Name: Juiciest Pork Tenderloin
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes, plus at least 1 hour marinating
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 1–1½-lb. pork tenderloins; 3 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 2¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, divided; 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; 2 Tbsp. thyme leaves; 4 garlic cloves; ¼ cup apple cider vinegar; ¼ cup Dijon mustard; ¼ cup honey; 1 tsp. onion powder; ½ tsp. red pepper flakes; 2 Tbsp. neutral oil (such as grapeseed)

Slices of pork tenderloin on a platter being served with a honeymustard sauce.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne

The best method for cooking pork tenderloin, one that has a golden crust with a truly juicy interior, is to first pan-sear it and then finish it in the oven. A lean cut like this can become very dry if overcooked, so the move is to go hot and fast—which also means dinner is ready in about half an hour if you’ve marinated the pork earlier in the day. A big batch of a tangy-sweet mixture of honey, mustard, and apple cider vinegar gets split in half to serve as both marinade and sauce in this simple recipe. The honey helps create a nice crust on the meat in a shorter amount of time. Grab an instant-read thermometer—it’s a great tool to take the guesswork out of cooking perfectly done pork.

This pork tenderloin recipe serves six; it’s ideal for a dinner party, served alongside a big green salad and some roasted potatoes. But it can also easily be halved for a weeknight dinner for two or three.