Need an easy one pan naturally gluten-free meal for busy weeknights? Apple Cider Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes and Apples is bursting with fall flavors and is a cinch to prepare.
Though school has been in session here for a month and we should totally be in the weeknight dinner time swing, finding easy, delicious recipes is always a challenge. I’m still deluged with dinner idea S.O.S. pleas from friends and readers seeking simple recipes to keep their households going on busy weeknights. I will confess I too seem to lose the school year formula after a lazy summer of casual meals at all times of the evening. Today I’m sharing a one pan dish that’s both a cinch to make but bursting with fall flavors: Apple Cider Pork Tenderloins with Potatoes and Apples.
If you are a chicken lover, this roasted chicken recipe with similar ingredients is one you’ll love too!
For me pork tenderloin is synonymous with easy meals. They absorb marinade flavors beautifully and generally cook in less than 30 minutes. If I can whip up a marinade and put some meat in it overnight leaving only the cooking the next evening, my life feels so much more manageable. Between after school activities, and homework help, the easier the meal the easier our nights go.
It’s not an option to shortcut great flavors either as that defeats the benefits of quick preparation. I love fall flavors and their hint that cooler temperatures are on the way. Apples of course are at their peak in fall and pair wonderfully with pork. Adding apple cider to the marinade and sliced apples to the bed of potatoes and sweet onions, leave the pork tenderloins tasting like autumn. The potatoes, onions and apples are a great complement to the pork making it a full meal from a single pan. Throw in a green salad and you are done!
The pork tenderloins are perfectly cooked, juicy with a wonderful texture. They are removed from the oven based on their internal temperature which ensures they are succulent and do not dry out (which can happen with leaner cuts of meat like a pork tenderloin). Did you know meat continues to ‘cook’ once removed from the oven? Letting meat rest allows it to come to full temperature when removed at slightly less than the desired end internal temperature.
I always make two tenderloins to streamline my meal preparation for the week. Depending on how many you are feeding, pork tenderloin makes great leftovers. You could have a second meal or slice the pork for sandwiches or to top a green salad.
Apple Cider Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes and Apples Recipe
Ingredients
Marinade Ingredients:
- 12 ounces Apple Cider
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 teaspoons Dry Mustard
- 3 cloves Garlic Peeled and diced
- 4 sprigs Fresh Thyme Lemon thyme if available
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Rest of Ingredients
- 2 1-pounds Pork Tenderloin Rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
- 1/2 large Vidalia Sweet Onion Peeled and thinly sliced, yellow onion may be substituted
- 1 large Apple Cored and sliced into thin wedges
- 1 pound Small Red Potatoes Cut into bite size pieces
Instructions
Marinating the ingredients:
- Add the apple cider, vegetable oil, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper into a gallon zippered plastic bag.
- Seal and shake to combine the ingredients.
- Add the pork tenderloins, and seal the bag squeezing as much air out as possible.
- Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.
Cooking the Tenderloins:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a 13 by 9-inch baking dish add the potatoes in a single layer, followed by the onions and apple slices.
- Place the pork tenderloin on top and evenly distribute the marinade in the pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes, check the internal temperature with a food thermometer and remove the pork tenderloins from the oven when they reach 145°F (for medium rare) or 150°F (medium).
- When removing the tenderloins, check the potatoes for doneness. If cooked, remove with the tenderloins; if needing to cook longer leave in the oven until they are done.
- Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition
This Apple Cider Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes and Apples Recipe is a contribution to Food Fanatic in my role as as the Naturally Gluten-Free Fanatic.
Angela M Stallings says
I am from North Carolina and this reminds me of the way I like to prepare pork shoulder roasts in apple cider vinegar, albeit your version is more herbal, while we traditionally serve ours spicy with LOTS of crushed red pepper and cracked black pepper. I cook a pork roast in my slow cooker IN the marinade all day and then finish it in a hot oven to brown/crisp the skin. This makes a lot of meat, so the remainder is chopped or shredded and blended with the remaining cooking juice/marinade. I would usually cook this on the weekend and the leftover pulled pork would be used for weeknight dinner, served on buns with coleslaw and fries or oven roasted potatoes on the side. While it is not cooked low and slow over real wood the way our signature North Carolina dish called “barbecue” (Yes, in N.C., barbecue is a dish, not a form of cooking) is prepared, this is a more manageable way to serve it on the cheap.
I LOVE your use of pork tenderloin as it is still one of the more economical meat choices that cooks quickly while being tender. Your flavors sound amazing and I can’t wait to try this, even though it is now mid-winter. My daughter is not a fan of “barbecue”. However, I think this might appeal to her.
Cin says
Your recipe sounds delicious. However, you don’t indicate if the tenderloin should be covered. Does it need to be covered?
Toni Dash says
Cin the recipe is not covered when cooking. It looks just as it does in the photograph in the baking dish!