A perfectly cooked beef tenderloin roast is an impressive entrée for entertaining and perfect to serve for holidays and special occasions. Coated with a simple seasoning rub and paired with a richly flavored port wine and mushroom sauce, this tender, juicy cut of beef is surprisingly easy to prepare and sure to deliver delicious results.
Notes From the MGC Kitchen
This beef tenderloin roast is a favorite of ours to serve on New Year’s Eve. Even though it’s an easy main dish to pull off, it feels like a fancy way to ring in a new year. We always make mashed potatoes as one of our sides to be sure we soak up every last drop of the port wine and mushroom sauce, and creamed spinach is our green vegetable of choice.
Key Ingredients
This is an overview of the key ingredients for this recipe. Please see the printable recipe card below for the complete listing, including quantities.
- BEEF TENDERLOIN: When shopping for a beef tenderloin roast, ask your butcher for the center portion of the tenderloin (often labeled as Châteaubriand) and have him trim away the excess fat silver skin for you. You may need to order in advance, especially around the holidays. Plan on buying about 6 to 8 ounces of meat per guest. Our recipe calls for a 3 lb roast to feed 6 people, although we usually have a little left over. If you want to feed a larger group, we suggest buying multiple roasts of equal size and diameter for even cooking.
- MUSHROOMS: We like to use a combination of dried and fresh mushrooms for our sauce. The dried mushrooms have a concentrated mushroom flavor, and the liquid used to rehydrate them (in this case, beef broth) is used to enhance the flavor of the sauce even more. We generally choose porcinis when we cook with dried mushrooms as they’re usually the easiest to find and most economical. For the fresh mushrooms in this sauce, we opt for cremini, but white button mushrooms are good too.
- PORT WINE: We recommend using a tawny port to make our mushroom sauce as it’s slightly less fruity than ruby port. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a port wine for this sauce, but the “don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink” rule still applies. Unlike regular wine, port wine will keep for a while once opened (1 to 2 months). It pairs really well with aged cheeses, apple and pear desserts, and chocolate so what you don’t use shouldn’t go to waste.
How to Make Beef Tenderloin Roast
This is an overview of how this recipe is prepared. Please see the printable recipe card below for detailed step-by-step instructions.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN: Remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and set aside for 30 minutes. Coat a roasting pan and rack with nonstick spray.
COAT THE TENDERLOIN WITH SEASONING: Combine the pepper, salt, garlic, butter and olive oil in a small bowl to form a paste. Place the tenderloin on the roasting rack and coat the top and sides with the seasoning rub. Set aside for another 30 minutes to come to room temperature and preheat the oven to 400°F.
MAKE THE SAUCE: While the beef tenderloin is coming to room temperature, reconstitute the dried mushrooms. Warm the beef broth in a microwave-safe bowl for 2-1/2 to 3 minutes on high. Stir in the mushrooms and set aside for 30 minutes. Once the mushrooms have rehydrated, strain the liquid into a separate bowl and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until fragrant, 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and continue cooking until the mixture turns pale golden in color, 3 to 4 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Add the port wine to the saucepan, increase the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil for 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved mushroom liquid and as soon as it reaches a simmer, whisk in the shallot and flour mixture. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring often, until the sauce shows signs of thickening, about 3 minutes.
Add the Worcestershire sauce and mushrooms and continue cooking, stirring often, until the sauce reaches a thick, gravy-like consistency, about 5 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and cover.
ROAST THE BEEF: Roast the tenderloin until an instant-read thermometer registers 120°F for rare or 125°F for medium rare. Begin checking the temperature after 18 minutes. Once the meat is done, tent with foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
HEAT THE SAUCE: While the beef is resting, reheat the sauce over low heat until warmed through.
CARVE THE ROAST: Once the beef tenderloin has rested, cut it into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve with the mushroom sauce.
Tips for Perfectly Roasted Beef Tenderloin
- Choose the right cut: The center-cut portion of the tenderloin is the most uniform in size and diameter and will cook evenly, making it the best choice for roasting.
- Trim the tenderloin properly: The silverskin and excess fat should be trimmed from the beef prior to roasting. If possible, get your butcher to do it for you.
- Season generously: While deliciously tender and moist, beef tenderloin is not the most flavorful cut. Therefore you don’t want to skimp on seasoning.
- Tie the roast (optional): If your roast is a little uneven in shape, or spreads more in some areas, tie it crosswise at 1-inch intervals to ensure even cooking.
- Bring the beef tenderloin to room temperature: Remove the beef tenderloin from the refrigerator an hour before roasting to ensure more even cooking.
- Use a meat thermometer: Check the internal temperature of the roast using an instant-read thermometer. Doneness temperatures are as follows:
- Rare: 115 to 120°F
- Medium-Rare: 120 to 125°F (recommended)
- Medium: 130 to 135°F
- Medium-Well: 140 to 145°F
Beef Tenderloin Roast with Port Wine Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 lb beef tenderloin roast
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, (see notes)
- 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 clove garlic, pressed (or minced)
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
For the Port Wine Mushroom Sauce:
- 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
- 8 ounces cremini or white button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
- 1-1/2 cups beef broth
- 1 medium shallot, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup port wine, preferably tawny
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the beef for roasting:
- Remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and set aside for 30 minutes to remove the chill. Coat a roasting pan and rack with nonstick spray.
- Combine the pepper, salt, garlic, butter and olive oil in a small bowl to form a paste. Place the tenderloin on the roasting rack and coat the top and sides with the seasoning paste. Set aside for another 30 minutes to allow the roast to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Make the port wine mushroom sauce:
- While the beef tenderloin is coming to room temperature, make the port wine mushroom sauce. Start by rehydrating the dried mushrooms. Warm the beef broth in a microwave-safe bowl for 2-1/2 to 3 minutes on high. Stir in the mushrooms and set aside for 30 minutes. Once the mushrooms have rehydrated, strain the liquid into a separate bowl and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until fragrant, 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and continue cooking until the mixture turns pale golden in color, 3 to 4 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the port wine to the saucepan, increase the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil for 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved mushroom liquid and as soon as it reaches a simmer, whisk in the shallot and flour mixture. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring often, until the sauce shows signs of thickening, about 3 minutes.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and mushrooms and continue cooking, stirring often, until the sauce reaches a thick, gravy-like consistency, about 5 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and cover.
Roast the beef tenderloin:
- Roast the tenderloin until an instant-read thermometer registers 120°F for rare or 125°F for medium rare. Begin checking the temperature after 18 minutes. Once the meat is done, tent with foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
- While the beef is resting, reheat the sauce over low heat until warmed through.
- Once the beef tenderloin has rested, cut it into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve with the mushroom sauce.
Notes
Shopping For A Beef Tenderloin Roast
Ask your butcher for the center portion of the beef tenderloin (often labeled as Châteaubriand) and have him trim the silver skin for you. You’ll need about 6 ounces of meat for each guest, so if you’re feeding more than six, we suggest buying multiple roasts of equal size and diameter and roasting them together.Beef Tenderloin Doneness Temperatures
- Rare: 115 to 120°F
- Medium-Rare: 120 to 125°F (recommended)
- Medium: 130 to 135°F
- Medium-Well: 140 to 145°F
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Oh my goodness, this is making my mouth water! It looks delicious! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
That looks delish! Would love to make it soon.
This looks so delicious!
This recipe seems so elegant. I would love to surprise my family with this for Christmas.
this recipe looks absolutely delicious!! I am a big fan of beef tenderloin! I’ll definitely be trying it out soon!
Wow-this is pure heaven to me-
For the sauce, how much garllic? You mention a clove for the paste, but no garlic is mentioned for the sauce. But the recipe says to saute shallots and garlic. I went with 1 clove, minced. Was that correct?
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for calling that to our attention. You were right – just one clove of garlic. We don’t want to overpower that great mushroom flavor.