Things have been so hectic lately, and I haven’t had much time to cook. I hate to admit it, but we have been eating take-away and subs a lot. It’s okay for a day or two, but it gets old quickly. Plus it’s a guaranteed way for us both to put on a couple of pounds the longer it goes on. That’s why I sought out quick and easy recipes for this week’s posts. First up is this Pan Roasted Herbed Pork Tenderloin. It only has a few ingredients and even fewer steps plus it promises to be ready in just over 20 minutes. I’m looking forward to giving it a try and having a home-cooked meal!
This herb rubbed pork tenderloin is seared in a hot skillet then transferred to the oven to finish cooking. The result is a flavorful pan seared pork tenderloin that’s tender and juicy and impossible to resist. It can also be cooked on your grill outside.
The Ingredients
This Pan Roasted Herbed Pork Tenderloin has a grand total of seven ingredients, and I had six in my pantry! The olive oil and all the spices were there, so all I had to buy was a pork tenderloin.
The recipe calls for two pounds of pork tenderloin, but I found one that was slightly smaller. It was also a single piece, but it suited the two of us just fine.
The Process
Making this Pan Roasted Herbed Pork Tenderloin was just as simple as I imagined it would be. I began by preheating the oven and a cast-iron pan with the olive oil. I use an electric stove, and I like to preheat my pans at setting four. It gets surprisingly hot after five minutes but it’s low enough that it doesn’t start smoking.
But back to the pork! It didn’t have much silver skin, so trimming it was very quick. In fact, I had it trimmed and seasoned in a mere four minutes (and that includes all the preheating).
Next, it was into the preheated pan to sear. I seared it for two minutes per side, but I seared mine on four sides. I have a feeling the recipe only counts two sides, which is why my total time took a little longer than listed (more on that later).
Something else to note was the color. The outside of the tenderloin went a bit past browned and was edging its way toward black. I was worried I had burned it, but I think it was the onion powder caramelizing. It ended up making a crispy outside with tons of flavor!
That was the real “work” of the recipe. The rest was putting the pan into the oven, removing it, and tenting it with foil while it rested. After that, I sliced it and served it up with a side of veg.
The Timing
Here’s how my time broke down:
- 4 minutes to prep
- 27 minutes to cook (9 minutes to sear + 18 minutes to roast)
- 5 minutes to stand
- 36 minutes total
The total time listed was 23 minutes, but I went over it. Initially, I thought it was because of two reasons. First, I seared the pork tenderloin on four sides instead of two. That added four minutes. Second, I wonder if the time to rest was included in the time listed on the recipe.
However, when I did some math, I found the problem. The times listed in the recipe don’t add up to 23 minutes:
- 4 minutes to sear (2 minutes per side, assuming 2 sides)
- 18 minutes to roast
- 5-10 minutes to rest
- 27-32 minutes total
And that doesn’t include any time for prep work. It sounds like a combination of a simple math error and my theories. Hey, it happens. But once I realized the math issue, my time was much closer to the instructions.
