Sheet pan pork tenderloin with roasted cauliflower and crispy kale. The pork tenderloin has the most delicious honey mustard marinade.
Remember that time we made Schnitzel, and I told you to toss the other pork tenderloin from the bag in the freezer? Yeah, I just found it last weekend. I'm cleaning out the freezer to make room for meals for baby time, and I'm putting to use all the frozen meat I found! I have the worst habit of buying the big pack of chicken breasts when I really just need two. I wrap and freeze the leftovers for future meals, which is great, except I forget that it's in there and buy another large pack of chicken breasts. Repeat three times. Those of you requesting chicken dinners for two, your wish will come true!
Pork tenderloin is one of those things my Mom makes for company quite frequently. She wraps it in bacon and fresh thyme and bakes it to perfection. Everyone loves it plain, or on a sandwich leftover the next day. I knew it was time to put a pork tenderloin recipe in my arsenal for company. I have lots of company and guests planned over the next few months, and I plan on making them scaled-up versions of my Dinners for Two.
In order for a dinner recipe to be in my life, it must:
-use minimal pots and pans
-be easy
-have easy clean-up (bonus points for foil-lined pans!)
-be quick
After baking all day, these are really the only kind of dinners for which I have the time.
This one-pound tenderloin serves two quite generously, maybe even three people. I'm not a huge meat-eater (but gimme all the crispy veggies), so in your house, it may only serve two. The recipe below is for one tenderloin, but you can easily scale it up and put as many tenderloins on the sheet pan that will fit.
We haven't even talked about my favorite part: crispy veggies. I feel like it makes me a boring person to admit that cauliflower is my favorite vegetable, but it's true. I credit my addiction to Indian food for my love of cauliflower. I always have a head in the fridge during the winter. Heads up: buy the whole head instead of the already-cut florets so that it will last up to 2 weeks in your fridge. Or not---buy pre-chopped florets the day you want to make this and save yourself the mess!
The vegetables roast right on the same pan as the pork (but come out after 15 minutes). It's perfect because you need to check the temperature of the pork at 15 minutes anyway. I always cook meat in the oven using a thermometer---it's the best way to be 100% of your results.
RECAP: tangy, moist honey-mustard pork with roasted cauliflower and crispy kale bits showered in Parmesan cheese. Is it a yes? I think so.
Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin
A delicious main meal for two that's easy to make.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon
- 1 1-pound pork tenderloin
- ½ head cauliflower, chopped into florets
- 2 large handfuls chopped kale
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large re-sealable bag, add the mustard, honey, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice of the lemon in the bag too, and then add the whole lemon. Smush to combine.
- Add the pork tenderloin and use your hands to ensure it's evenly coated with the marinade.
- Let rest in the fridge for 8 hours.
- Preheat oven to 500. While the oven preheats, remove the pork from the fridge.
- Line a baking pan with foil.
- Roast the pork (with the marinade, including the lemons) on the pan for 20-25 minutes, checking the internal temperature at 15 minutes. I like a hint of pink in my pork, so I take it out of the oven at 145, cover it in foil and let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Squeeze the roasted lemons on top before serving.
- On the same pan as the Pork Tenderloin, toss the vegetables with the oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Roast for 15 minutes, and then remove the vegetables from the oven to a serving dish. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, and cover to keep warm.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 796Total Fat: 46gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 34gCholesterol: 170mgSodium: 1468mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 7gSugar: 22gProtein: 66g
Stacy says
Christina - I made the pork and followed the directions exactly. When it was baking in the oven, the marinade slid off the top of the pork and down onto the pain and just burned. The pork tasted fine, but none of the marinade stayed on the pork so we didn't taste much of the honey mustard. Yours looks so brown and crusted and ours just looked naked! Any tips? Thanks :-)
Christina Lane says
You know, this happened to me, too, but I just couldn't decide if I should have the recipe call for leaving off the marinade. On one hand, it burned on foil so it was easy to clean up and probably contributed flavor to the pork. On the other hand, maybe it didn't contribute flavor? Hmm. Anyway, sorry I didn't warn you this would happen. Everyone keep telling me it's happening to them too, so maybe I should warn people or update the recipe?
Anyway, thanks for writing :)
I didn't do anything special to get a brown crust, except maybe sacrifice taking the pork a little past pink. See how it's almost pure white in the photos? Normally I like my pork slightly pink, but I wanted the crust. I cook with a super hot gas oven, that could be why I had a crust. If your oven doesn't make a crust, try sticking it under the broiler for a few minutes?
Amanda says
This looks delicious! I want this for dinner tonight!
Courtney says
I just realized I accidentally bought pork loin rather than tenderloin. Ahhh! Do you have any tips for me, now that the main dish of my course has been altered?
Christina Lane says
Bake it for less time. Keep an eye on it. Use a thermometer :)
Anastasia Kristina says
Christina! I made this for Christopher and I tonight and it was delicious and he and I both loved it! Especially the crispy kale - I will be baking the last bit of it tomorrow for a snack haha. Also, I agree with some of the other commenters - the extra marinade just burned on my pan lol - but hey, it was delicious so whatever. <3
Carol says
Great dinner for my husband and I. And two slices leftover for his next days' lunch. Great flavors with the cauliflower(I didn't have any kale.).
Mary Boren says
Puzzled... Fixed it last night and loved the roasted cauliflower..but my kale was blackened. Suggestions to improve next time please???
Christina Lane says
Oh no, Mary! It sounds like the kale was chopped too small and might have cooked too quickly in the oven. I'm sorry!
Lauren says
I made this last week and it was so good! I didn't have much time, so I only marinated it for 6 hours - still delicious. I also made a honey mustard sauce for my almost 2 and 3 year olds (and husband) to dip in. My oldest is not really a meat eater and actually took a couple bites of this and said he liked it. Next time I'll probably reduce the extra marinade on the stove for a sauce instead of pouring all of it over the meat. I think this is the first time I've made one of your savory dishes, it will definitely be in our dinner rotation.