Pork Tenderloin Marinade makes the juiciest and most flavorful pork. Made with common pantry ingredients full of sweet and savory goodness.
Preparing a Pork Tenderloin with this easy and quick Sauce, is the great way to ensure you get the most flavorful dinner imaginable! Make sure you also check out my Steak Marinade and Easy Chicken Marinade.
Why You’ll Love This Marinade?
- Makes the juiciest and most flavorful pork guaranteed to take it to the next level.
- Only takes a few minutes to make with simple ingredients.
Sabrina’s Pork Tenderloin Marinade Recipe
This Pork Tenderloin Marinade only takes a few minutes to whisk ingredients together. Then soak 1-2 pounds of pork tenderloin in the flavorful homemade sauce. It’s simple but makes a huge difference in meat flavor and texture. Although it’s not essential to every meat recipe, if you want to ensure that you have a flavorful, succulent cut of meat, preparing it in a marinade is a great way to do that. Your friends and family will love the flavor that gets added!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/3 cup brown sugar , packed
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup ginger , finely minced
- 5 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar , (or apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk together chicken broth, brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar, kosher salt and black pepper.
- Transfer marinade to a large ziplock bag.
- Add the pork tenderloin and coat well, sealing the bag with as little air in it as possible.
- Marinate for 2 hours.
- Pat pork dry and cook or grill as desired.
- To use marinade as a sauce, add to a saucepan, reduce by half volume on a simmer.
- Serve over pork slices.
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tips
To make your tenderloin is tender and flavorful, you’ll want to marinate the meat for at least two hours. However, you can enhance the flavor even more by marinating the meat longer. 6-8 hours is ideal. You can prep the meat in the morning and leave it to marinate throughout the day before cooking it for a delicious dinner.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
The marinade soaks into the meat to add moisture and flavor. Made with ingredients like brown sugar, chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and minced cloves garlic, which enhance the natural flavor of the pork. This recipe is intended for grilling, however, you can place the marinated pork in a baking dish to prepare in the oven. Guaranteed to take your tenderloin to the next level. Plus, you can use it on other cuts of pork too! It’s sure to be a new favorite recipe to keep on hand.
Ingredients
- Chicken broth: Using broth makes a great base ingredient for this recipe. It has a slightly salty, comforting flavor that’s not as strong as the other ingredients. That’s why you’ll use more chicken broth than the other stronger flavors.
- Brown Sugar: Adding ⅓ cup brown sugar to the marinade creates the perfect amount of rich, sweet flavor for your pork. It’s not so much brown sugar that overpowers the savory ingredients, but it’s enough to create a rich, nuanced flavor. The brown sugar also encourages the browning of the meat.
- Soy Sauce: Low-sodium soy sauce is a common ingredient that you’ll find in many marinade recipes because of the complex, umami flavor that it adds to meat recipes. Whether you’re preparing pork, chicken, fish, or beef, soy sauce is most likely a key component in the recipe. It helps boosts the meats’ flavor and balances the sharp flavor of the rice wine vinegar.
- Seasonings: Flavor the sauce with fresh spices like finely minced or grated ginger, garlic cloves, kosher salt, and coarse ground black pepper. They give the recipe a bold, warm, and lightly spiced taste.
- Vinegar: 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar is preferable for this recipe. However, apple cider vinegar makes a very good substitute if you don’t have rice wine vinegar. It’s important to include some type of vinegar, or another acidic ingredient, in your recipes, because they break down the surface layer of the meat so that the other ingredients can be absorbed to add moisture and flavor to the recipe.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, you can make your pork ahead of time is keep it store in freezer for when you are ready to enjoy. After cooking fully, wait for it to cool to room temperature, then place in a resealable freezer bag or another freezer-safe airtight container. The pork can stay good frozen for up to 3 months. Then let the pork thaw in the fridge and reheat before serving.
Pairing Suggestions
Pair pork tenderloin with classic, comforting dinner side dishes. Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes, Rice, Roasted Green Beans, and Fluffy Dinner Rolls all make great additions to this easy meal. Sauces like Honey Mustard or Blue Cheese Butter would also taste wonderful with this dish. Or top the meat off with coarse sea salt, and a few sprigs fresh thyme or rosemary.
How to Store
- Serve: After cooking, don’t leave your pork out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: To keep leftovers fresh, store the pork in an airtight container or covered dish in your fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Store in a resealable freezer bag or another freezer-safe airtight container. The recipe can stay good frozen for up to 3 months.
Frequent Questions
Yes! While this recipe is made for and works wonderfully for pork tenderloin, you can also use it for other cuts of pork like pork chops, pork shoulder chops, pork ribs, or pork roast. You could also use the marinade for completely different kinds of meat, like chicken or beef, but the ingredients are made to enhance the flavors naturally in pork.
You’ll need to cook the meat until the pork is cooked through to the center. Pork is safe to eat when the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Use a meat thermometer at the thickest portion of meat to check the internal temperature before removing the tenderloin from heat. Then let the meat sit for 3-5 minutes, this will allow the juices to redistribute for perfectly tender and flavorful meat throughout. Then you can slice and serve the recipe.
Pork tenderloin or pork filet comes from the loin area of the pig. It’s a tender cut of meat removed from the muscle along the pig’s spine. This muscle is not used for movement, so the meat remains particularly tender.
After marinating, you can cook the meat however you desire. This recipe has instructions for grilling the pork tenderloin. However, you could roast the pork in the oven or prepare it in a pan. Whatever you’re favorite way to typically cook delicious pork tenderloin will work perfectly well with the marinated meat.
Variations
- Spicy Pork Marinade: If you prefer a stronger, spiced flavor, you could add seasonings like red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to your meat marinade. Just make sure to only add a teaspoon or so of the spices, you can always add more later if you want more. Instead of red pepper flakes, you could mix in 1 tablespoon of hot sauce or 1 tablespoon of sweet chili sauce into the savory mixture.
- Seasonings: There are plenty of other delicious seasonings that you can add to your sauce to adjust the flavor according to your preferences. Fresh rosemary, onion powder, ground mustard, or oregano make tasty flavor enhancements.
- Lemon juice: Fresh lemon juice is another common ingredient that you could add to this recipe in place of vinegar. Just like the vinegar, the citrus juice will break down the meat so that it can absorb the delicious marinade. This creates a light, fresh flavor for the Pork Tenderloin. Fresh pineapple juice or lime juice also have the same effect and taste amazing.
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Yum! I often try new marinades for pork tenderloin, and this is my family’s favorite! The ketchup adds a hint of tanginess to the marinade and sauce. Thank you for an outstanding recipe!
You’re welcome Louise and thanks for the kind words and five star review!