I’ll definitely make this again.
I’ve got my pork loin in the oven now — can’t wait! I have great faith that it will turn out fabulously. I’m so thankful for the oh-so-easy idea. I am in that first trimester, can’t-bear-to-look-at-or-smell-food phase and have been feeding my beloved family a diet of restaurant food and frozen pizza lately. It’s nice to feel like I’m doing something good for my family that doesn’t require that I labor long and hard (we’ll save that for 7 months from now) or get sick just to put some decent food on the table.
I’m serving it with Stove Top stuffing (I hope that doesn’t make you cringe too hard.), because I can. Preggo, you know. (Yes, I use that for an excuse, ahem reason, for a lot of things.) Steamed broccoli/brocolli (I never know which one is right.) will finish out the meal.
I’m fairly new to your website, girls, and I love it! Keep the great ideas coming!
dishinaboutnutrition–Go for 160. Maybe your meat thermometers are more well-behaved than mine! 🙂
I think I am going to try this tonight! What should the temp read if we do have a thermometer …hypothetically speaking we have not thrown it out…yet 😉
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING! My husband said it tasted like something from a restaurant – so thanks for the great recipe! Amanda
Heidi–My guess is actually the garlic just because garlic can become really bitter if it's cooked too long. Was the garlic on the dark brown/charred side? If so, you might just need to keep an eye on it next time to make sure it's not getting to dark (or maybe reducing the heat by 25 degrees or so). I'm sorry it didn't turn out!
Hi Kate, I am making this tonight for sure. I often have Heidi’s problem with the garlic twisting bitter. Would using garlic past it’s prime do this too? I thout I read once that garlic that has gone green in the center shouldnt be used, but every clove of garlic I find at the store is green in the center when I get it home. I don’t use the green part, or ammi just over cooking it?
Thanks!
SueAnn
No, the green part shouldn’t make it bitter, it’s more likely overcooking.
I must have done something wrong, and I'm so frustrated because it sounded so good. My yummy crust turned out really bitter. I'm wondering if maybe I had bad rosemary?
Clearly, I made this after Valentines Day, but it was FANTASTIC! My husband couldn't stop saying how moist and flavorful it was. I discovered my meat thermometer didn't work, so I kept it in for 30 minutes and that was perfect. Thanks for another great one!
It's in the oven right now! Smells wonderful!
Looks like a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner… I love rosemary!
Just finished this for dinner tonight. It was amazing! The whole family loved it and even my 6 year old and my 3 year old cleaned their plates. The seasoning was perfect and it was nice and juicy in the middle. I don't have a meat therm. so I cooked it for 30 minutes and it was perfect. Thanks for the great recipe~
thats an awesome picture of the pork loin.
This is fantastic. My husband hates mustard so I was nervous but it turned out sooooo delicious! The whole family loved it. We made it on the grill/smoker and that extra layer of Smokiness was great. I will definitely make this again!
Looks like another good recipe. Just wanted to say I made your sunrise punch for New Beginnings tonight and it was a huge hit. Thanks so much–I love your stuff!
I have a pork roast in the freezer and I am thinking that I am going to have to make this. It sound really good.
le7–I've seen Kosher lamb at Sam's Club (go figure, right?)
Oooh that sounds yummy. I would love to try it on lamb but I'm not sure where I would buy a kosher leg of lamb.
le7–Hmmmm…maybe something hearty like a whole chicken? My hubby hates fish and I hate cooking stuff nobody eats, so I'm not as familiar with fish as I should be. I also think it would be great on a boneless leg of lamb, but I don't know if you eat lamb or not.
Would this taste just as yummy with some sort of fish or poultry? (I don't eat pork but I really like the idea of trying out these flavors together).
Man one day too late. I was looking every where for a pork tenderloin recipe just yesterday. This would have been perfect, since I have all the ingredients. I'll have to try this next time I have some pork in the fridge.
Wow, that looks good. I just wish garlic smelled good to me when I'm pregnant 🙁 I guess it'll just have to wait…
Both of those sound like great ideas – thanks! 🙂
sara
Olivia's Mommy–I think if I had a loin, I might cut it in half, just so you have a higher crust-to-meat ratio, you know? One of the things I really like about this recipe is that because loins are so skinny, the flavor really permeates the whole cut of meat.
The other thought I had was slicing the loin into 1" pork chops and then just rubbing the whole chop with the mustard mixture and cooking it that way.
Hey Kate – looks delicious!
I have a pork LOIN – the big one, not the tenderloin… do you think doubling the recipe would work for that?
Thanks! Can't wait to try it – i looOOVE rosemary!
LMcBurney–I do have some other pictures, but let's just say that this rub on raw meat might detract people from wanting to make it… 🙂
Ha ha ha ha! That’s so funny, and so true.
Sounds great! I would love to see a few more pictures of the process though because I am such a visual learner.
Love this recipe!
I just bought a pork tenderloin last night because our grocery store had a massive after-super bowl sale. Can't wait to try this! Perfect timing~
I am definitely there with the thermometer frustration! Any brands you can recommend as a "sure thing"? Love the recipe, though. Pork tenderloins are wonderfully tender. Once all this snow melts, I can't wait to try this recipe on the grill.