Easy Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin Recipe

Sous vide pork tenderloin coated with a homemade jerk dry rub. It’s wonderfully juicy and tasty as a weekday main course.

I never knew that pork could taste so different, yet so good until I tried sous vide pork tenderloin —a whole delicate slab that comes out pretty, pink, and flavorful. Whatever pork recipes I made before my sous vide adventure, pink was not a color that I’d associated with the outcome at all. Since the USDA-recommended internal temperature for cooked pork is 145°F (62.8°C), pork prepared with the traditional cooking methods is usually white or brown and tastes a bit stringy.

Rare or Pink Pork? Is It Safe? 

The question is “Is it even safe to eat when the pork is still pink?” This is where the advantage of sous vide comes in: pasteurization. My complete sous vide cooking guide has a deep dive into food safety. In short, bacteria are actively being killed on the surface of the pork at 130°F (54°C). The longer you cook it in the sous vide, the safer it is to consume. When cooking at higher temperatures, the bacteria die even faster. Therefore, welcome to the world where you can choose the doneness of your pork! And it’s guaranteed to be so unbelievably juicy and tender!

In this post, I will show you how to use the sous vide method to cook pork tenderloin step by step including a Jamaican jerk-flavored recipe. As soon as you learn how you’ll be making the most tender and juicy pork tenderloin every single time without fail. Then, change up the flavor by using your go-to marinade or seasoning combination. It’s foolproof. For example, this buttery mix of sun-dried tomatoes and capers is a great alternative.

Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin Temperature and Time

Pork tenderloin is best cooked whole sous vide. The best cooking time for sous vide pork tenderloin is 90 minutes. You can leave it in the sous vide water bath for up to four hours.

The texture and doneness of pork tenderloin are directly affected by the temperature you choose to cook it. This is the magical part – with a sous vide machine, you can totally control how you want your pork to be done. 

• 131°F (55°C): Rare, soft, and rosy
• 136°F (57.8°C): Medium-rare, juicy, and pink
• 144°F (62.2°C): Medium, tender and blushing
• 149°F (65°C): Medium-well, springy, and barely pink
• 158°F (70°C): Well done, firm, and fibrous

Temperature and Time Chart

Cook Temperature	Doneness	Texture	Cook Time (Fresh)	Cook Time (Frozen)
131°F (55°C)	Rare	Soft and rosy	90 Minutes	2 Hours and 15 Minutes
136°F (57.8°C)	Medium-rare	Juicy and pink	90 Minutes	2 Hours and 15 Minutes
144°F (62.2°C)	Medium	Tender and blushing	90 Minutes	2 Hours and 15 Minutes
149°F (65°C)	Medium-well	Springy and barely pink	90 Minutes	2 Hours and 15 Minutes
158°F (70°C)	Well done	Firm and fibrous	90 Minutes	2 Hours and 15 Minutes

To make sous vide pork tenderloin, you need a few essential things. Let’s start with the ingredients.

Essential Ingredients

Sous Vide Pork Loin or Tenderloin

Before we dive in, it’s notably important to differentiate between pork loin and pork tenderloin because I’ve brought back home the wrong cut before.

Pork tenderloin is a boneless cut of meat that comes from the muscle that runs along the backbone. It’s long and narrow. Pork loin comes from the back of the animal. It’s wider and flatter. It can be boneless or bone-in.

Sous vide pork loin roast requires different cooking times and temperatures, which is a recipe for another time. In this post, we are going to focus on sous vide pork tenderloin.

Seasonings or Marinade 

Salt and pepper can always do a fine job with any good-quality meat. 

To be more adventurous on the flavor, a homemade jerk dry rub is one of my favorites for pork. You’ll need kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, coriander, ground cumin, garlic powder, and ground cinnamon. This jerk rub works wonderfully with pork loin, pork chops, or even pork ribs. 

Beyond that, wet marinated pork is also a fantastic option such as this Asian red marinade and this one with honey and Dijon mustard.

Essential Equipment 

• A sous vide immersion circulator. I used an Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker for this sous vide pork tenderloin recipe. I also own a KitchenBoss G320 Sous Vide Cooker. You might have seen it in some of my sous vide recipes. To learn more about this particular product and see if it’s right for you, read my in-depth review here.
• A large pot or a sous vide container. This 12-quart container is compatible with most sous vide machines on the market. I personally use an Anova sous vide cooking container which holds up 16L of water with a removable lid and rack to prevent food from floating. 
• A large Ziploc bag. For sous vide pork tenderloin, you do not need a vacuum sealer and vacuum seal bags. A large Ziploc bag with the water displacement method work just fine. As you might have noticed, I did still use a vacuum sealer bag as I was out of the Ziploc bags when I made the recipe. But remember, you can still use the water displacement method with vacuum sealer bags without vacuum sealing. To learn more about sous vide bags, check out my in-depth guide.
• A heavy-duty skillet. I seared the seasoned pork tenderloin over high heat before sous vide as opposed to after. A cast-iron skillet or a nonstick flat-bottom pan is recommended. 

How to Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin Step by Step

Step #1: Preheat the water to your desired temperature according to the cook time and temp chart above. I usually set the temp at 136°F (57.8°C) for pork tenderloin.

Step #2: Rinse and clean the pork tenderloin and pat it dry with paper towels. 

Step #3: Make the jerk dry rub and coat the jerk seasoning mixture all over the pork. 

Step #4: Pre-sear the pork in a hot pan for about 30 seconds on each side. Let it chill for a bit.

Step #5: Place the pork in a sous vide bag or a ziptop bag with two sprigs of your desired fresh herbs such as fresh thyme or rosemary. Submerge the pork in the sous vide water bath for 90 minutes.

Step #6: Slice and enjoy!

What to Serve with Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin

For a complete and healthy meal, I would recommend pairing it with this Crunchy Fennel Apple Salad for a gluten-free and low-carbohydrate meal. The old-fashioned mashed potatoes plus a side of greens is a classic. Other great side dish alternatives are Avocado Mango Salsa, Mediterranean Lentil Salad, Warm Kale and Asparagus Salad, and Vegetable Mango Relish.

Pork cooked sous vide is usually so juicy that you don’t need any sauce. I love the juice from any meat cooked sous vide, so I served the pork tenderloin with the cooking juice straight out of the bag. But if you’d like to take things to the next level with a pan sauce (especially if you are serving the pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes), here’s a quick one.

Simply sauté some garlic and shallot over medium-high heat, and add some red wine if you like along with the juice from the bag. Let it simmer and finish with a knob of butter.

Here you have it—the perfect sous vide pork tenderloin and healthy meal inspirations. I hope you enjoy it, and let me know how you like it and how you serve it in the comments below. 

For more delicious recipes for sous vide pork,  I thought you might also like these Sous Vide Pork Chops, Sous Vide Baby Back Ribs with Homemade BBQ sauce, Honey Dijon Sous Vide Pork Shoulder, Red-Braised Sous Vide Pork Belly, and Sous Vide Pork Adobo. 

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