If you love tender pieces of meat with a crunchy crust doused in a sauce that balances sweet and savory perfectly, you've found your new favorite dinner. This Honey Garlic Pork is made out of chopped pork tenderloin pieces coated in an easy 2-ingredient batter that is quick-fried and then baked with a sticky sweet sauce.
If you have made my honey garlic chicken thighs and realized you've never fallen in love with a recipe so hard before, this recipe is for you. It's nearly identical to the previous recipe, but it uses chopped pork tenderloin.
How to Make Honey Garlic Pork with Tenderloin
This is the easiest method for making a thick crust on pieces of meat. Just coat the chopped pork in cornstarch and then dip in beaten egg. That's it! Egg does something magical when it's fried in hot oil, making the crust puff up and stick to the meat very well.
If frying scares you, don't be scared! This recipe is just a quick fry on both sides, so you don't have to worry about cooking the pork all the way through. Just pan-fry on both sides until the crust is set, and then we'll bake it the rest of the way in the oven.
We're making our side dish right on the same pan as the honey garlic pork. Just add chopped broccoli florets (not frozen, fresh) to the same pan as the pork before it goes in the oven. They have the same cooking time. Meanwhile, make some rice by either using your rice cooker or microwaving a bowl of instant rice.
The Ingredients
- Pork Tenderloin. We need 1.5 pounds of pork tenderloin. Usually, they're sold two per package, so just freeze any leftover tenderloin. You can also make my crockpot pork tenderloin with the other one.
- Garlic. Three large cloves of fresh garlic, finely minced.
- Honey. One quarter cup of honey, any variety of honey is fine, as long as it isn't flavored or very strong (like buckwheat honey).
- Soy Sauce. Two tablespoons of soy sauce. You can use regular or low sodium, your choice.
- Ketchup. Just two tablespoons of ketchup thickens the sauce and brings some sweetness.
- Cornstarch. Instead of rolling the pork tenderloin in flour, we're using cornstarch. Cornstarch puffs up in the oil and makes a super thick and crispy crust.
- Eggs. Two beaten eggs is the second (and final) ingredient to make a crisp crust on the meat. When eggs hit hot oil for frying, the batter instantly puffs up. You are going to want to use this cornstarch plus egg combination on anything you fry!
- Oil. We need about 1 cup of any type of neutral oil for frying. This can be canola oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, or any oil without a lot of flavor.
- For serving: It's entirely optional, but I like to serve this honey garlic pork with broccoli florets and freshly cooked rice.
The Instructions
First, preheat the oven to 375-degrees Fahrenheit, and have a large baking sheet ready. Chop the tenderloin into bite-size pieces with a very sharp knife.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients: the garlic, honey, soy, and ketchup. Set aside.
In a large bowl, coat the pork pieces in the cornstarch, a pinch of salt and pepper. Beat the two eggs in a separate bowl. Lightly shake off the excess cornstarch, and then dip each pork piece in the egg.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan. When it's shimmering hot, add the pork in a single layer. Let cook on the first side until the underside doesn't look like wet batter (a dry crust will form). Flip and cook on the second side.
Move the cooked pork to one side of the prepared baking sheet, add the broccoli florets to the other side. Drizzle the broccoli with a small amount of oil, salt and pepper. Pour the garlic sauce on the pork, and toss to combine. Bake for 14 minutes, stirring half-way through.
Yes, because the sauce contains honey and ketchup, it becomes a sticky sweet coating on the crust of the honey garlic pork. It's delicious!
Reheating fried food is tricky, but I am the queen of it. First, store your broccoli and rice separately from your fried honey garlic pork loin. You may reheat the broccoli and rice in the microwave. (Try adding a small ice cube to the center of the rice to help it heat evenly. Remove what's left of the ice cube before serving, of course). The best way to reheat the pork so that it retains its crunchy texture is either in the oven or the air fryer.
Technically, yes but you will not have the crispy crust. You can skip the frying step (omit the cornstarch, egg, and oil for frying). Combine the sauce ingredients, pour over the chopped pork and cook on LOW in the slow cooker for 3-4 hours. Stir the broccoli in about 30 minutes before serving (or just microwave steam the broccoli). Serve with rice.
Honey Garlic Pork
Crispy sticky honey garlic pork with broccoli on the sheetpan. Serve with rice!
Ingredients
- 1.5 pound pork tenderloin
- 3 large garlic cloves, finely minced
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus extra for broccoli
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for broccoli
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup neutral oil for frying, plus extra for broccoli
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- Hot cooked rice, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375, and have ready a large baking sheet.
- Next, slice up the pork into bite-size pieces.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce: the garlic, honey, soy sauce and ketchup. Whisk very well to dissolve, and set aside.
- Place the pork in a bowl, and add the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Toss to coat very well in the mixture.
- In a shallow dish, beat the eggs and have ready.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan.
- When the oil is hot and ready to go, begin dipping the pork: shake off the excess cornstarch, dunk it in the beaten egg, and then immediately place it in the pan with the hot oil. Repeat with all remaining pork. It is okay to crowd the pan a bit, but do not stack the pork into more than one layer.
- When the pork has been frying for a few minutes and the underside doesn’t look like wet batter, it’s time to flip. (The pork will not turn golden brown in the pan, the cornstarch makes a very light brown coating). Fry on the other side for a few minutes until it no longer looks wet.
- Move the pork to the large baking sheet, placing it all to one end of the pan. Pour the honey garlic sauce on top, and toss to coat. Try to keep the sauce and pork to one side of the pan, leaving room for the broccoli on the other side.
- Place the broccoli florets on the other side of the baking sheet, drizzle with extra oil, salt and pepper and toss.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 7 minutes. Toss the pork pieces separately from the broccoli, and then bake another 7 minutes. Serve over hot rice.
Notes
*Please note that the nutritional information is off because it assumes all of the frying oil is absorbed by the meat, but this is not the case!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1004Total Fat: 66gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 55gCholesterol: 217mgSodium: 945mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 3gSugar: 20gProtein: 52g
Julie says
Wow this was delicious! My husband and I both loved it and I'll for sure make this again. Thank you!