This easy pork tenderloin recipe uses a combination of rosemary, garlic, and pancetta to infuse flavor into the meat. Grilling over indirect heat crisps the pancetta beautifully, while keeping the pork moist and tender. It’s delicious when served with oven-roasted tomatoes and creamy polenta.
Key ingredients for this recipe
- Pork tenderloins
- Pancetta or bacon
- Garlic
- Rosemary
- Lemon zest
How to make this recipe
- Trim the silverskin and any excess fat from the pork tenderloins as needed.
- Combine the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and rub this mixture into the tenderloins on all sides.
- Wrap them with the pancetta, secure as needed with toothpicks or string, and allow them to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Grill the tenderloins over indirect heat until the internal temperature reaches 140°F, carefully turning them once midway through cooking.
- Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Tips for success
The rub: Adding a little bit of olive oil and Worcestershire sauce to the blend of garlic, rosemary, and lemon zest helps them adhere to the pork and add a little bit of extra moisture.
Indirect grilling: This recipe uses the indirect grilling method, which means the food is placed next to, rather than directly over, the grill flame. This method protects the meat from charring or cooking too quickly over an intense flame. It’s the perfect way to keep the interior of this pork tenderloin juicy while giving the pancetta on the outside a bit of crispy texture.
Pancetta-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloins, approximately 1 lb each
- 4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta or bacon
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Trim the silverskin and any excess fat from the pork tenderloins as needed.
- Combine the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and rub this mixture into the tenderloins on all sides.
- Wrap them with the pancetta, secure as needed with toothpicks or string, and allow them to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Grill the tenderloins over indirect heat (see notes) until the internal temperature reaches 140°F, carefully turning them once midway through cooking.
- Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Kevin Oelmann says
back off the lemon was very tender and crisp in the right places but way to much lemon for my taste
Lynne Webb says
Hi Kevin,
One teaspoon of lemon zest per tenderloin works for us, but it is a matter of taste and if you’re not a fan, you could simply omit it altogether.
Thymes of Change says
This is my first time, as a new blogger, adding a comment. My step-daughter mentioned the Foodgawkers website and I soon joined after learning about it. I’ve been actively searching and adding to my favourites and tonight I am happy to say I successfully created a lovely dinner for two from this particular pork recipe.
It was a first of many kinds.
– One in that the dinner was actually organized — or at least that was the plan. I printed the recipe and had wonderful thoughts of stopping off at the grocery store to get the few items I required after my daughter’s Ortho appointment. BUT, with an appointment at 3:30, and it was late, and took a while, and dealing with afterwork traffice, that grocery trip did not happen. BUT I had the recipe with me and luckily enough I had all the ingredients. I did have to swap the pancetta for bacon, but it wasn’t a disasterous substitution.
The other “first” is that we used our bbq for the first time this season, and we used it in the “indirect” heat mode. Now that might not be exciting to many, but for us and our new BBQ it required my husband to so a test run, which he did while I was at the Ortho — without being asked too!!!
In the end the pork was lovely, and my dog went crazy with temptation at the leftovers — ok, he did get a few tastes! We will enjoy the leftovers for lunch — cold!
Thank you for a wonderful new recipe to make pork exciting (I love it, my family is so.so)
Erika Pitera says
Thanks so much – I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Ossi says
I saw this recipe and imediately began to salivate. I think this is going to be on our table this evening 🙂