How to Cook Pork Tenderloin
A pork tenderloin has almost no fat in it. That makes it quick, and it makes it the single easiest thing in the shop to overcook.
Tenderloin is the muscle that runs along the inside of the spine and does almost nothing all day. No work means no connective tissue and very little fat, which is why it is tender and why it punishes you.
The method
- Dry the surface and salt it. Thirty minutes ahead is plenty on something this thin.
- Sear it hard on all sides in a hot pan, turning as each face browns. Four or five minutes total.
- Drop the heat right down, or move it to a moderate oven, and finish it gently.
- Check with a thermometer against the agency figure linked below, not by eye.
- Rest ten minutes. It carries more carryover than its size suggests.
Why pasture-raised pork needs more attention
“You don't see pigs in the far, in the mountains very much. And that's because pigs are hard on slopes because they root, because they dig, they need to be on flat ground because they'll cause erosion.”
Gray Shipley
Pigs are uncommon up here for exactly the reason Gray gives, and the ones that are raised outdoors move. An animal that moves is leaner, and lean means less fat to cover for you when you overshoot.
“Pasture raised is where the, it's where the animal belongs. They belong on the pasture. And so don't take them out of the environment where they need to be.”
Gray Shipley
The thing that saves it
A brine. Even an hour in salted water changes the outcome on a tenderloin more than any other single step, because it seasons through and gives you a buffer. Dry it thoroughly afterwards or it will not brown at all.
“But, well, they don't cooperate. It's not in your control the weather and the animals staying in their fencing where they're supposed to be. And predators and all kinds of hiccups that make it more challenging than you think.”
Gray Shipley
The same principles on a thicker cut are in how to cook pork chops, and if it did come out dry, why is my roast dry covers the mechanism.
Whole pork tenderloin. Lean, quick, and unforgiving of four extra minutes.
View ProductHow do I cook a pork tenderloin without drying it out?
Sear it hard, finish it gently, and pull it the moment it hits temperature.
- Cook to a Safe Minimum Internal Temperature, FoodSafety.gov
- Food Thermometers, USDA FSIS
- Doneness Versus Safety, USDA FSIS
Food-safety temperatures and storage times on this page are cited to the agencies above rather than to us.
Written at Shipley Farms in Vilas, North Carolina: a family cattle farm raising and dry-aging beef in the Appalachian Mountains, now in its fifth generation. No shortcuts since 1872.
Every quote on this page is Gray Shipley talking, the man who runs this farm. We sat down with him, turned on a recorder, and kept his own words. Hesitations are trimmed so they read on the page. Nothing else is added or reworded, except where Gray revised his own words in review.
Nobody knows this beef better than we do. On food safety we leave it to USDA FSIS and FoodSafety.gov, and we have linked their pages above. Reviewed 3 October 2026.
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