Italian Stuffed Pork Tenderloin is flavorful, juicy and tender pork tenderloin stuffed with pesto, onions, mushroom, bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. To take it over the top, the stuffed pork is also wrapped in bacon!
Something that always brings me joy is preparing dishes that will satisfy everyone at the table, and thoroughly impress them. I’m a big fan of pork tenderloin in general, but there’s something phenomenal happens when it’s stuffed with bold Italian ingredients.
As thoroughly impressive as this dish is, it’s actually very simple to make. This is an ideal main dish for hosting a holiday party or just want to make a fancy family dinner.
Pork is a nice and mild meat and pork tenderloin is also super soft and tender. It goes great with the flavors in the filling because of its mild nature. There is a layer of pesto and then a delicious mixture of sautéed onions, mushrooms, and peppers with sun-dried tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. It’s fantastic!
Just as an extra step and more flavor, the whole thing is wrapped in bacon and you can never go wrong with wrapping something with bacon?!
How to Butterfly Pork Tenderloin
- Clean the pork: remove the pork tenderloins from the package and pat them dry with a paper towel. Place the tenderloins on a large cutting board and remove as much silver skin as you can, if there is some still attached.
- Butterfly pork tenderloin: Use a sharp knife to cut the tenderloin through the center, lengthwise. Cut almost all the way to the other side, but NOT all the way in half! The goal here is to be able to butterfly the tenderloin, or open it like a book. Repeat this process with the second tenderloin.
- Tenderize to even it out: Place a sheet of plastic wrap over each opened pork tenderloin. Then, use the flat side of a meat tenderizer to pound it. Make sure the whole piece has an even thickness of about 1/2 inch. Lastly, remove the plastic wrap from the meat and discard it.
How to Stuff Pork Tenderloin
- Sauté the vegetables: Preheat the pan and add some oil. Sauté diced vegetables until completely cooked and tender.
- Mix the filling: In a mixing bowl, stir together the cooked vegetables, diced sun-dried tomatoes, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Set aside.
- Season the pork with some salt and pepper.
- Divide pesto in two portions and spread each portion over each tenderloin.
- Divide the filling as equally as possible among the two tenderloins and spread it out. Roll up the tenderloin lengthwise and place the seam down.
- Wrap the pork in bacon: Wrap each tenderloin in half a pound of bacon, overlapping each strip slightly so that they stay in place while baking. Make sure to tuck in the loose ends of bacon under the previous ones to keep everything in place.
How to Cook Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
- Place the bacon wrapped pork tenderloins onto a rimmed baking sheet. It needs to be large enough to fit them comfortably. Insert the leave-in meat thermometer probe into the center of the thickest part of the larger tenderloin to safely track the temperature.
- Bake stuffed pork: Bake the pork tenderloins at 400°F for 45-50 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches approximately 145°F. Once fully cooked, take out the tenderloins, and let them rest on the cutting board before slicing for about 10 minutes.
Tips for the Best Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
- The drippings from cooking this stuffed tenderloin will be fantastic! You can either make an incredible Pan Dripping Gravy with it, or use a larger baking sheet to roast the tenderloin and spread some chopped veggies or potatoes around it about half way through cooking.
- If you want to crisp up the bacon a little bit, switch your oven from baking to broil when the pork reaches about 140°F. Make sure the over rack is set 6-10 inches away from the broiler to avoid burning the bacon. Watch it carefully, and let the bacon crisp up for just a couple of minutes.
How much pork tenderloin per person?
The two stuffed tenderloins should serve approximately 6-8 people. The best thing to do is to estimate about 3-4 slices per person, depending on how many sides you serve and how thickly you cut the pork. With most meats, the standard serving estimate is 1/2 lb. per person. You can always lessen that a little by serving hearty side dishes if needed.
What to Serve with Pork Tenderloin
This is a fabulous entrée for a holiday dinner, or really any dinner party! You can serve it with a lot of different holiday side dishes like
Potato Side Dishes: mashed potatoes, hashbrown casserole, roasted potatoes, scalloped potatoes, roasted fingerling potatoes.
Vegetable Sides: sautéed green beans, sautéed mushrooms, Italian roasted asparagus, creamy Italian asparagus, cauliflower mac and cheese, Brussels sprouts with bacon.
More Pork Recipes To Make
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Italian Stuffed Pork Tenderloin Recipe
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 2.5 lb pork tenderloin 1 package of 2 tenderloins
- 1 lb bacon
- salt
- black pepper
Filling:
- 1/2 cup pesto
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil oil drained off
- 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
To Prepare The Tenderloin:
- Take pork tenderloins out of the package and pat them dry with a paper towel. (Most pork tenderloin packages will come with 2 tenderloins inside.)
- Place the tenderloins on a large cutting board and remove as much silver skin as you can, if there is some still attached.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the tenderloin through the center, lengthwise. Cut almost all the way to the other side but NOT all the way in half! You will want to be able to butterfly the tenderloin (open it like a book). Repeat with the other one.
- Place a sheet of plastic wrap over each opened pork tenderloin and use a flat side of the meat tenderizer to pound it. Make sure the whole piece has an even thickness of about 1/2 inch. Take plastic wrap off and discard it.
Prepare the Filling:
- Preheat a medium cooking pan over medium heat and add oil. Sauté diced onion and bell pepper until it starts to soften and add diced mushrooms.
- Stir and season the vegetables. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, until completely cooked. In a mixing bowl, mix together cooked vegetables, diced sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
- Season the pork with some salt and pepper and then spread half of the pesto all over one piece and the other half over the other.
- Divide the vegetable filling equally among the two tenderloins and spread it out. Roll up the tenderloin lengthwise and place seam down.
- Wrap each tenderloin in half a pound of bacon, overlapping each strip slightly so they stay in place. Make sure to tuck the loose ends under the previous one to keep in place.
Cooking Stuffed Pork Tenderloin:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Place the wrapped stuffed pork tenderloins onto the rimmed baking sheet, large enough to fit them comfortably.
- Insert the leave-in meat thermometer probe into the center of the thickest part, of the larger tenderloin to track temperature. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until internal temperature reaches about 145°F.
- Take out and let the tenderloins rest on the cutting board before slicing for about 10 minutes.
If You Need to Crisp Up The Bacon:
- If you want to crisp up the bacon a little bit, switch your oven from baking to broil when the pork reaches about 140°F.
- Make sure the over rack is set 6-10 inches away from the broiler to avoid burning the bacon. Watch it carefully, and let the bacon crisp up for just a couple of minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in December 2021.
Peter Fleming says
Can I use Prosciutto instead if bacon?
LyubaB says
Yes, you can. Cooked prosciutto flavor does change quite a bit once cooked but if you like the flavor then it will work fine. I recommend a thicker cut that you dice cold and sauté like in the recipe.
Sondra says
Yum