Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes makes a flavorful all in one meal made in the Instant Pot! This is an easy recipe for perfectly cooked pork tenderloin served with a sweet potato and apple mash made right in the pressure cooker.
Love Instant Pot Pork recipes? Check out Instant Pot Pork and Sauerkraut, Instant Pot Pulled Pork, and Instant Pot Carnitas.
I feel like pork tenderloin is underrated.
Not only is pork tenderloin extremely lean, but it is also much flavorful than chicken breasts and cooks up just as fast.
I have been making several varieties of pork tenderloin in my pressure cooker recently, but this Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes and Apples has been voted the family's favorite.
Seasoned with garlic and cooked in apple cider, this easy pork tenderloin is perfection on its own. But by adding in sweet potatoes and apples, you can quickly turn this into a one-pot meal. And like I said earlier, DELICIOUS!
But if you'd rather have just Pork Tenderloin without the puree, the pork is just as delicious when prepared with just apple juice in the instant pot. Then serve with a side of stove-top mashed sweet potatoes for an easy, healthy meal.
Key Ingredients
- Pork Tenderloin: Be sure to use pork tenderloin not pork loin. The typical size of pork tenderloin is between 1.25 and 1.5 pounds.
- Apple Cider: Apple cider or apple juice is the perfect cooking liquid for pork tenderloin. It will help to season and sweeten the pork. Just be sure to NOT use apple cider vinegar--vinegar would ruin this meal.
- Garlic and Onions: For additional flavor and savoriness to the overall dish.
- Sweet Potato and Apple Mash: This is completely optional, but does make for a nice all-in-one meal. Just be sure to use an apple variety that holds up well to cooking like Gala, Honeycrisp, or Granny Smith.
How To Make Pork Tenderloin in Pressure Cooker
Step One: Sear Pork tenderloin
Searing meat seals in the juices of the meat and gives the meat a bit of texture. It is not a necessary step, but it is one that elevates the flavor of roasts, like this pork tenderloin, significantly.
Just be sure to season the meat well, and allow the Instant pot to heat up fully on the saute function before adding in the pork. This will allow the pork tenderloin to get browned quickly before the meat begins to cook through.
Step Two: Sweet Potato Mash
I love serving this pressure cooker Pork Tenderloin with a side of sweet potatoes, apples, and onions, as those flavors compliment pork perfectly. While you can omit the veggies and apples and simply cook the pork tenderloin in the apple cider, it is a great way to make dinner all in one pot.
Because the sweet potatoes are cut into very small cubes, they will cook perfectly in the amount of time that the pork cooks. And as the pork tenderloin cooks, the apples and potatoes absorb the pork juices, flavoring the fruit and vegetables that much more.
Once the meat has been seared, remove the pork tenderloin from the Instant Pot, add in apple cider. Be sure to scrape up the bottom of the inner pot to avoid a burn notice, and then add in the apples, sweet potatoes, garlic, and onions. Place the meat on top of the sweet potatoes and apple mixture and proceed with cooking the pork tenderloin.
Step Three: Cook Pork Tenderloin
Pork tenderloin is a very lean cut of meat and therefore only needs to be cooked a couple of minutes. Cooking longer than the suggested times will result in an overcooked piece of meat that is dry and tough. This method for cooking pork tenderloin at 3 minutes on high pressure will result in pork tenderloin at 150-155 degrees--which in my book is perfect. The pork tenderloin will be juicy, slightly pink, but warm all the way through.
Another key tip is to be sure to let pressure release for at least 10 minutes after cook time has elapsed as well! Not only will the pork finish cooking in that time frame, but doing a quick pressure release is another way to guarantee tough meat.
Step Four: Serve
You can serve the sweet potatoes, apples, and onions on the side of the pork tenderloin, or you can mash up the sweet potatoes with apples and onions (which I find is more friendly for the kids!)
To prepare the sweet potato apple mash, remove the pork tenderloin from the Instant Pot and place it on a cutting board to rest for a few minutes before slicing. There will be a lot of cooking liquid, so it is best to remove ½ to 1 cup cooking liquid with a ladle or measuring cup before blending up the sweet potatoes and apples, for a thicker mash. Then you can use a handheld-immersion blender or a potato masher, combine the sweet potatoes, apples, and onions until smooth. Of course, you can alternatively remove the sweet potatoes, apples, and onions and process in a blender or food processor, but I prefer mashing in the inner pot to save myself on a few extra dishes!
Cooking Frozen Pork Tenderloin
You can prepare frozen pork tenderloin in the Instant Pot. There are just two things to keep in mind.
- You will not be able to sear the pork, so the meat will be a bit more gray and soft after cooking.
- If you want to add in sweet potatoes and apples, cut them into 2-inch chunks to account for the longer cook time.
Pork Tenderloin without Sweet Potatoes
If you would like to make Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin WITHOUT the Sweet Potato Apple Mash, I suggest searing the meat and then cooking in apple cider, for a delicious, juicy, tender pork tenderloin. You can place the meat on a trivet, but I find that cooking the pork directly in the apple cider adds incredible flavor and keeps this lean cut of meat moist.
More Instant Pot Main Course Recipes
- Instant Pot Pot Roast
- Instant Pot Lasagna
- Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
- Instant Pot Pork Tacos
- Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot
Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pound pork tenderloin
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt divided
- 1 teaspoon pepper divided
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 cup apple cider or apple juice (NOT APPLE CIDER VINEGAR!!!!)
- 3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed into ½ inch cubes
- 1 large apple cubed
- 1 large sweet onion cubed
- 3 cloves garlic peeled
Instructions
- Pour apple cider or juice into inner pot and scrape up any browned bits of bottom of instant pot.
- Add in diced sweet potatoes, onions, apples, garlic, and remaining salt and pepper. Place the pork tenderloin back into the pressure cooker on top of vegetables.
- Secure lid on instant pot and turn vent knob to sealed.
- Cook on high pressure:4 minutes for 165 degrees3 minutes for 155 degrees2 minutes for 145 degrees
- Allow pressure to release for 10 minutes and then do a quick release. Remove pork from instant pot and place on cutting board to slice.
- While pork is resting on cutting board, use a hand held-immersion blender or a potato masher, to combine the sweet potatoes, apples and onions until smooth. (Remove ½ cup cooking liquid if you would like a thicker mash.)
- Serve pork alongside the sweet potato apple puree.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Sweet Potato Mash: There will be a lot of cooking liquid, feel free to remove ½ cup with a ladle or measuring cup before blending up the sweet potatoes and apples, for a thicker sweet potato mash. You can also opt to serve the apples, onions and sweet potatoes whole instead of serving it as a mash.
- Apple Cider: Feel free to use apple juice in place of apple cider. But DO NOT USE APPLE CIDER VINEGAR--this recipe is for apple cider or apple juice. Vinegar will ruin your dish.
- Pork Tenderloin without Sweet Potatoes and Apples: Sear the pork tenderloin as directed, and then add in apple cider to the Instant Pot and scrape up any browned bits from bottom of inner pot. Add in the onions and garlic and place tenderloin back in pressure cooker and cook as directed.
- Frozen Pork Tenderloin: skip Searing Pork Tenderloin and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. If you want to add in sweet potatoes and apples, cut them into 2 inch chunks to account for the longer cook time.
Nutrition
Ned Koe
This was so good! I followed the advice of a commenter to make it an easier/quicker weeknight meal and used 2 cans of sweet potatoes rinsed of the syrup and used one cup of applesauce. The tenderloin was cooked perfectly after 3 mins, although my meat thermometer only came up to 150 not 155. My hubby was pleased. Nobody else like the sweet potato mash, but I thought it was AWESOME, so next time I'll only make half as much. Would cook time need to be changed if I doubled the amount of tenderloin?
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you enjoyed! If you were to cook 2 tenderloins, the cook time will remain the same.
Starlene
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I used it as a basis but, due to time and ingredients available to me, I ended up simplifying it quite a bit. It still came out fabulous!
I still browned the salted and peppered tenderloin as in the recipe instructions, then just added the following to the instant pot, stirred it up, and cooked as instructed. I used water instead of broth (less than 1 cup), about 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, a can of sweet potato puree, onion powder, garlic powder, and S&P.
I didn't really measure anything. When it was done with the 10 min NPR, I just took the meat out to rest then slice. No need to puree the sauce or thin it. Served over spiced cauliflower rice, it was such a delicious meal!