Grilled pork tenderloin topped with a tasty orange marmalade glaze.
Do you like grilling pork tenderloin? We love it! It cooks up so quickly and lends itself to any number of savory glazes.
The glaze we are using for this recipe couldn’t be easier to pull together. It uses orange marmalade, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
We marinate the pork first in half of the glaze sauce, and then use the remaining sauce to coat the finished tenderloin.
The secret to grilling pork tenderloin is to watch it carefully, with a meat thermometer in hand, because once it goes, it goes quickly.
A pork tenderloin is a long, narrow cut of meat which cooks very quickly, so that the difference between perfectly done and over-cooked is slim, time-wise. Have a meat thermometer ready, and start checking with increasing frequency as you approach the expected cooking time.
Recipes and photos updated, first published 2007
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Orange Marmalade Glaze Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Marinating time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 3 to 4
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce for gluten-free version)
- 1/3 cup orange marmalade
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 lb pork tenderloin
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional)
- Olive oil (for grill)
Method
1 Make marinade: In a small saucepan, bring the soy sauce, marmalade, honey, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the flame and let cool.
Reserve half of the marinade for serving as a sauce with the finished tenderloin.
2 Marinated the tenderloin: With the remaining half of the marinade, marinate the tenderloin for 1 hour.
3 Prepare the grill: While the tenderloin is marinating, prepare your grill for high direct heat on one side, and a low heat on the other side.
4 Sear tenderloin on all sides: Remove the tenderloin from the marinade and coat with olive oil. Place on the hot side of the grill, with the narrower end of the tenderloin more toward the cool side of the grill.
As soon as the tenderloin gets grill marks on one side (a minute or two), turn it to get grill marks on another side. Continue until all sides are lightly seared.
5 Finish on cool side of the grill: Move the tenderloin to the cool side of the grill. Cover and cook a few minutes more, until the internal temperature of the tenderloin reaches 140°F (no higher). Remove from heat.
6 Tent with foil and let rest: If you have let the temp get too high above 140°F, you may need to slice the pork immediately or the meat will continue to cook as it rests and become overcooked.
If you have taken it out in time, tent the tenderloin with foil and let it rest 10 minutes.
Thinly slice, sprinkle with the remaining glaze and scallions.
Serve with rice.
