Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin: An easy recipe for perfectly cooked pork tenderloin served with a sweet potato and apple mash. This is a one pot meal rich in flavor!
Thank you for Produce for Kids to help sponsor this post. As always, all opinions and text are my own.
I feel like pork tenderloin is underrated.
Not only is pork tenderloin extremely lean, it is also much flavorful than chicken breasts and cooks up just as fast.
Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
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 it’s own.
But by adding in sweet potatoes and apples, you can quickly turn this into a one pot meal that still happens to be Paleo, Gluten-Free, and Whole30 approved.
And like I said earlier, DELICIOUS!
Pork and apples are perfection together. Sweet Potatoes and Apples pair perfectly together. Put those combinations together, and Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Sweet Potatoes is a sure winner!
How To Make Pork Tenderloin in Pressure Cooker
Step One: Sear Pork tenderloin
- Season pork tenderloin with salt and pepper liberally.
- Turn instant pot to saute function.
- Once pressure cooker is heated, pour in 2 teaspoons oil.
- Sear tenderloin on each side until just browned–about 3-4 minutes per side.
- Remove pork from instant pot.
Step Two: Add Remaining Ingredients
- Pour in apple cider into inner pot of pressure cooker.
- Add in garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Add in diced sweet potatoes, onions, and apples (if using).
- Place the pork tenderloin back in pressure cooker on top of vegetables.
Step Three: Cook Pork Tenderloin
- Secure lid on instant pot and turn vent knob to sealed.
- Cook on high pressure:
- 4 minutes for 165 degrees
- 3 minutes for 155 degrees
- 2 minutes for 145 degrees
- Allow pressure to release for 10 minutes (VERY IMPORTANT) and then do a quick release.
- Remove pork from instant pot and place on cutting board to slice.
What temperature Should Pork Tenderloin Be Cooked to?
- Pork tenderloin is safe to eat once it reaches 145 degrees.
- At well done (165 degrees) pork tenderloin may be a bit dried out.
- 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. (You can cook for 2 minutes if you want it closer to 145 degrees.) The pork tenderloin will be juicy, slightly pink, but warm all the way through.
Frozen Pork Tenderloin
For cooking a frozen pork tenderloin in the pressure cooker:
- Skip Searing Pork Tenderloin
- Place potatoes, apples, onions, and garlic in pressure cooker.
- Add in apple cider.
- Place pork tenderloin in pressure cooker and season well with salt and pepper.
- Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.
Apple and 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 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.
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 with apples and onions (which I find is more friendly for the kids!)
To Make the Sweet Potato Mash
- After the cooking time is complete, allow pressure to release for 10 minutes.
- Remove pork from instant pot.
- With a hand held-immersion blender or a potato masher, combine the sweet potatoes, apples and onions until smooth.
- You can alternatively remove the sweet potatoes, apples, and onions and process in blender or food processor.
- There will be a lot of cooking liquid, feel free to remove 1/2 cup with a ladle or measuring cup before blending up the sweet potatoes and apples.
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 Recipe
I would love to know how you enjoy this recipe! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Or snap a picture and tag @amindfullmom on Instagram and hashtag it #amindfullmom
Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pound pork tenderloin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- 1 teaspoon pepper divided
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 large apple cubed
- 1 large sweet onion cubed
- 3 cloves garlic peeled
Instructions
- Season pork tenderloin with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Turn instant pot to saute function. Once pressure cooker is heated, pour in 2 teaspoons oil. Sear tenderloin on each side until just browned--about 1 minute per side. Remove pork from instant pot.
- Pour apple cider 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 in 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 1/2 cup cooking liquid if you would like a thicker mash.)
- Serve pork alongside the sweet potato apple puree.
Notes
- Feel free to use apple juice in place of apple cider.
- You may cook the pork without the apples and sweet potatoes if desired.
- If your pork tenderloin is frozen, skip Searing Pork Tenderloin and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.
- You can serve the apples, onions and sweet potatoes whole if you would instead of serving it as a mash.
To Make Pressure Cooker Pork Tenderloin, You May Need
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The mashed sweet potatoes and apple is brilliant! Such a great recipe!!
Thank you so much Heather! We enjoy that combo so much!
We tried this tonight with a bigger loin. We added 3 minutes to the cook time and it turned out perfect! Big hit, juicy and well seasoned. We also increased the other items and had the perfect amount of liquid at the end. Garlic +apple+sweet potato is delight for our mouths. Keeping this one in the arsenal. Thank you!!
I am so glad you enjoyed Lissa!
It Looks delicious thanks for sharing
It is delicious! I hope you enjoy!
Love this taste of fall!
Thank you so much Melissa! <3
How do I make this without a Instant pot or pressure cooker? Can I just make This in the oven?
Hi Carol. You can make this in a slow cooker or you can roast your Pork Tenderloin (season well with salt and pepper) along side chunks of potatoes, apple, and onions. I would cut your sweet potatoes very small and roast tenderloin in oven at 400 degrees until it reads 150-155 degrees (about 20 minutes.)
You may also want to try my Slow Cooker Pork and Apple Recipe
This recipe looks delicious! I’m just wondering what you drizzled over the sliced pork in the photo that accompanies the recipe. I would like mine to be as good as yours ;-). Thanks!
Hi Patricia, I actually used a bit of apple cider mixed with some soy sauce for color–a food styling trick 😉 And then sprinkled fresh parsley over it.
Can you make this and freeze it to enjoy later?
Hi Hilary! You can freeze this meal to enjoy later, but pork tenderloin is never as good reheated, as it dries out easily. To freeze, I would freeze sweet potato puree and pork separately. I would also slice the pork, so that it will not take as long to reheat. When you want to eat the leftovers, defrost in fridge. Place pork on baking sheet and broil until just warm. Microwave sweet potatoes and enjoy!
Is it 7 minutes pressure cooking or 2-4 minutes?
Hi there! Sorry for any confusion, I would cook for 2-4 minutes. 4 minutes for well done, and 3 minutes for medium well. 2 minutes for medium.
Delicious flavors, however the tenderloin was way over cooked. I did 2 minutes plus the 10 min slow release and the internal temp showed over 180! I followed the recipe exactly, any thoughts?
Hi Kristin! I am glad you enjoyed the flavor. Can I ask how big your tenderloin was? That may have affected cook time.
When it states Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes if you want your pork cooked to 165, 3 minutes, if you want your pork cooked to 155, and 2 minutes, if you want your pork cooked to 145 degrees. Does that mean to use Pressure Cook, not MEAT/STEW?
Hi Cindy! Yes, all my recipes are written to be cooked on PRESSURE COOK on high pressure unless stated otherwise. But the meat and stew button is just a preset on high pressure cook as well–really a useless function. You can read more info about Instant Pot Functions to help explain here : https://amindfullmom.com/instant-pot-functions/
Hope that helps 🙂
You said we could cook the tenderloin from frozen. If I did that, what size cut would you suggest on the sweet potatoes and apples? Surely they would need to be a bit larger if they cooked for 12 minutes instead of 3 minutes.
Hi Eileen! You can cut your potatoes into larger chunks for sure, but since this is all pureed, it does not make that much of a difference for this recipe. Enjoy!
Could I do the same thing with a pork roast? Would I adjust the cooking time? Trying to use what I have in the freezer. 😊
I love that you are using what you have on hand Alicia! For pork roast it is 20 minutes per pound if fresh or 30 if frozen. The only issue is that the sweet potatoes and apples would be WAY overcooked and a mushy mess at that time. I would season the pork loin and place in apple cider/juice and cook on high pressure for 20 min per pound. Let natural release. Remove pork roast to cutting board to rest and then add in cubed apples & sweet potatoes to liquid in instant pot. Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes (it will come to pressure quicker with warmer liquid so you need a longer cook time for potatoes then if starting from a cold Instant Pot. Then you can mash the potatoes and apples and serve with a pork roast. I hope you enjoy!
You actually mean apple cider not apple cider vinegar?
The recipe states apple cider not apple cider vinegar 🙂 Vinegar would be disastrous.
Ok thank you!
How disastrous? 🤦🏼♀️ Unedible?
Well, the meat may still be edible, but the mash would be pretty tart.
To make this pork only no veggies, would you just sear the meat and then pressure cook for 4 min? What about pressure release?
Hi Amanda, yes that would be correct. Sear the meat and then cook for 4 minutes on pressure. You want pressure to release for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Best tenderloin recipe EVER!!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!! My family gobbled it down!
YAY!!! So glad this hit the spot for you and your family Laura!
Looking forward to trying this! If my pork loin is larger (for example: 2 3/4 pounds), I suspect the cooking time would go up. How do I figure out how to adjust the time? It is a thawed pork loin.
Hi Cheryl! This recipe is for a pork tenderloin. For pork loin, you need to cook on high pressure for 20 minutes per pound. I would also just cook in apple juice/cider and cook the sweet potatoes and apples after you remove the pork from the pressure cooker, if not they will be very over cooked! After removing the pork loin, drain off all but 1 cup cooking juices/liquid and add in chunks sweet potatoes,onions, and apples (apples optional). Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and then let pressure release 5 minutes. Puree sweet potatoes, slice up pork and serve! Enjoy!
So this is my first ever Instapot recipe, of course there’s potential for user error but honestly I didn’t understand what the purpose is sweet potato mixture was. It came out so mushy so it didn’t not feel like a mashed sweet potato side. It was like a baby food purée that we ended up using more of a sauce on the pork. You couldn’t really eat it as a side dish. Not sure if there something we could’ve done different with this more like mashed potatoes
I am so happy you tried out your Instant Pot, but I wish you would have enjoyed your first recipe more. You may have missed my tip that said
There will be a lot of cooking liquid, feel free to remove 1/2 cup with a ladle or measuring cup before blending up the sweet potatoes and apples. I did add it right to that step in the directions now to help people in the future, so it is not overlooked. In the future, I would ladle out some excess liquid before blending or or even omit apples (which give off a lot of liquid), that will really help to thicken your sweet potato mash.
My first time cooking pork tenderloin in the IP, and it came out really well! Perfectly seasoned and delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
That is wonderful to hear Dini! I am so glad you enjoyed this meal.
Have a pork tenderloin at home, this is just what I was looking for for dinner this weekend. Looks amazing with the sweet potatoes too.
Absolutely yummy!!! It snowed all day and I had thawed out bone in pork chops- googled pork chop sweet potato instant pot recipes and found yours! Thank you for sharing! It was a wonderful dinner and my family agreed!!!
I am so glad you enjoyed Kristen! Safe warm and safe in the snow!
Delicious recipe! If I wanted to cook 2 of the tenderloins with this recipe would the time change? This one tenderloin isn’t enough for everyone so I’d like to double that. The mash was fantastic and plenty there so just adding the additional tenderloin would be my only change.
Hi Aidan! I am so glad you enjoyed this meal. You can certainly make 2 pork tenderloins. The cook time should remain the same, but if they are frozen together, you will need to increase the time by 1-2 minutes total. Enjoy!
My tenderloin came out way over cooked (internal temp was 195 degrees). I’m a pretty decent cook and followed the recipe very closely. The mash came out great, but the meat was all wrong, even though I only set it for 3 minutes. Any thoughts?
Hi Matt! Sorry for your frustration with the recipe. It may have been that your tenderloin was either very thin or seared for much longer than I seared mine. Or if you did not do an instant release of pressure that would cause the meat to overcook as well.
But the instructions say to let it NATURALLY release for 10 minutes… what’s this talk of instant release?
I meant if the meat was left in the pressure cooker past the 10 minutes of natural release. But I was not very clear! Sorry about that. You want to release pressure after 10 minutes and immediately remove pork tenderloin so it is not left to cook in pressure cooker.
Your step 5 and main instruction say 4 minutes will cook the pork to 165 but that will be dried out. You also said, “This method for cooking pork tenderloin at 4 minutes on high pressure will result in pork tenderloin at 150-155 degrees–which in my book is perfect. ” Can you clarify? Thank you!
Hi Linda, I am sorry for any confusion. I will be sure directions are clear. 4 minutes will equal 165 degrees. 3 minutes will equal about 150-155 degrees and 2 minutes will be 145 degrees. Hope that helps you!
Tasty and so easy, especially since I had a kale salad kit on hand to go with the tenderloin and sweet potato mash. I am new to the Instant Pot, this was only my 3rd dinner using it, so I really appreciated finding your recipe — Thank you for posting! I seasoned the meat and let it sit at room temp for upwards of 30 minutes so the salt would be drawn into the tenderloin and improve the flavor. I browned the meat on 3 sides and since my tenderloin was large (1.5 lbs) and chunky (no tapered end really), cooked on high pressure for 4 minutes, which ended up being too long, not bad, just slightly overcooked. I removed a lot of liquid (2/3+ cup) thinking I might add a touch of coconut cream to enrich the mash. It wasn’t needed, the mash was absolutely delicious. We found the pork a little bland so I might try seasoning it with some sort of herb/spice rub next time. Would love more precise information about how much sweet potato, apple and onion to use (weight or cups chopped estimate), not absolutely necessary as the mash will be tasty in any case.
I am so glad you tried this recipe out and enjoyed. Since your meat was at room temperature (which is smart) I would only cook for 2-3 minutes. As for the sweet potatoes, 3 large sweet potatoes is about 4 cups chopped and 1 apple is about 2/3 cup chopped. Obviously that varies. But gives you a rough estimate!
This was such a delicious recipe! My tenderloin was a few ounces heavier than 1.25 lb. so I cooked it under pressure 3 min then released the pressure after 12 minutes – very tender. I also added 4 ounces of additional cider because my instruction book says always use at least 18 ounces of liquid so I split the difference between the 8 ounces in the recipe and 18 ounces. I am a new Instant Pot user and a bit careful straying from the instruction book. The sweet potato mash was very tasty and a nice accompaniment to the pork. Thank you, I will make this again!
I am so happy you enjoyed Sandy! And better to be safe with extra liquid than without enough! For an 8 quart instant pot, 12 ounces was perfect 🙂
Impressive! Didn’t have apple cider so I used pineapple juice. I also drained all the liquid off the potatoes and made gravy. Definitely added to our meal rotation!
I am so glad you enjoyed! I love using pineapple as well. The flavors work so well with pork and sweet potatoes as well.
I totally want to try this recipe! I have a group of about 20. Would you make some recommendations on preparing it for a group of that size?
Hi Amanda. I really don’t think it would be possible to make enough for 20 in the Instant Pot with Pork tenderloins and have them turn out well. You would need 5 pork tenderloins and need to sear them each–which adds up on prep time–not to mention would be tough to fit all 5 plus enough potatoes in even an 8 quart pressure cooker for 20 people. I would instead roast the pork tenderloins in the oven–You can use my recipe for Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, and then make Mashed Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot. I know this was not the answer you were looking for, but I think it will help you have a more successful final product.
Delicious! Made with ACV in place of apple cider, just less than 1 cup, maybe 2 glugs. Also didn’t have apple. At 3 mins on high pressure, meat was at 135, put it in for another 3 minutes and that was just right. Would make again.
I am so glad you enjoyed Christy even with the vinegar in place of cider–I am not sure I would like that flavor myself 😉
Can this be made in an 8 qt instant pot? If so, any adjustments to recipe? I just got my first instant pot and realized it is 8 qt. Planning this to be my first recipe but it says to use 2 c liquid in the user manual
Hi Sara! For an 8 quart, I would use 1.5 cups of water–the liquid from the apples and onions will be more than enough for this recipe. When making baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, I would use 2 full cups of water. Hope that helps! And enjoy!!!
Sounds delicious and eager to try! Can I use chicken stock in place of apple cider/juice? Thanks!
You absolutely can use stock in place of juice. Enjoy!