One bite of this maple pork tenderloin and you'll know that maple and pork are a match made in heaven! It's a little sweet from the maple syrup and a little tangy from the orange juice and totally scrumptious!
Lean and delicious pork tenderloin gets marinated for a couple of hours in a maple syrup, orange juice, rice wine and soy sauce marinade. Then the pork is pan seared and oven roasted for perfectly juicy roast pork!
As the meat rests you make a sweet and tangy maple pan sauce! Thinly slice the pork and serve with the sauce!
We have a local used bookstore with a very nice cookbook aisle. I know it's very nice, because you'll find me there often. It's also why I have two bookcases full of cookbooks.
One whole shelf is Cooking Light Annuals. I have them all the way back to 1996! I decided to go through each one and make a list of the recipes that I really, really wanted to make.
The recipes had to be easy, no long list of ingredients, sound good and be quick (though if time does most of the work, I'm okay with a recipes that take a little bit longer.)
This Maple Pork Tenderloin was one from 2001. I chose it because it checked off all those boxes. It does have a two hour marinade, but again, time is doing the work.
I can only hope that all of the other recipes that I've listed (and there aren't that many - I was very stringent that they meet the qualifications - no, "I'd like to make the some day when I have a whole afternoon" in the bunch,) are as good as this one.
This is so good and so easy!
Ingredients:
Pork Tenderloin - most packages come with 2 pork tenderloins. You'll only need one for this recipe. I used the other one to make Spicy Thai Pork Fried Rice.
Onion - I used white onion, you can use red or even green onions.
Orange juice and maple syrup.
Rice Wine - if you don't have sake you can use regular white wine. If you don't want to use any wine, you could use apple juice.
Soy sauce, black pepper and garlic.
Instructions:
For the marinade you'll use some of the orange juice and the maple syrup combined with sake, soy sauce, pepper, onion and garlic. Marinate the pork in this for 2 hours in the fridge.
Note: Marinating in a ziplock bag keeps everything covered and moist. To play it safe, I always place my bag in a bowl or container in case it leaks there is no mess in the fridge!
Preheat the oven to 400.
Heat a 9 inch oven safe skillet over medium-high heat. You can spray the skillet with cooking spray or drizzle with a little oil.
Remove the pork from the marinade, reserving the marinade.
Brown the pork tenderloin on all sides, for about 5 minutes. I like to use a splatter screen to keep from getting my stove all messy.
Then place the skillet in the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes or until the pork is 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
This method of pan searing the pork and then finishing it off by roasting in the oven produces the most perfectly cooked pork tenderloin!
Remove the pork from the pan and let rest on a cutting board tented with aluminum foil.
Add the reserved marinade and the reserved orange juice and maple syrup to the pan and heat over medium high heat.
Bring to a boil, scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Boil for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer until slightly thickened.
Slice the pork and serve with the pan sauce.
This was so good! If you're thinking you're not sure about pork and maple syrup, then think again.
You know when you get pancakes and sausage and you slide your bites of sausage through the maple syrup - this is like that. So yummy!
The pork comes out tender and juicy on the inside and brown and tasty on the outside!
More recipes with maple syrup:
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Recipe
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Maple Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup onion diced
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp rice wine
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound pork tenderloin
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- cooking spray or oil
Instructions
- In a ziplock bag or bowl, combine onion, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 tablespoons syrup, rice wine, soy sauce, pepper, and garlic.
- Trim any excess fat from the pork and add it to the bag or bowl. Marinate in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Heat an oven proof skillet over medium high heat. Spray with cooking spray or add a little oil. Remove the pork from the bag and reserve the marinade.
- Brown the pork on all sides, for a total of about 5 minutes. Insert a meat thermometer (if using) and place the pan in the oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until pork reaches 145 degrees.
- Remove pan from oven and place pork on cutting board, tented with foil to rest.
- Place skillet over medium high heat, add the rest of the marinade, 2 tablespoons of orange juice, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce thickens slightly.
- Slice pork and serve with sauce.
The Asian flavors included in this was so fantastic. Definitely my palate preferences. This is such a showstopper I would even add it to a holiday meal. My family aren't big on Turkey so this might just do for thanksgiving!
Pork Tenderloin is such a great meat option for the Holidays and this recipe looks so amazing! I'm loving that Maple glaze!
Maple and pork really are a match made in heaven. There is something about sweet maple that rounds out the flavors in a savory, umami flavored pork tenderloin. That pan sauce sounds so good I will have to lick the pan clean 😉
This is so tempting and I am drooling. Love the Glaze and the presentation too. Yum for sure.
Oh yes! This is one of my absolute favorite ways to make pork! This is so delicious!