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Smoked Pork Tenderloin Recipe (+ dry rub)

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  • Author: Erin Jensen
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
  • Yield: serves 6-8 1x
  • Category: Dinner/Entree
  • Method: Smoked
  • Cuisine: American

Description

Smoked Pork Tenderloin Recipe (dry rub) – a juicy and delicious smoked pork tenderloin recipe you are going to love! Dry rub included!


Ingredients

Scale

Pork Tenderloin: 

  • (2) 1lb pork tenderloins

Dry Rub:

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons lemon pepper
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

Dry Rub 

  1. Pat pork tenderloin dry with a clean paper towel.
  2. Combine dry rub ingredients and rub all over the pork tenderloin ensuring you get into every nook and cranny. If you have extra dry rub simply reserve for a later use.
  3. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours or as little as 30 minutes.

Smoked Pork Tenderloin:

  1. Preheat smoker to 225 degrees F.
  2. Place pork tenderloin on the smoker and close the smoker.
  3. Smoke for 1 hour and 30 minutes – 2 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. Rotate the pork tenderloin 3-4 times throughout the smoking process.
  4. Remove from smoker and let rest 10 minutes to let the juices redistribute. Slice with a sharp knife and serve.
  5. We love serving it with this Smoked Asparagus!

Notes

  • *Keep it Simple: you can simply season your pork tenderloin with salt and pepper and then smoke it per the instructions above. The smoking instructions remain the same.
  • BBQ Sauce: if you want to add bbq sauce simply crank up that smoker temp to 400 or more at the end of the cooking time (when your tenderloin is about 10 degrees below the targeted internal temp) – brush on your favorite bbq sauce (we love our homemade version) and let it sit in the hot smoker for about 5-7 minutes or until it becomes tacky. 
  • Smoking Time: there are a lot of variables that go into calculating smoking time including how hot your smoker runs, whether you have hot spots, wind, temperature and humidity.  The most sure way of determining when a smoked meat will be done is using an internal meat thermometer or probe.  The cooking time I put down is approximate – smoke pork tenderloin until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
  • Whole30/Paleo: if you are wanting to make this recipe Whole30/Paleo then you can just smoke the pork tenderloin with salt/pepper, just the pork rub or you can do the dry rub + marinade but just check your ingredients on the ketchup and use coconut aminos instead of the soy sauce!
  • Left Side: if you are using a Traeger Pellet Grill/Smoker the heat comes in through the left side – that is where I recommend placing your pork tenderloin for best results (and quickest cooking times).
  • Pork not coming up to temp: if, for some reason, your pork tenderloin just isn’t coming up to temp towards the end of cooking time, feel free to increase the smoker temperature to 250 for the last 10-15 minutes and it should start to move again.
  • Don’t over-cook: the key to having a juicy pork tenderloin is to not overcook it.  So watch that internal temperature closely and don’t go over 145 degrees F.
  • Let rest: let your pork tenderloin rest for 5 minutes for best results!
  • Wood Chips: we love using apple, hickory or cherry wood – but you really can’t go wrong. 
  • Other ways to cook pork tenderloin: we also love this Grilled Pork Tenderloin recipe!