An easy recipe for a tender, juicy, and very flavorful beef tenderloin roast. Rub with olive oil and spices, roast in a 500°F oven to crisp up the outside, then finish cooking it in a moderate 350°F oven. Perfection!
This recipe is absolutely perfect for special occasions. It's so tender and buttery! Another great one is, of course, ribeye roast. And tri-tip roast is tougher and inexpensive but wonderfully flavorful.
The simple method of cooking the roast in a very hot oven, then finishing it in a moderate oven, produces tender, juicy, and very flavorful beef. It's not a dish I make very often, but when I do, it's always a huge success.
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Ingredients
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make this tasty roast. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:
Beef tenderloin roast: I usually get a small 2-lb. roast. If your roast is bigger, you'll need to increase the cooking time.
Olive oil: I love the flavor of olive oil. But if you prefer an oil with a higher smoke point, you can use avocado oil instead. Melted butter is another good option.
Kosher salt and black pepper: If using fine salt, you might want to reduce the amount you use. A teaspoon of kosher salt weighs less than a teaspoon of regular salt.
Spices: Garlic powder, dried thyme, and dried sage. Make sure they are fresh! A stale spice can easily ruin a dish.
Instructions
Cooking a beef tenderloin roast is surprisingly easy, considering it's such a fancy cut. It's so easy! Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
1. Start by bringing the roast to room temperature. This will help it cook more evenly.
2. Pat it dry, then rub it all over with a mixture of olive oil and spices.
3. Insert a meat thermometer into the roast's thickest part. Roast it for 15 minutes in a super hot - 500°F - oven.
4. Then lower the oven temperature to 350°F and keep roasting until the roast reaches an internal temperature of 130°F. In my oven, with a small 2-lb. roast, this takes 20 minutes. But the only way to know for sure is to use a thermometer.
5. Let the beef rest before slicing it, to prevent the juices from escaping when you cut into it. Gently remove the butcher twine, then slice the roast.
Ask your butcher to tie the roast
I get beef tenderloin roast at Whole Foods. The butchers are always happy to cut me a small roast, and they are also happy to tie it for me with butcher twine. So just ask! It's not difficult to do it yourself, but it's nice to let the professionals do it for you.
Use a meat thermometer
When cooking roasts, one of the best tools you can use is a meat thermometer that you can set up to alert you when the roast reaches your desired temperature.
You really don't want to overcook a tenderloin roast, and you also don't want the middle to remain completely raw. Ideally, you want the inside of the roast to be medium-rare, 130 degrees F.
Keep in mind, though, that the USDA instructs us to cook roasts to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
Expert tip: let the meat rest
It's also important to allow the roast to rest for 30 minutes before slicing it. The rest time allows the temperature to stabilize, and the juices to redistribute and settle.
Cut into the roast too early and you will lose a lot of those yummy juices, leaving you with dry meat. 🙁
Brown butter sauce
Unlike the well-marbled ribeye roast, beef tenderloin roast is lean. So even though the cooking method outlined here renders it as juicy as possible, many people like to serve it drizzled with brown butter.
To make brown butter, simply melt 4 tablespoons of salted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Keep cooking it until it slightly browns, then remove it from the heat. After slicing the roast, drizzle the brown butter over the beef slices.
Recommended side dishes
I like to serve this tasty roast with mashed cauliflower. The garlicky, cheesy mash closely mimics the experience of eating mashed potatoes.
Another great side dish to go with this roast is roasted Brussels sprouts. You can cook both in the same 350°F oven, cooking the sprouts for slightly longer than the recipe calls for to compensate for the slightly lower oven temperature.
Other side dishes to consider:
Roasted leeks
Roasted fennel with parmesan
Creamy baked onions
Grilled portobello mushrooms
Storing leftovers
Leftovers keep well in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 3-4 days. I actually prefer not to reheat them because I don't want to dry out the meat. But if you'd like to reheat the leftovers, do so very gently, covered, in the microwave on 50% power.
One of my favorite lunches is slices of cold roast beef, served with grainy mustard, fresh-cut vegetables, and pickles. These pickled red onions are wonderful.
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Recipe card
Beef Tenderloin Roast
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lb. beef tenderloin roast
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (not fine table salt)
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
INSTRUCTIONS
- Remove the tenderloin from the fridge an hour before you plan to start cooking it.
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup) and fit it with a wire rack.
- Pat the beef dry with paper towels. If one end is thinner than the other, tuck it underneath and tie with butcher's twine to make sure the roast cooks evenly. You can also ask your butcher to tie it for you.
- Mix the olive oil and the spices, then use your clean hands to rub the beef with the mixture.
- Place the beef tenderloin on the wire rack. Insert a meat thermometer into its thickest part. Place it in the oven and roast it for 15 minutes in the 500°F oven.
- Lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Continue roasting until the meat thermometer registers 130 degrees F (medium-rare), about 20 more minutes.
- Transfer the tenderloin roast to a cutting board. Loosely cover with foil and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- Gently remove the butcher twine (you can cut it with kitchen scissors then gently pull it out of the meat), slice and serve.
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NOTES
NUTRITION PER SERVING
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 