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.

These smoked bacon wrapped pork tenderloins are perfect for anytime but there are also a real treat for special occasions such as Mother’s Day.

Smoked pork tenderloin is super lean and easily rivals other lean cuts such as chicken breast.

In this recipe we use a bacon wrap to keep the meat super juicy while it cooks and it adds a ton of flavor as well.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 2 hours
• Smoker Temp: 225°F (107°C)
• Meat Finish Temp: 145°F (63°C)
• Recommended Wood: Pecan + Maple

• Pork Tenderloins (usually come 2 to a pack)
• 2 tsp Coarse ground kosher salt
• 1 lb bacon (thin sliced)
• Jeff’s original rub
• Jeff’s Texas style rub

Often there is some thick, silver skin on one side of the pork tenderloins.

Use a sharp knife to remove as much of this as possible.

With the pork tenderloins sitting on your cutting board or a pan, apply about 1 tsp of coarse kosher salt to the top of each pork tenderloin.

Place the pork tenderloins into the fridge for at least 2 hours but overnight is even better.

The salt will pull juices to the surface. Those juices will then dissolve the salt and the salty brine will be reabsorbed back into the meat.

This increases flavor but more importantly, it causes a reaction in the protein strands causing them to unwind slightly allowing the moisture to get down into the fibers.

Over the course of time the protein strands begin to tighten again and the moisture gets trapped inside.

During cooking moisture is lost but since some of the moisture is trapped within the protein strands, it ends up more juicy than a pork tenderloin that has not been dry brined.

Read my article about brining

Note: There is no need to rinse after brining.

Some folks make these really intricate weaves with bacon that they then wrap around the pork tenderloin. If you want to do that, no problem but, in my opinion, it’s perfectly fine to sort of “freestyle” it.

Or at least that’s what I did so I’m giving you permission to be a little lazy efficient with this step.

I used about 5 slices of bacon for each pork tenderloin.

Once wrapped, I carefully moved them to a pan with a rack.

I chose to use my original rub on one of the pork tenderloins and my Texas style rub on the other one.

Both rubs were really good on this but I am particularly partial to the original rub on pork.. that sweetness really meshes well with pork.

Set up your smoker for cooking at 225°F (107°C) using indirect heat. If your smoker uses a water pan, fill it up.

I used pecan and maple for smoke but you can use your favorite or whatever smoking wood you have available.

Once the smoker is ready, place the pan with the pork tenderloins onto the smoker

Let them cook for about 2 hours or until they reach 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.

If you want to give the bacon some high heat to help crisp it up, move the pan to your oven under the broiler when they hit 140°F (60°C) in the thickest part.

Watch them carefully as this only takes a few minutes and they will burn fast if you’re not careful. When the bacon starts sizzling, remove them from the oven.

Let them rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Slice them into pieces that are about ¾-inch thick and serve immediately.

These are great as an entree with typical Sunday fixin’s or they also work great on slider rolls.

Print