Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin

12 Servings
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin is an amazing and flavorful dinner with a creamy sauce made with coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, and peanuts.

Thai peanut sauce is a staple in Thai cuisine. It’s lightly sweetened and adds rich, delicious flavors to Dinner Recipes like Baked Thai Peanut Chicken, Thai Peanut Shrimp, and now this Asian Pork Tenderloin.

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin sliced with sauce on plate

This Thai Peanut Pork recipe is surprisingly easy to make in just 45 minutes. The simple pork is roasted with a light seasoning of salt and pepper. Then you add amazing peanut sauce and continue roasting. Rich peanut sauce completely transforms the recipe with amazing ingredients like fresh ginger, soy sauce, honey, peanut butter, coconut milk, and garlic.

When you serve this Pork Tenderloin recipe, you can easily serve it over a bed of rice. A bowl of White Rice, Coconut Rice, or Brown Rice would pair well with the dinner. Then you can drizzle any extra sauce over the rice. You can also mix in some stir-fried veggies for an easy and filling rice bowl meal.

If you have any leftovers, cut up the pork and toss it with fresh lettuce and other veggies for a hearty salad the next day. It’s a wonderful and refreshing way to rework the dish.

This recipe is an amazing way to prepare tender pork tenderloin with unexpected and bold flavors. If you’re looking for more Asian pork recipes, try Slow Cooker or regular Sweet and Sour Pork next. All of them are great ways to enjoy classic Asian flavor in easy pork dinners.

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin collage

Thai Recipes

Key Ingredients 

  • Pork Tenderloin: Pork is a great alternative to meat that you might typically picture peanut sauce with, similar to chicken breast. The tenderloin easily absorbs sweet flavors, so the sweetened peanut sauce soaks nicely into the dish. Although pork can be tough, allowing it to rest, and cooking it in 2 sessions stops the meat from drying out for a perfectly juicy dish.
  • Coconut Milk: The coconut milk adds a mild sweet flavor, and gives the sauce its wonderfully smooth and creamy texture.
  • Peanut Butter: Using smooth peanut butter is an easy way to give the whole dish its iconic peanut flavor.
  • Honey: The honey is the perfect simple ingredient to add some sweetness to the sauce without overpowering the rest of the ingredients.
  • Soy Sauce: Along with the spices and vinegar, the soy sauce adds a savory and salty flavor to the sauce that balances the sweet coconut milk and honey.

Cooking Tips 

  • Prep Pork: Start by lightly seasoning the pork tenderloin with salt and pepper, then brush the surface with coconut oil. Place the seasoned pork on a 9×13 inch baking dish, and let it rest for 20 minutes. Let the tenderloin sit out to allow the meat to come to room temperature. It will cook more evenly and it won’t dry out before the inside is done.
  • Cooking Time: Near the end of the resting time, bring the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Put the pork in the preheated oven and cook for 10 minutes. It should be about halfway done cooking.
  • Peanut Sauce: While the pork is doing the first half of its cooking, make the peanut sauce. Add coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, ginger, and garlic to a medium saucepan. Whisk and bring the smooth sauce to a simmer. Let it cook for about 3 minutes until it thickens.
  • Finish: Spoon the peanut sauce over the tenderloin, then continue baking for 10 minutes. To test if it’s done place a meat thermometer into the thickest point. The pork should be at least 145 degrees. Use crushed peanuts and cilantro for garnish and serve.

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin sliced on cutting board

Variations 

  • Marinade: To make extra juicy and tender pork tenderloin, you can prep it with an easy marinade. Whisk together ¾ cup teriyaki sauce, ½ cup orange juice, 2 cloves minced garlic, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice. Put the marinade in a large ziplock bag and add the tenderloin to soak. Toss in some lime slices for extra citrusy flavor, and let the pork soak in the fridge for 4-5 hours before roasting.
  • Pork Chops: If you don’t have a tenderloin, you can make the same recipe using pork chops. The chops cook a couple of minutes faster, so keep your eye on them while they cook in the peanut sauce.
  • Vegetables: Along with the peanut sauce, you can toss some vegetables into the dish with the pork. Green onions, bell pepper strips, broccoli, and sugar snap peas would all taste great with the Thai Peanut Pork.

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin sliced with sauce on plate

More Asian Dishes

How to Store 

  • Serve: You don’t want to leave Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
  • Store: If you have leftovers, you can let them cool to room temperature and then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
  • Freeze: For more long-term storage, let the dish completely cool. Then seal it to store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin sliced with sauce on plate

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Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin is an amazing and flavorful dinner with a creamy sauce made with coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, and peanuts.
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine Thai
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pound pork tenderloin
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 2 limes , thinly sliced
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil , vegetable oil okay (melted)
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon ginger , peeled and minced
  • 3 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1/4 cup peanuts , crushed
  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro , minced

Instructions

  • Season pork with salt and pepper.
  • Brush coconut oil over the pork tenderloin.
  • Place pork into a 9x13 baking dish and let pork rest for 20 minutes before cooking.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Cook the pork for 10 minutes (temperature should be 145 degrees).
  • While pork is cooking halfway, make the Thai peanut sauce.
  • To a medium saucepan add coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, ginger, and garlic.
  • Bring to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes to thicken.
  • Spoon sauce over pork tenderloin and continue to bake, uncovered for 10 minutes.
  • Garnish with crushed peanuts and cilantro.

Nutrition

Calories: 190kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 339mg | Potassium: 284mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 11IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin

Thai Peanut Pork Tenderloin collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. Hi Dianne, We included lime in the photos to speak to one of the recipe’s variations. (see below)
      Marinade: To make extra juicy and tender pork tenderloin, you can prep it with an easy marinade. Whisk together 3/4 cup teriyaki sauce, 1/2 cup orange juice, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice. Put the marinade in a large ziplock bag and add the tenderloin to soak. Toss in some lime slices for extra citrusy flavor, and let the pork soak in the fridge for 4-5 hours before roasting.

  1. I’m a little confused. The recipe calls for 2 limes thinly sliced. But the directions don’t mention when or how to add the limes. I see some thinly sliced limes mentioned regarding the marinade, but none of the other ingredients from the marinade are mentioned in the recipe.