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Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

This Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin is juicy and flavorful. It’s an easy way to have a creative and decadent meal at home.

I absolutely love pork. To me, chicken is often overplayed, and I enjoy cooking with the other white meat. Pork tenderloin is one of my favorite cuts of pork because it’s so quick to cook. And, bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin is really delicious. The bacon adds flavor and juiciness to the tenderloin, which tends to be a less flavorful and drier cut otherwise. There are more details about making this delicious pork dish below, or you can click here to jump to the recipe.

Roasting Pork Tenderloin

The easiest way to cook pork tenderloin is by roasting it in the oven. If I want to cook up a tenderloin to cover in sauce or eat plain, this is how I do it. Sometimes, if there’s a lot of silverskin, or that translucent stuff that covers the meat, I prepare the tenderloin for cooking with a bit of attention.

When I make bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, I follow almost all of the same steps as I do when I roast it plain, besides wrapping it in bacon. However, I do bump the oven temperature up to 400°F because I like the bacon to get a little crispy.

How To Wrap Bacon Around A Tenderloin

One way to wrap the tenderloin with bacon that’s fairly easy is using toothpicks to secure the bacon strips. I usually use about 5-6 bacon strips per tenderloin. To wrap, I start by placing a piece of bacon under one of the ends of the tenderloin. I secure it with a toothpick and then start wrapping. When that piece is covering the tenderloin, I place the end of another piece on top of the end of the wrapped piece and secure both pieces with another toothpick. I repeat until the tenderloin is covered.

If you don’t have toothpicks though, don’t worry. I’ve been lazy before and skipped them. Just make sure that your first slice of bacon is starting on the underside of the tenderloin. Then, when you add a subsequent slice, overlap the end of the last-wrapped-end of the first slice with the first bit that you’re wrapping from your second slice. Kind of smoosh them together as you do that, and they will hold in place. As the bacon cooks and renders fat, it will contract and hold itself in place beautifully around the pork tenderloin.

One tip – don’t salt the tenderloin. Bacon salt content varies, so I season with some black pepper (fresh cracked is best), and if it needs salt, I add it at the table.

Type Of Bacon To Use

The recipe below calls for thick-cut bacon which adds the most flavor and juiciness. However, I find that it doesn’t always crisp up as nicely in the short time that it takes the tenderloin to cook through. If that happens to you, just turn the broiler on and keep the wrapped tenderloin in there for a couple of minutes.

Regular-sliced bacon will give a little bit less juiciness and flavor, but it will be more likely to crisp up on top. The bacon underneath the tenderloin is not going to crisp up ever, note, unless you flip the whole thing over and broil it. I haven’t found that to be necessary though. I enjoy the crispy bacon on top and the soft hammy-textured bacon on the bottom.

Thin-sliced bacon is not a great choice here. It’s not going to yield much juice or flavor, and it’s going to crisp up too quickly, ending up with an un-sliceable, shattering kind of quality.

More Bacon-Wrapped Recipes

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin (because pork loin is a different cut of meat from pork tenderloin and requires different isntructions)

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breasts

Enjoy! -Christine xo

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Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin Recipe

  • Author: Christine Pittman
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Entrée
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: American

DESCRIPTION

This Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin is juicy and flavorful. It’s an easy way to have a creative and decadent meal at home.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 (approx. 1 and 1/2 lb.) pork tenderloin
  • 56 pieces thick-cut bacon
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • Salt, to taste if needed
  • Toothpicks, for securing the bacon

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Pat the pork tenderloin dry and place it on a cutting board. Remove any silver skin if needed.
  3. Lay one piece of the bacon down under one end of the tenderloin. Secure it with a toothpick, and wrap the bacon around the pork.
  4. Place the end of anther piece of bacon on top of the end of the first piece and secure with a toothpick. Continue wrapping. Repeat these steps until the entire tenderloin is covered.
  5. Place the pork in a roasting pan and season with pepper. Do not salt. Depending on the salt level of the bacon, you might not need it. Salt can be added to taste at the table.
  6. Roast the pork tenderloin for 25-30 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 145°F and the bacon is cooked.
  7. Let the tenderloin rest for 5-7 minutes before slicing and serving.