BBQ Pork Tenderloin Recipe, Oven or Grill

This BBQ pork tenderloin recipe gets barbecue flavor onto the table on a weeknight. A smoky, slightly sweet dry rub goes on first. The tenderloin is browned in a skillet and roasted in a 425-degree oven, and a quick homemade barbecue sauce goes on in the last few minutes, so it turns sticky without burning. From the first step to the first slice, it takes about 40 minutes.

Tenderloin is the narrow, lean muscle that runs along the inside of the backbone. It is mild and very tender, and it takes a rub and a glaze well. What it cannot do is cook for hours like a pork shoulder, so this is not low-and-slow barbecue. It is a hot, fast roast with barbecue flavors, and it is done at 145 degrees F.

At a glance: serves 3 to 4. Prep 15 minutes, cook about 20 minutes, rest 5 minutes. Makes about 3/4 cup of sauce, enough to glaze the pork and pass at the table.

Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, was plain about one thing he does not like:

“I don't like just like low-grade store-bought condiments.”

Gray Shipley

He was not talking about this recipe, but it is the reason this one makes its own sauce. Ten minutes at the stove with tomato paste, cider vinegar, brown sugar and a few spices gives you a barbecue sauce that tastes of what went into it, and you can push the sweet, the sour and the heat wherever you like. If you already have a sauce you trust, the method works the same with it.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar, for the rub
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tablespoon lard or olive oil, for searing
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, for the sauce
• 1 tablespoon molasses or honey
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, for the sauce
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees with a rack in the middle. Stir the rub together in a small bowl: 1 tablespoon brown sugar, the smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, pepper and cayenne. Set aside 1 teaspoon of the rub for the sauce.
2. Make the sauce. Whisk the tomato paste, vinegar, water, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, molasses, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the reserved teaspoon of rub in a small saucepan. Bring it to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring often, for 5 to 8 minutes, until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Take it off the heat and stir in the butter.
3. Pour about half the sauce into a small bowl for the table and leave the rest in the pan for brushing, so the brush that touches the pork never goes into the sauce you serve.
4. Trim the silverskin from the tenderloin with a thin knife, pat the pork dry, and press the rub over every side.
5. Heat the lard or oil in a 10- or 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Brown the tenderloin on all sides, turning it every 1 to 2 minutes, about 6 minutes in all. Keep the heat at medium; the sugar in the rub burns in a very hot pan.
6. Move the skillet to the oven and roast for 8 minutes.
7. Brush the top and sides of the pork with the brushing sauce and roast until a thermometer in the thickest part reads 145 degrees F, usually 4 to 8 minutes more. Brush it once more as it comes out, and remember that the skillet handle is now oven-hot.
8. Move the pork to a cutting board and rest it for at least 3 minutes, and up to 10. Slice it into 1/2-inch rounds and serve with the reserved sauce.

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Barbecue pork tenderloin in the oven, two ways

The method above, browned in a skillet and finished at 425 degrees, gives the best crust. If you would rather skip the stovetop, rub the tenderloin, set it on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, and roast it at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Brush it with sauce, then roast until it reaches 145 degrees F, usually 5 to 10 minutes more. It will be paler, but the glaze still sets.

Either way, the sauce goes on late. Barbecue sauce is mostly sugar and tomato, and in a hot oven it burns long before the pork is cooked. Brushed on in the last few minutes, it has time to thicken and turn glossy, and that is all it needs.

BBQ pork tenderloin on the grill

Set up a two-zone fire at about 400 to 450 degrees with the lid closed. Brown the rubbed tenderloin over direct heat, giving it a quarter turn every 2 minutes, for about 8 minutes, and watch for flare-ups from the sugar. Move it to the cooler side, close the lid, and cook until it reads about 135 degrees F. Brush it with sauce and keep going on the cool side until it reaches 145 degrees F, then rest and slice as above.

What is the best BBQ pork tenderloin marinade?

If you would rather marinate than rub, the best BBQ pork tenderloin marinade is a short one. Tenderloin is already tender, so a marinade here is about flavor, not texture. Whisk 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce, set aside before any raw pork is near it, with 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 minced garlic clove. Seal the tenderloin in a bag with it and refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours.

Before cooking, lift the pork out, throw away the used marinade, and pat the surface dry so it browns. Skip the dry rub, since the marinade is already salty, and cook and glaze the pork exactly as above.

Tenderloin or loin?

Check the label before you start. Pork loin is a much larger roast and needs far longer at a lower temperature, so this timing will not work for it. For other ways with the tenderloin, see How to Cook Pork Tenderloin in the reading list below. Leftover slices are good cold the next day, in a sandwich with the extra sauce and some coleslaw.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes, as the safe minimum internal temperature for pork. Check the tenderloin with an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part. Keep the sauce you serve separate from the sauce you brush onto the pork, throw away any used marinade, and keep raw pork away from food that will not be cooked. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and reheat them to 165 degrees F. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.