One of our favorite Sunday meals is pork tenderloin. It is easy to fix and can be cooked in the oven or the grill.
It is also my favorite thing to fix when I am feeding a crowd. Pork is easier to keep moist when feeding a crowd than chicken which can dry out quicker. And it is a nice change from chicken!
I have a dozen different pork tenderloin recipes in my special cookbook of all my favorites. Most of them though require marinading.
When I forget to marinade my pork I love to use this recipe - a Rachael Ray recipe.
My college girl was home for the weekend last week and when I asked her what she wanted for dinner while she was home – her first response was no surprise – it is always Browned Butter and Balsamic Ravioli!
My favorite thing to serve with the ravioli is Balsamic Roast Pork Tenderloin – as far as I’m concerned you can never have too much balsamic vinegar!!
You prepare the pork by cutting small slits into the meat and filling them with chopped fresh garlic. The garlic in combination with steak seasoning, rosemary (I used fresh), thyme and balsamic vinegar make for a very flavorful piece of meat.
The only downside to this recipe is that it sets off my smoke detector every time! Now, before I open the oven door, I always station someone with a kitchen towel below the smoke detector to blow away the smoke. It still goes off every time.
Be sure and cover your cookie sheet or pan with foil because it does make a mess!
But the mess is worth it – it is flavorful and moist and a nice change from chicken!!
Balsamic Roast Pork Tenderloin
Rachael Ray
4 1/2 lb. pork tenderloins, 2 packages with 1 tenderloin in each package (For the four of us I only cooked one of the tenderloins)
4 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, cracked or chopped
Steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and black pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and finely chopped (I used a teaspoon of dry)
Preheat oven to 500 degrees
Trim silver skin or connective tissue off tenderloins
Place tenderloins on a nonstick cookie sheet with a rim (I covered mine in foil)
Cut small slits into meat and disperse chunks of cracked garlic coves into meat.
Coat tenderloins with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and rub into meat. Drizzle tenderloins with olive oil, just enough to coat. Combine steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and pepper with rosemary and thyme and rub meat with blend. Roast in hot oven for 20 minutes
Let meat rest, transfer to a carving board, slice and serve.






















Oh my, that does look delicious! So simple too. Thanks:)
Rachael Ray is my hero! Thanks for sharing this is going on the menu for next week!
I must be dense, is this a total of 4.5 lbs of tenderloin, or 2 packages with 2.25 lb tenderloins in each one? Lord, I am sorry to look so silly.
Oh, I put a fan toward my oven when I have situations like this, it blows the smoke away. I also have the fan on above the stove.
I just made this recipe the other night! Fortunately, I don’t have a smoke detector in the kitchen. It’s in the hallway! I made Bobby Flay’s Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Cream to go with it. Heaven!
This looks and sounds fabulous! And I hear you on the smoke alarm – every time we broil salmon with teriyaki sauce, the alarm goes off about one minute before it’s really done! We have a fan standing by just for the event!
Thanks for sharing. I made this yesterday. It was great
Thanks. . . . .what a great recipe. Now that I will be resurrecting my cooking skills, i’ll have to give this one a try.
It is easier to grill for me than have the fire dept here!!!!!!
I made this for a family dinner at my parent’s and everyone LOVED it!! My sister called the juices from it “magic sauce”, she even put it on her potatoes!
Great recipe, just like all the others you share! Thanks!
Silly question, but if the recipe calls for 4 tenderloins and you only used one, do you reduce the remaining ingredients accordingly?
Not a silly question at all. In the directions it says to just drizzle with olive oil, enough to coat so I just eye balled it. Same with the balsamic vinegar. I used two cloves of garlic per tenderloin and then only 1/4 of the seasoning (rosemary, thyme) Enjoy!