Pork Tenderloin with Maple Pecan Sauce is the quintessential fall recipe. Seared to perfection, baked, and doused in a warm maple and pecan sauce with fresh herbs… you have autumn magic right here.
Discovering a Recipe Keeper
Now and then, a recipe comes around that makes its way into your favorite seasonal rotation. Some even make their way into favorites you serve for special company. Pork Tenderloin with Maple Pecan Sauce is one of those recipes. Interestingly, I discovered this recipe many years ago in a MOPS group at our church. Those days were sweet when moms and their preschoolers would meet and nourish each other in that hour and a half. Many beautiful friendships were formed around that table. Not to mention many yummy recipes shared. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who gave me this recipe to give them credit, but I have tweaked it a bit to make it my own, and my family asks for it often.
The Process
It’s always best to get your ingredients out and ready to go before you begin cooking. In a cast iron or oven-safe pan, toast the chopped pecans on medium until they are fragrant and beginning to turn golden. Set them aside in a bowl to add back to the pan later. You will use this same pan to sear the pork loin (fewer dishes, hurrah!)
Sorry, there is no pretty way to photograph a pork loin, so I am just going to be real and show you exactly how it looked to me when I seasoned it and seared it up in my cast iron pan. After all, I want my food to be pretty, just like the rest of you, but sometimes the process is not so attractive. So, enJOY the recipe despite its unphotogenic beginnings.
This is a quick and easy recipe to follow, and it yields fantastic results that get lots of oohs and ahhs at the dinner table. Basically, you are seasoning the pork loins with salt and pepper and searing them up on all sides with some avocado oil for about 2-3 minutes per side. Make sure to use an oven-safe pan because after the loins are seared, you will throw them into a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes.
Resting Your Loins and Preparing the Sauce (I couldn’t resist)
When the pork loins come out of the oven, rest them on a serving plate and cover with foil while you prepare the sauce. Add butter to the skillet while the meat rests, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan. Add the sugar and maple syrup to the pan and boil over medium heat until it thickens (about 5 minutes). Stir in the toasted pecans and toss in the chopped herbs.
To serve, slice the pork loins diagonally into silver dollar-sized medallions and either plate and then sauce, or pour the sauce all over the serving plate to make a dramatic presentation (that’s what I do). Sprinkle with additional chopped, fresh herbs and Maldon Salt.
Pork Tenderloin with Maple Pecan Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. avocado oil
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- 1 & 3/4- 2 pound pork tenderloin
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3 T Panela unrefined cane sugar or brown sugar
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 3 T butter
- Chopped fresh herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, & thyme...yes, just like the song)
- Sprinkle of fleur de sel salt or Malden salt
- Pork Tenderloin with Maple Pecan Sauce is perfect paired with roasted herb potatoes and a salad of mixed greens and pears.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Place pecans in a cast iron pan over medium heat and toast for 3-4 minutes until golden and fragrant. Set aside.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over the pork loin and rub in.
- Heat the avocado oil in a large, oven-safe skillet and brown the pork loin on all sides. Transfer pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Be careful when removing the pan from the oven. The handle is hot.
- Remove the pork loin to a cutting board to rest for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the sauce.
- While the meat is resting, add butter to the skillet and scrape up all the brown bits in the pan. Add the sugar and maple syrup to the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat until it thickens (about 5 minutes).
- Stir in pecans and chopped herbs.
- Serve sliced pork loin drizzled in maple pecan sauce and sprinkled with fleur de sel or Malden salt to taste and additional chopped, fresh herbs.
Side Compliments
Pork Loin with Maple Pecan Sauce is fantastic with herb-roasted potatoes and a mixed greens salad with pears or apples. It is also delicious with baked or sautéed cinnamon apples. You can’t go wrong with pork, potatoes, and apples in any form. EnJOY and happy Fall Y’all!
Check Out These Other Delicious Fall Favorites:
In everything you do -eat, play, and, love- may it always be Seasoned with Joy!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Unless stated otherwise, I will only recommend products I personally enJOY. See my full disclosure here.