Smoked Pork Tenderloin – Tender, Tasty, Moist
Smoking-Meat.com is supported by its readers. We may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you if you buy through a link on this page.
Smoked pork tenderloin is one of my favorite cuts of pork and I, being the pork lover that I am, have a hard time choosing between this cut and the filet of beef.. it really is THAT good. Cooked correctly, it is tender, tasty, and very moist without a lot of fuss.
It does cost a little more than the pork loin, pound for pound but, then, you get what you pay for and your taste buds will thank you time and time again.
I smoked these pork tenderloins with peach wood and even made a quick chutney using my barbecue sauce recipe as a base that I know you’ll love.
Add some grilled vegetable skewers to this meal and you have a real winner on your hands.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Smoker Temp: 225°F
- Meat Finish Temp: 145°F
- Recommended Wood: Peach, apricot or other light fruit wood
- 2 pork tenderloins
- Maple syrup
- Jeff’s original Rub
- Peach jam (I like the Smuckers Simply Fruit®)
- Jeff’s Barbecue Sauce
Remove the pork tenderloin from it’s package and rinse well under cold water. Pat dry with a paper towel and remove any loose pieces, clumps of fat, etc.
Cut off the tail to even it up a little bit. This thinner piece on the end will get done earlier than the rest and by cutting if off, you can season and cook them as normal and remove it from the cooker when it is perfectly done.
Not cutting it off and cooking it separately would result in having a piece at the end that is overdone, dried out and just not very good.
We all know that sweet and pork just go together. For this reason, I decided to brush on some maple syrup to help the rub to stick better and to add some extra sweetness to the mix.
Sprinkle my original rub onto the pork tenderloins making sure to get it onto all sides.
Place the meat on a Bradley rack or a cookie sheet and you are good to go.
I have been using my ceramic cooker, specifically the Big Green Egg, for the last month or so. If you really want to get a handle on a certain grill or cooker, you have to use it, learn it, experiment and find out what makes it “tick” and that, my friends, is what I’ve been doing.
I have been noticing that things tend to be getting done faster than normal in the “egg”.. anyone also notice that?
At any rate, these will cook up nicely in almost any smoker as long as you maintain proper heat, and don’t open the lid any more than necessary. Once you have the smoker of your choice running at about 225°F , you are ready to smoke some pork tenderloin!
Here’s some information that I have written on various other smokers.
- Bradley 4-Rack Digital Smoker – An electric smoker that is fully automated and keeps the temperature where you set it. It also keeps the smoke flowing via an automated mechanism that moves a new wood puck into the smoker every 20 minutes. See this smoker and read reviews on Amazon.com
- Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5 Smoker – the king of charcoal water smokers. Add charcoal, water and wood and you’re good to go for several hours. 3 dampers on the fire bowl allow you to dial in the air perfectly for maintaining perfect smoking temperatures. See this smoker and read reviews on Amazon.com
- Big Green Egg – Ceramic cooker that uses charcoal. Add lump charcoal, light it and add some wood.. set the top and bottom vent and you’re good to go for hours on end due to the thick walls that hold heat incredibly well.
- Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Propane Smoker – A propane smoker that works exceptionally well. I have had mine for more than 8 years and it still works great. See this smoker and read reviews on Amazon.com
- More smokers on the way..
Note: In colder weather, it is advisable to preheat the smoker at least an hour or more before you are wanting to use it. Keep the door closed as much as possible and even skip basting if necessary to maintain proper smoking temperatures.
Place the pork tenderloins directly on the smoker grate or if you used a Bradley rack, you can simply set the Bradley rack on the grate and it will work great.
Note: the Bradley racks are approximately 11 x 15 so they may or may not fit your particular smoke. Be sure to check the size of your grates before ordering a set of these racks.
I happened to have some peach wood from a tree I cut down a year or so ago but any fruit wood will work. Even pecan or hickory will work if that is all you have. When it comes to smoking wood, you sometimes have to be flexible.
Maintain 225°F until the pork tenderloins reach 145°F internally.
Use a remote digital thermometer such as the “Smoke” by Thermoworks or you can use a Thermapen for almost instant results. My red Thermapen reads in about 2-3 seconds consistently and that’s VERY fast for thermometers.
If you want to use a leave-in wireless thermometer to monitor the temperature of the chicken and/or the pit, look no further than the “Smoke” by Thermoworks. This is the dual-probe remote thermometer that I use and you can count on it being rugged, accurate and easy to use.
My (2) tenderloins got done in about 1.5 hours but normally these take 2 hours or more. The important thing is that you watch the temperature using a trusted thermometer. Place the probe in the center of the meat and when it reaches 145°F, it is done and should be removed right away.
Let the meat rest for about 30 minutes under foil before slicing to allow all of that juice to redistribute throughout the meat. Slice the meat into ¼ inch medallions and serve right away.
During the resting period, I removed the plate setter from the BGE and grilled some vegetable skewers. You can also do this on the grill or even in your broiler if you have to.
Alternate yellow squash, red onion, tomato, zucchini and even mushrooms for some really great flavors.
Make a grilling mop for the veggies using ½ cup of olive oil, 1 TBS of my original rub and a little extra coarse salt (to taste) if you want more saltiness (my rub is not salt based like many other rubs).
Brush some olive oil mixture onto the veggies and grill for about 10-12 minutes turning and basting with the olive oil mixture until they are as tender as you like them.
All served up!
If you want to make a quick chutney to go with it like I did, place about ½ cup of peach jam into a sauce pot over medium heat. Once it starts to melt a little, add ½ cup of my barbecue sauce and stir often until it is thoroughly mixed and heated through.
I used Smuckers® Simply Fruit
(Purchase recipe for the barbecue sauce here | Purchase bottled sauce)
This has all of the tanginess, sweetness and fruitiness of a true chutney and tastes incredible on the smoked pork tenderloin!
The smoked pork tenderloin with a little of the chutney drizzled over it adds a little extra specialness to the dinner if you want to take it to that level.
Printable Recipe
Smoked Pork Tenderloin – Tender, Tasty, Moist
When it comes to pork, the tenderloin is unbeatable in flavor and tenderness. It is also incredibly lean. Ounce for ounce, it is just as lean as a skinless chicken breast. So you really can have the flavors you love and still rest easy knowing you are eating healthy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 -6 1x
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Hot Smoking
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloins
- Maple syrup
- Jeff’s Rub
- Peach jam (I like the Smuckers Simply Fruit®)
- Jeff’s Barbecue Sauce
Instructions
Prep and Season
- Remove from packaging and rinse well under cold water
- Pat dry with paper towel
- Brush some maple syrup to add flavor and help the rub to stick
- Apply Jeff’s rub all over the pork tenderloins
Smoking the Tenderloins
- Get the smoker going and let it level out at 225°F
- Place the meat directly on the smoker grate
- Use peach wood or other fruity wood to apply smoke for entire session
- Meat is done when a trusted meat thermometer reads 145°F in the thickest part
Serving
- Allow the meat to rest on the counter under foil for 25-30 minutes
- Slice into ¼ inch medallions and serve immediately.
Ingredients
- ½ cup peach jam
- ½ cup Jeff’s barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Put jam into a sauce pan over medium heat
- Once the jam starts to melt, add the barbecue sauce to the pan
- Stir until it is well mixed and heated through
Order Jeff’s Rubs and Barbecue Sauce!
✅ My rubs and sauce will be the best thing you’ve ever tasted and it’s a great way to support what we do!
Did you know? You can order the MASTER FORMULAS which allow you to make Jeff’s rubs and barbecue sauce at home using your own ingredients! Order the Recipes
I made this tonight on my Big Green Egg, and it was darn near the best piece of meat I’ve ever had. Awesome recipe. I smoked 2- 1lb tenderloins, at 225, used the maple syrup and then rub per the instructions and hit 145 in only about an hour and a half at the most. I sautéed chopped red bell pepper and onion, then hit it with a jar of peach jam and a little crushed red pepper flake. Cut the pork and spooned the chutney over the pork, and man, it was the best. I will be making this many times over for family and guests!
★★★★★
If I wanted to could I inject the pork tenderloin?
Absolutely! It never hurts to inject some goodness into the meat. It works great on pork tenderloin.
Did this today… but I used Savage Farms Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup. yummy!
★★★★★
I was reading the recipe… looks great!
Sounds like you were grilling the tenderloins the whole time directly on the grate… Then you mentioned you removed the Plate Setter.
Just wondering
thanks!
Thanks for all your useful information on smoking meats, smoked tenderloins ( pork)
With your recipes, today a 6lb loin, fantastic
The quick chutney is a added bones. Again thanks for the help
★★★★★
Tenderloins were amazing. Huge hit with the family. Used Hickory pellets in my Traeger. Think the lighter fruit woods that Jeff recommend would have been more subtle. The key is letting them sit for the 20-30 minutes to let all the juices reconstitute. Another fantastic recipe!
★★★★★
Jeff Jeff Jeff he’s the man
Followed your guidelines for smoking a whole turkey breast and it turned out unbelievable. My breast were almost 9 pounder’s, after wet brining all night I completely covered them with the oil rub combination and smoke them for five hours at an average temperature of 230°
Then one more hour wrapped in tinfoil to reach the 160 / 163 internal temperature.
Let them sit to cool for one hour while in tin foil, sliced them up and poured the au juice over them . They were then quickly devoured by a small herd of teenage girls.
Now I am going to use your pork loin recipe today on my smoker .
Thanks again Jeff for your no-nonsense cooking techniques.
Looking forward to trying this on my next smoke! I usually grill my tenderloins however, and my solution to the tail is very simple and has produced great results. Since I’m grilling two tenderloins and they both taper, I simply reverse one and tie them together as one and grill for a few minutes per side until done.
I am a green egg fan and Jeff recipes are amazing.
I am going to try this weekend to use my bourbon honey instead of regular honey.
so recipe is good however, want to point out that the tenderloin is not actually part of the loin. the tenderloins are located inside the rib cage along side the spine. the loins are the thick “back strap” muscles that are outside, on top of the ribs, and along the spine. ;) My rating is based on my personal taste. nothing beats a bare bones apple vinegar/juice, brown sugar and honey injection on your favorite wood!
★★★
The tenderloin is on the inside thigh,it has nothing to do with the loin which runs along back bone. The tenderloin is like I said on the upper side of inside the thigh and rus up a little bit on the underside of lower back. I know this because iam a long time butcher.
I use a off set stick burner which I brought with me from Texas to sarasota Florida, but I dont see this type of smoker mentioned in any of these recipes. Electric really?
Depends on your needs, what you like, what you are allowed to have on your back deck, etc. I have every type of smoker known to man, including stick burners, and I use all of them from time to time.
You can produce food that is a million times better than most restaurant barbecue even on the electric smoker so it’s not a bad thing at all.
Many folks that are learning how to smoke, don’t have access to a stick burner. Usually it’s a cheap unit they found at a yard sale or on a discount rack so I teach folks the rudiments of how to smoke on anything regardless of what it uses for fuel.
I agree with Steve, I’ve smoked a lot of different meats this last year but this recipe is incredible! The peach chutney is truley fantastic, Thank you for sharing, this made our Christmas eve dinner one to remember.
★★★★
I followed this slow and go at 225 approach with an 8 lb Pork Loin that I pulled from my freezer the day before grilling. I had it on a V rack until 137 did a reverse sear and let rest until 145internal temp. The meat was tasty, but it was dry. What do I need to do different? Did the searing cause the meat to be dry?
I’m going to try a loin today in my BGE. Everything I am reading says that both the Loin and Tenderloin are lean meats and don’t handle long cook times well and can dry out. I doubt your reverse sear was the issue. With the larger Loin versus the smaller Tenderloin used in this receipe, your cook time probably ended up too long. I’m going to try everything on this receipe, except cook indirect at 350.
How long In a treaters grill with cold weather 30 degrees here in Colorado but we do use a welders blanket thanks
We Tried the Pork Tenderloin last nite, we bought a two pack of tenderloins, smoked them in our electric Smoke Hollow smoker @225 degrees. The tenderloins only took about an hour to reach 145. The tenderloins were very tender and delicious.
The chutney was awesome all we could find was peach preserves.
I haven’t tasted it yet, but I tried this recipe today. I’m using the ECB with all of your suggested mods. I’m a little concerned because my tenderloins got up to 145 in less than an hour. My temperature guage read 215-225 with good smoke for than entire time. I thought maybe something had gone wrong with my smoker temp guage…like maybe I was a lot hotter than it was reading. But, the water never boiled which I’v had happen before. I guess the true test will be when we have dinner…more to follow.
I smoked two tenderloins last week for house guests and everyone raved about it and none left for snacking the next day! Took Jeff at his word and checked internal temp and didn’t worry about the “time” factor. Fantastic and will making again very soon!
i have a question on what pork loin you use. Our local grocery store has a traditional loin that is very small they have the Hormel always tender ones that are a little bigger and they have big full loin. which one would you or did you use for this loin recipe?
if 2 tenderloins take 1 1/2 to 2 hours, how long would you smoke 6 in a big green egg?
Thanks
Should take about the same amount of time (2 hours or so) since the heat is working on all of them at the same time. I usually add a little extra time to my estimation if I am loading the smoker down with cold meat but if you preheat the BGE real good, that should not be much of an issue.
I tried the smoked pork tenderloin tonight for dinner with my son and daughter-in-law. I used my Weber Kettle Grill and did more of a slow grill than a true smoke, but let it cook for about 2 hours. Made the topping with some fruit salsa, Jeff’s BBQ sauce and Rub – it came out great. My wife and the kids commented how tender it was.
A definite keeper recipe!
Thanks, Jeff
I usually do not post comments however, this recipe is fabulous. I actually overcooked the pork (160) and it was still incredible. I did have to improvise a little as I had forgotten to buy maple syrup. I substituted with molasses and simply watered it down to a point where I could mop it on. Kids loved it, a true hit!