An easy dinner sheet pan recipe is always welcome. Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin comes together quickly with little meal prep so that you can have a delicious dinner on busy weeknights.
Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin
Rubbed with a harissa and chipotle-flavored paste, this flavorful and juicy pork tenderloin roasts in about 20 minutes and is finished under the broiler resulting in charred bits of concentrated flavor. Serve with a garnish of mango and avocado tossed with lime juice and cilantro for a cooling touch. Add a side of pan-roasted delicata squash and cipollini onions for a complete meal.
Sheet Pan Meals
Take the stress out of cooking and embrace your sheet pans for an easy weeknight dinner. By roasting meat and vegetables, you are virtually preparing a hands-off meal. Plus, there is the added benefit of a toasty depth of flavor and texture. And the top of the stove is clean!
Lean Pork Tenderloin
Pork tenderloin is an easy cut of meat to love. It is very lean which little fat to trim meaning little prep work!
Easy Sheet Pan Meal
This tender cut of pork has a mild taste and adopts whatever flavors you prefer. This great recipe partners spicy harissa and chipotle paste which has a slightly fruity background flavor that partners well with the mango and avocado.
Ingredients you will need for the Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin recipe
harissa and chipotle paste
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
- tahini
- olive oil
- clove of garlic
- lime juice
- ground cumin
- harissa seasoning
- kosher salt
garnish
- mango
- avocado
- cilantro
- lime
sheet pan meal
- 1 pound pork tenderloin
- 1 large delicata squash
- cipollini onions
Preparing the harissa and chipotle paste
Step One
While pork tenderloin is very lean, it does need to be trimmed before cooking.
- Trim any large pieces of fat and the silverskin from the pork tenderloin. Silverskin is a membrane of thin connective tissue on the surface of the pork tenderloin. It will not melt when the meat is cooked and is not edible so it needs to be removed. With a sharp knife, make an incision at the beginning of the silverskin in the middle of the tenderloin. Run the knife as close as possible to the membrane by angling it towards the top surface of the silverskin for the entire length. You may need to make a few passes with your knife to remove all of it.
Step Two
It doesn't get any easier! Add all the ingredients to a food processor. Because this is a small batch recipe, it is helpful if you have a mini food process. You could also use a blender.
Harissa paste ingredients
Ready for the pork tenderloin.
The recipe will make ½ cup of paste which is more than you will need for a single pork tenderloin. There is plenty of remaining marinade if you are preparing two pork tenderloins.
Marinate
Since the pork needs to marinate for 1 hour, this step will be made in advance.
- After making the paste, lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter. Using a pastry brush, slather the paste all over the pork tenderloin. Wrap the pork in the plastic and set aside.
Brush on the harissa paste.
Vegetable Side
Step One
While the pork is marinating, you can prepare the vegetables.
- Cut the delicata squash in half to reveal the center. Using a spoon, remove the stringy membrane and seeds.
- No need to peel the squash as the rind is edible. Just cut ¼-inch half-moons of the squash and place them on a rimmed sheet pan.
- Remove any papery skins from the cipollini onions and add to the squash on the sheet pan.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the vegetables and sprinkle kosher salt and black pepper on top. Combine everything so that the vegetables are coated with the oil and seasoning.
Toss vegetables with olive oil, kosher salt, and ground black pepper.
Pork Tenderloin Sheet Pan Dinner
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Remove the pork tenderloin from the plastic. You can brush more paste on the meat if too much was removed when unwrapping the plastic.
- Coat a sheet pan with cooking spray and place pork tenderloin on it.
- Place both sheet pans - vegetables and meat - in the oven.
Prepare the garnish
- While the meat and vegetables are roasting, cut the mango and avocado into small dice and place them in a small bowl.
- Zest the ½ lime and add to bowl.
- Add olive oil and lime juice to the bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Finish roasting
- After the vegetables have roasted for 15 minutes, take the sheet pan out of the oven. Leave the pork in the oven to continue roasting. Flip both the squash and the onions to the other side. Place the sheet pan back in the oven to continue the cooking process for 5- 6 more minutes.
- Remove the sheet pan of vegetables from the oven. Turn on the broiler and place the pork tenderloin under it for 5 minutes. You may want to rotate the pan for even browning.
Roast for about 20 minutes.
- Remove the pork from the oven. Using an instant-read thermometer, read the internal temperature of the meat. The pork should be 140 degrees.
Out of the oven and resting.
- Let the pork rest for 5-8 minutes before slicing. The internal temperature of the pork should be 145° and have a pinkish center. After resting the internal temperature will rise 5-8 degrees from carry-over cooking.
- Cut the pork tenderloin into 9 slices. Place three slices on each plate and garnish with the mango and avocado salad. The salad will help to tone down the spice from the marinade.
Dinner is ready.
- Distribute the vegetables among the three plates.
Notes
- The spice level of the paste is up to your personal preference. If you do not like too much spice, use less chipotle pepper.
- One end of a pork tenderloin tapers into a thin piece of meat. Fold this end under the tenderloin so that there is a consistent thickness of the roast.
- Pork tenderloin becomes very dry if overcooked. Pay attention to the cooking time and remember the meat will continue to rise in temperature even after it is out of the oven (carryover cooking).
Easy Sheet Pan Meal
You don't need a special occasion for this Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin. It will just feel like one with this delicious meal.
Easy Weeknight Meal
With minimal prep, a few short minutes, and a sheet pan, you can have a flavorful dinner that tastes like you have been cooking for hours. Any day of the week.
Here is another pork tenderloin recipe - https://tenpoundcakecompany.com/pork-tenderloin-and-roasted-grapes.
Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin
Equipment
- 1 food processor (mini preferably or use a blender)
- 2 sheet pans
- 1 small bowl
- 1 cutting board
- 1 microplane
- 1 knife
- 1 large spoon
- 1 pastry brush
- plastic wrap
- 1 set of tongs
- 1 instant-read thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork tenderloin (468 grams)
- 1 delicata squash (13 ounces/329 grams)
- 8 ounces cipollini onions (227 grams)
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon harissa powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 clove garlic
- lime zest
- juice of ½ lime
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ mango
- 1 avocado
- juice of ½ lime
- 2 teaspoons chopped cilantro
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
- While the meat is marinating, preheat oven to 425°
- Remove the lime zest with a Microplane. Set aside until later.
- Mix 1 chipotle pepper, 3 tablespoons of tahini, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of harissa seasoning, ½ teaspoon of ground cumin, ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, 1 clove of garlic, and the juice of a ½ lime. Puree until smooth. You will have ½ cup of the marinade which is more than you need.
- Trim any large pieces of fat and the silverskin from the pork tenderloin. Silverskin is a membrane of thin connective tissue on the surface of the pork tenderloin. It will not melt when the meat is cooked and is not edible so it needs to be removed.
- With a sharp knife, make an incision at the beginning of the silverskin in the middle of the tenderloin. Run the knife as close as possible to the membrane by angling it towards the top surface of the silverskin for the entire length. You may need to make a few passes with your knife to remove all of it.
- One end of a pork tenderloin tapers into a thin piece of meat. Fold this end under the tenderloin so that there is a consistent thickness of the roast.
- Once the pork is trimmed, place it on a sheet of plastic wrap. Brush the marinade on the entire surface of the tenderloin. Wrap the meat up in the plastic wrap and set aside to marinate for 1 hour.
- While the pork is marinating, prepare the vegetables. Cut the delicata squash in half and remove the stringy membrane and seeds. Cut the squash into ¼-inch slices.
- Clean the cipollini onions by removing the outside skins.
- Place the vegetables on a sheet pan and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper.
- After 1 hour, unwrap the pork tenderloin. Brush it with more marinade if needed.
- Coat a sheet pan with cooking spray. Place the pork on the sheet pan.
- Place both sheet pans in the oven.
- Cut half of the mango and avocado into small dice. Combine in a bowl.
- Add the lime zest, the juice of a ½ lime, and ½ teaspoon of olive oil to the bowl. Season with ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt and a pinch of ground black pepper.
- Take the vegetables out after 15-18 minutes, when the bottom of the squash has been roasted until golden brown. Flip the onions and the squash over to the other side. Put the sheet pan back in the oven for 5-6 more minutes.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven. Turn on the broiler.
- Place the sheet pan with the pork tenderloin under the broiler for 5-6 minutes until the top surface is deeply browned. Remove the pork from the oven. Using an instant-read thermometer, read the internal temperature of the meat. The pork should be 140 degrees.
- Let the pork rest for 5-8 minutes before slicing. The internal temperature of the pork should be 145° and have a pinkish center. After resting the internal temperature will rise 5-8 degrees from carry-over cooking.
- Cut the pork tenderloin into 9 slices. Place three slices on each plate and garnish with the mango and avocado salad. The salad will help to tone the spice from the marinade.
- Distribute the vegetables among the three plates.
Notes
Notes
- The spice level of the paste is up to your personal preference. If you do not like too much spice, use less chipotle pepper.
- One end of a pork tenderloin tapers into a thin piece of meat. Fold this end under the tenderloin so that there is a consistent thickness of the roast.
- Pork tenderloin becomes very dry if overcooked. Pay attention to the cooking time and remember the meat will continue to rise in temperature even after it is out of the oven (carryover cooking).
Nutrition
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