It’s such an easy recipe, yet it looks so impressive! The leftovers are excellent, so you can double the recipe to ensure tasty leftovers, as I often do. Bacon really does make everything better! This roasted pork tenderloin is delicious, but adding bacon takes it to the next level. Pork tenderloin is lean and can dry easily. Wrapping the pork in bacon enhances its flavor and helps it remain juicy.
Instructions
Recipe Card
Oil spray: Used to grease the roasting rack. Honey: You can use a sugar-free syrup instead. Mustard: I use Dijon mustard. It’s creamier and less vinegary than yellow mustard. Seasonings: I keep it simple and use kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Pork tenderloin: I usually get a piece that weighs around 1.25 pounds. Bacon strips: Pick medium bacon slices - not thick or thin.
Start by mixing the honey-mustard glaze. Divide it into two portions. You want to separate the portion you’ll spread on the cooked meat from the portion you’ll spread on the raw meat. Next, season the pork with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and wrap it in bacon. Place it on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Roast the pork to medium doneness. This should take about 40 minutes in a 450°F oven. Loosely cover it with foil after the first 30 minutes to protect the top from burning. Let the pork rest, then brush it with the remaining glaze, slice, and serve.
Adjust the Baking Time
I typically use a 1.25-pound pork tenderloin in this recipe. If yours is bigger - they can sometimes be as big as 1.5 pounds - roast it for 5-10 minutes longer and check with a thermometer to make sure it’s done.
The Bacon Keeps Juices In
Pork tenderloins often come in packages of two, so I sometimes prepare one of them as a simple, roasted tenderloin and wrap the other in bacon. I bake them both in the same 450°F oven, removing the unwrapped one 10-15 minutes sooner. The photo below shows how well the bacon works at keeping the juices inside the meat compared with the unwrapped tenderloin. This is one of the reasons bacon-wrapped tenderloin is so incredibly juicy!
The Bacon Increases the Baking Time
A roasted pork tenderloin takes 20-30 minutes to bake in a 450°F oven. When wrapped in bacon, it takes around 40 minutes. See the photo below - after 30 minutes, the pork has reached an internal temperature of around 130°F: Loosely cover it with foil at this point to protect the bacon from burning, and return it to the oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 145°F - this should take around ten more minutes:
Avocado fries Roasted peppers Carrot chips Roasted zucchini Eggplant chips Roasted okra Roasted broccoli, as shown in the photo below:
As shown in the image below, I cook the pork and broccoli in the same oven, placing the broccoli in the oven for the last 20 minutes of cooking the pork: The leftovers shown in the photo below were reheated in a 350°F oven with leftover roasted Brussels sprouts, then served together: They were a little more cooked than freshly baked tenderloin, but they were still delicious and not dry at all.
