Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin (With Maple Mustard Sauce)
Expect moist, tender delicious pork with this simple sous vide pork tenderloin – stress free. The easy maple mustard sauce adds a delicious tangy-sweet flavor boost.
Pork tenderloin is the filet mignon or beef tenderloin of the pork family. Very lean and very tender if cooked right. If overcooked, however, it can be dry and chalky. Enter sous vide…
The sous vide method creates a soft, moist and tender texture edge to edge. Guaranteed.
Because pork tenderloin is fairly bland on its own, you need a good robust sauce or seasoning. The maple-mustard sauce blends grainy and Dijon mustard, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, garlic and thyme – and adds great flavors to the pork.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
The two components of this recipe are the pork tenderloin and the maple-mustard sauce. Here are a few variations to try.
Seasonings
- In addition to salt and pepper, feel free to sprinkle a bit of curry powder or cumin on the tenderloin. And add a sprig of rosemary or thyme (or a pinch of dried herbs). Don’t overdo it with the rosemary as it can be quite overpowering.
Sauce
- Instead of the maple mustard sauce, try
- a BBQ sauce like the one we use on our sous vide beef short ribs recipe
- a herb sauce like our 5 minute fresh herb sauce
- an apple sauce like our chunky applesauce
Step by step instructions
Cook time and temperature
Back in the old days, we were always cautioned to cook pork to 160F/71C to avoid trichinosis. Pink pork was a no-no.
Nowadays, pink pork is just as safe as beef. While the US Food and Drug Administration now recommends cooking pork to 145F/62.7C, safe cooking with sous vide can be as low 130F/54.4C. Bacteria are destroyed at that temperature.
The 130F, however, looks like medium rare beef and, for those of us who had the pork safety issue drummed into our heads for so many years, reddish pink pork is still a bit of a stretch.
I sous vide pork tenderloin at 138-140F (59-60C) and then sear it in a hot pan for 2 minutes. In the pictures, you can see the meat is just slightly pink at 140F/60C. It is soft and tender, but if you prefer it a little juicier, try 138F (58C) – my preference. For medium-well (and less juicy), use 150F (65.6C) For me, anything above that is way too dry.
The cook time is 1 1/2 to 4 hours. I usually aim for 2 hours.
What to serve with pork tenderloin
I love serving the maple mustard pork tenderloin with creamed spinach, basic mashed potatoes, chunky applesauce and tomato salad with homemade catalina dressing.
Shortcut
- Skip the homemade sauce and use a favorite bottled sauce (BBQ, teriyaki, chimichurri), a store-bought apple sauce, salsa or a fruit chutney (peach, mango, apple)
Make Ahead
- The tenderloin can be cooked in 1 1/2 hours and can be left in the water bath for up to 4 hours without any affect on the result. You can even rest it for another half an hour before browning it in a hot pan or grill.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, no problem. You will need to use the displacement method which means lowering the bag with the meat into the water, unsealed, until it is an inch above the water line. When the air is pushed out, seal the bag.
Yes. Cook it an extra hour. So a minimum of 2 1/2 hours. You can season ahead, freeze it in a bag, the pop the frozen meat in the bag into the water bath.
Absolutely. I do this often.
No, it’s not necessary to brine the pork tenderloin before cooking it sous vide.
Only if you leave it in the water bath for longer than 4 hours. The texture will change and become drier and, eventually, mushy.
Use it in a sandwich, warmed up, in a quesadilla or cut up in a salad.
More sous vide pork recipes
- sous vide pork chops with apple chutney
- sous vide pork loin with raspberry balsamic sauce
- Vietnamese pork chops (sous vide)
- best pork roast sous vide
For recipes and tips on sous vide cooking as well as handy charts for timing and temperature for various proteins, check out our best sous vide recipes and tips.
If you like this recipe, please leave a 5 star rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟in the recipe card below. And if you REALLY like it, consider a review in the comments. Thanks very much!
Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin (with Maple Mustard Sauce)
Equipment
- Sous vide equipment: Immersion circulator or oven-type sous vide
Ingredients
- 1 pound – 1 1/2 lbs (0.45-0.68kg) pork tenderloin, Note 1
- seasonings: kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, sprig of thyme or rosemary sprig (or 1/2 tsp dried)
Maple Mustard Sauce, Note 2
- 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon grainy old fashioned mustard
- 3 tablespoon maple syrup or honey (or brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic (or pinch, garlic powder)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- HEAT SOUS VIDE WATER BATH: Set sous vide temperature to:°140F/60C for medium (slightly pink, tender, moist but not super juicy)°138F/59C for closer to medium rare (pinkish-red, soft, moist, juicy) or°150F/65.6C for medium well.
- PREPARE TENDERLOIN FOR SOUS VIDE AND COOK: Remove silver skin from tenderloin (thin coating of sinew attached to meat). Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Go easy on the fresh herb sprigs as they get quite powerful in sous vide. Place tenderloin in ziploc bag and zip up part way only. When water reaches correct temperature, slowly lower bag into water. This will push air out (water displacement method). When top of bag is just above water line, zip it shut. Submerge bag. (Alternatively, use a vacuum sealer with sous vide bag and plunge into water). If you are using a sous vide self contained 'oven', put on lid. Cook for 1.5 hours minimum and 4 hours maximum.
- PREPARE SAUCE: While tenderloin is cooking sous vide, whisk all sauce ingredients together in a microwave-safe glass measuring cup or small bowl. Microwave for 1 minute on high or until sauce is slightly thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
- FINISH TENDERLOIN: Remove tenderloin from ziplock bag and pat dry with paper towels. Let rest for 10 minutes while you prepare pan or grill. The browning step is not technically needed as the meat is cooked perfectly, but as you see in the picture, meat does not look appetizing straight out of the water bath. To sear:: Heat cast iron skillet or other large skillet to very hot. Add a drizzle of vegetable oil. Sear on all sides for maximum 2 minutes total. Use hands or tongs to press meat down in pan to create brown crust. To grill: Heat gas grill to high. Brush tenderloin with 1-2 tablespoons of sauce and grill on all sides for 2 minutes total to achieve a few grill marks. Slice, drizzle with sauce and serve.
Video
Recipe Notes
- For frozen pork tenderloin
- If pork is frozen, cook it an extra hour. So a minimum of 2 1/2 hours. You can season ahead, freeze it in a bag, the pop the frozen meat in the bag into the water bath.
- If doubling the recipe, you can put two tenderloins in one ziploc bag.
- Sauce shortcuts: Skip the homemade sauce and use a favorite bottled sauce (BBQ, teriyaki, chimichurri), a store-bought apple sauce, salsa or a fruit chutney (peach, mango, apple)
- Make Ahead:
- The pork tenderloin can be cooked in 1 1/2 hours and can be left in the water bath for up to 4 hours without any affect on the result. You can even rest it for another half an hour before browning it in a hot pan or grill.
- To make it a day or two ahead, sous vide tenderloin, cool for 10 minutes in an ice bath in bag, then refrigerate. To rewarm, heat sous vide water bath to 130F/54C and put tenderloin in bag into water for 30-45 minutes to rewarm. Then pan sear if you like.
Nutrition
The sous vide pork tenderloin recipe with maple mustard sauce was originally published in 2017. It is now updated with updated new information and image edits.
I’m wondering I cook my pork loin roast with spice, and a bay leaf in my sous vide. Could I cup up apple and add cinnamon, monk sugar and maybe a touch of Dijon mustard and put that a round my roast and cook? Would that work? Would I need more time for apples to cook? I do it at 147 for 4 hours for about 3 lbs.
thanks so much
JoAnn
Hi JoAnn, With sous vide cooking, you would have to experiment with that. My recommendation would be to cook the pork loin (or tenderloin) separately with simple seasoning like salt, pepper, garlic powder. You can perhaps add a bayleaf but I find some spices (e.g. rosemary) can be very strong, so don’t add too much. Then cook your apple-cinnamon mixture separately and add it as a sauce to the cooked pork. I suggest this approach for two reasons 1) the sous vide mutes the seasonings during cooking and 2) apples are usually cooked sous vide at a different temperature from pork. I hope that helps, but as I said, you can can experiment to see if combining everything in the sous vide works. Let us know!
If I double the recipe, how long should I leave it in th water bath?
Hi Cindy, The time would be the same if you doubled the recipe. Just make sure to put the tenderloins in a single layer side by side in a bag (not overlapping) and try to get tenderloins approximately the same thickness. Time is related to thickness of the meat, not the weight or amount. Hope that helps.
Delicious recipe!!! A new fav!!
Thanks Laura! So glad you enjoyed it.
Great recipe! I am just learning about sous vide cooking and this was my first pork tenderloin. It was so tender, and that sauce!! OMG!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment Stephanie! So glad you liked it, especially at the beginning of your journey.
Wow!! My wife and I are just getting into sous vide and this was the best recipe we’ve tried yet. We cooked at 138 for 1.5 hours with a sprig of rosemary. Didn’t have any old grainy mustard so we used 3 tbsp of Dijon mustard. Have you tried with spicy mustard? Wondering how to spice it up a bit. Thanks so much!
So glad you liked it! Especially as a newbie with sous vide. I haven’t used spicy mustard, but I think you should try it. And let me know if it works if you do. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Very good. Did 140 for 3 hours. Doubled the mustard sauce. Will omit the grainy mustard next time as it gave a bitter quality.
Thanks for leaving a comment Cindy. The grainy mustard is not for everyone. You can either leave it out or use extra Dijon perhaps.
Beautiful! Tender. I cooked at 138 for the 1.5 hours and it was like butter. I would almost be inclined next time to double the sauce. Can’t get enough of it!
Great idea. I like lots of sauce too. Thanks for the comment 😊
Now dreaming of this. Also wondering about the terayaki pork tenderloin sous vide. Can you do it when there’s orange juice or pineapple juice in the marinade?
Kathy, You can marinate the tenderloin beforehand with orange or pineapple juice. After marinating, pat it dry with a paper towel, brush on a bit of oil, salt and pepper, then place it in the bag to sous vide. I wouldn’t add the marinade while cooking. You can simmer the marinade with some cornstarch to thicken it and use it as a sauce afterward. Hope that helps.
Outstanding and mouth watering
Glad you liked it!