Easy oven baked, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin. The bacon adds flavor and fat to the lean tenderloin, making it juicy and flavorful. Keto option included.
Bacon really does make everything better. In the case of this oven-baked, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, it adds fattiness and flavor that the lean pork tenderloin lacks. So yes, this bacon wrapped pork tenderloin is amazing. Wrapping the pork in bacon not just enhances the flavor. It also ensures the pork stays super juicy.
My roasted pork tenderloin is juicy and very flavorful, but I think this bacon wrapped pork tenderloin is even better, and my family agrees – this is one of the dinner entrees they request most often!
A keto version of bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin
To make this bacon wrapped pork tenderloin extra tasty, I brush the bacon with a mixture of honey and Dijon mustard. It’s still a fairly low carb recipe – 9g carbs per serving. If you’d like to lower the carb count even more, you can use a low carb honey substitute instead of the honey. Although I suspect it won’t be as tasty, and won’t caramelize as nicely as honey does.
It’s OK to cook pork to medium
You’ll see in the recipe card that I instruct you to cook the pork to 145 degrees F (medium). A wonderful thing happened a few years ago. The USDA lowered its safe temperature for whole cuts of pork (not ground pork) from 160 to 145 degrees F, with a 3-minute rest period. So thankfully, we can now cook whole cuts of pork to a wonderfully juicy, slightly pink medium temperature. No need to dry them out completely!
But isn’t bacon unhealthy?
Processed meats have been linked to disease. And while the actual risk is very small, and the research inconclusive, I don’t think we should ignore that research completely, even though some say we should. My own personal choice is to consume processed meats in moderation.
More “bacon-wrapped” recipes
Love wrapping bacon around stuff? Try my other “bacon wrapped recipes,” including bacon wrapped chicken breast, bacon wrapped mozzarella sticks and bacon wrapped meatloaf.
Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
INGREDIENTS
- Olive oil spray
- 2 tablespoons honey (or a low carb honey substitute)
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (not fine salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pork tenderloin (1¼ lb.)
- 6 bacon strips
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a roasting pan with foil. Fit it with a roasting rack and spray the rack with olive oil spray.
- In a small bowl, mix together the honey and Dijon mustard. Divide into two equal portions. Set aside.
- Pat the pork tenderloin dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder all over the pork.
- Wrap the tenderloin with the bacon strips, wrapping each bacon strip crosswise around a section of the pork and securing the end by tucking it underneath. It will feel a bit loose at this point, but will meld together while roasting.
- Place the wrapped pork tenderloin on the prepared roasting rack. Brush the top and sides with half of the honey-Dijon sauce.
- Place the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin in the hot oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer registers 145 degrees F (medium), about 40 minutes. Loosely cover the pork with foil after the first 15-20 minutes, to prevent the bacon from burning.
- Remove the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin from the oven. Allow to rest 15 minutes. Brush with the remaining portion of honey-Dijon sauce, slice and serve.
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NOTES
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