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This easy, all-in-one Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin Recipe delivers a perfectly cooked, seasoned pork tenderloin alongside a delicious apple and sweet potato puree.
Pork tenderloin is a lean cut of pork that when cooked with care, results in a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cut of meat.
But because pork tenderloin is such a delicate cut of meat that can easily overcook, I was hesitant to try cooking it in the Instant Pot. After all, I love my recipes for Balsamic Pork Tenderloin and Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin--why mess with perfection?
But after many requests from YOU, I have perfected the timing for cooking pork tenderloin in the Instant Pot and the results are quite spectacular.
Seasoned with garlic and cooked in apple cider, the pork tenderloin absorbs so much flavor, while cooking to the perfect temperature.
And while delicious served as an entree all on its own, I love to cook apples and sweet potatoes along with the pork, which results in a delicious, easy, one-pot meal that everyone loves.
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 Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute, add in oil, and let heat for 2-3 minutes.
- While the Instant Pot is heating, trim the silverskin if necessary from the pork and season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Once the Instant Pot is heated, add the seasoned pork to the inner pot and sear the pork on each side, 2-3 minutes per side, or until just golden.
- Remove the pork tenderloin to a plate. Turn the Instant Pot OFF.
- Add the apple juice to the inner pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. This will prevent a burn notice.
- Add the cubed sweet potatoes, apples, and onions to the inner pot, if using.
- Nestle the seared pork on top of the potatoes or in the apple juice.
- Place the lid on the inner pot and set the cooking time for 3 minutes on high pressure.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release for 10 minutes. This will prevent the pork from being tough!
- Remove the pork tenderloin from the instant pot and place it on a cutting board to rest.
- Strain off the apples, sweet potatoes, and onions and place them into a blender or a large mixing bowl and add in ½ cup of the cooking liquid. Mash or blend to desired consistency, adding additional cooking liquid as needed.
Cooking Frozen Pork Tenderloin
You can prepare frozen pork tenderloin in the Instant Pot. There are just a few 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.
- You will need to cook the frozen pork tenderloin for 12 minutes on high pressure instead of 3 minutes.
- Cut the sweet potatoes and apples into larger (2-inch) chunks to account for the longer cook time.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Simply omit the sweet potatoes, onions, and apples from the recipe. Season, sear, and cook the pork tenderloin in apple juice as the recipe states.
No. You can serve sweet potatoes, apples, and onions on the side of the pork tenderloin. I just find that the mash is more kid-friendly.
Pork tenderloin is a very lean cut of meat and therefore only needs to be cooked in a couple of minutes. Cooking longer than the suggested times will result in an overcooked piece of meat that will likely be 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, and slightly pink, but warm all the way through.
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 will elevate the flavor of the pork tenderloin, significantly. If you opt to skip searing the pork, cook for 4 minutes under high pressure.
YES! If you would like to prepare 2 pork tenderloins instead of just 1, simply sear both tenderloins in batches and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes as instructed. If you would like to double the sweet potato and apple mixture, reduce the cooking time to 2 minutes to account for the extra time it will take for the Instant Pot to come to pressure.
More Instant Pot Pork Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe for Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin, be sure to leave a comment and review below.
Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pork tenderloin, ~1 ½ pounds
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon pepper, divided
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive 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 firm, sweet apple, cubed
- 1 large sweet onion, cubed
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
Instructions
- To remove the silver skin from the pork tenderloin slip a knife blade just under the silver skin making a "tab" to hold on to. Hold on to that tab with one hand and then run the blade of the knife under the membrane, keeping it angled away from the meat, to remove just the silver skin, not the meat itself. Discard the membrane.
- Season the pork generously with salt and pepper.
- Turn the instant pot to saute function, add in 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil and let heat. Once heated, add seasoned tenderloin to inner pot and sear on each side until just browned. Remove the pork from the instant pot and place on a plate.
- Pour 1 cup apple cider into inner pot and scrape up any browned bits of bottom of instant pot.
- Add in 3 large sweet potatoes (diced), 1 large firm, sweet apple (diced), 1 large sweet onion (diced), and 3 cloves garlic (minced). Season with pinch of 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℉ (74℃)3 minutes for 155℉ (68℃)2 minutes for 145℉ (63℃)
- 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.
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was originally published in 2018 but was updated in 2021 with step-by-step process shots.
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!
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!!!
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 😉
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.
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.
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 🙂
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!