If you’re looking for a quick meal, that needs very little of your time look into this Pulled Pork Tenderloins recipe. I add all ingredients into the basket of the pressure cooker, let them marinate for a little bit, then cook for 45 minutes. Pork tenderloins are then so tender and ready to pull apart and you can serve them with your favorite side dishes.
Pressure Cooking vs Slow Cooking vs Roasting
So I tend to favor pressure cooking for this recipe for various reasons. I usually use pork tenderloins cut for this dinner. The recipe requires very little active cooking time which gives me the freedom to help my kids with homework or work on writing my backlog of recipes for my blog.
Secondly, I feel that a pork shoulder or a cut of pork with some fat in it, would be cooked perfectly in a slow cooker or roasted in the Dutch oven.
And my last consideration has to do with with the type of side dishes I am going to serve. I tend to favor rice or salad with the tenderloins cooked on the pressure cooker but I love roasted potatoes with slow cooked pork meat like these Roasted Tenderloins with Potatoes.
However, these are my considerations and the recipe would work with any method you choose, so feel free to adapt it to slow cooking or roasting!
Citrus Marinade
This citrus marinade for pork tenderloins is inspired by Cuban mojo marinade. I didn’t use the exact measurements for Cuban mojo that’s why I’m not calling it that. But I used most of the ingredients that are typical in a Cuban mojo because I really enjoy the taste it provides.
I have lived in Miami, Florida for over two decades now and if you have never visited, you’d be surprised by the influence of Cuban cuisine everywhere in Miami. You’d find plenty of authentic Cuban restaurants, modern fusion Cuban restaurants and everything in between:). My favorite dishes are some that my friends’ mom cooks at home as those are still unaltered dishes from the influence of social media.
Ingredients for Marinade
These are the ingredients I use for the marinade:
- Olive Oil – good quality olive oil is important for this marinade as it will provide the necessary fat medium. Pork tenderloins are pretty lean, so olive oil is very important.
- Oranges – regular oranges, mostly I use navel oranges or occasionally Cara-Cara oranges.
- Sour Oranges – differently known as bitter oranges or Seville oranges. While these oranges are easy to find here in Florida and in certain Latin American markets, they’re not easy to find everywhere.
- Lemons – they add so much flavor and aroma. You can include the zest if desired in the marinade, just make sure to wash the peel of the lemon really well before zesting.
- Limes – their acidity will help break down the pork tenderloins even further.
- Coarse Sea Salt – Coarse sea salt makes such a big difference in cooking, it’ll elevate the flavors of any meat you cook, doesn’t matter if it’s in the instant Pot or on the grill.
- Peppercorn – You can grind the peppercorns but in this case, I just add them whole as they’re cooking in the pressure cooker and release all the flavors.
- Cumin & Oregano – Cumin and oregano will add to the complexity of the flavor.
- Garlic – you can’t have a Cuban mojo without lots of garlic, and I mean a lot! Add as much garlic as you like, you can’t go wrong.
- Optional – 1 tbsp of brown sugar. It’ll tone down the citrus acidity a little bit!
Step by step instructions
Usually pork tenderloins come in a package of two tenderloins, so I cook them both even if I get lots of leftovers. First day I serve the pulled pork with salad and rice, maybe even with Cuban Black Beans. Then the leftovers are great on sliders with some BBQ sauce.
- Add tenderloins to pressure cooker basket.
- Add olive oil, juice from all the citrus fruits, coarse sea salt, peppercorn, crushed or minced garlic (you can just slice them in half too), oregano and cumin. Optional – add 1 tbsp of brown sugar to balance the citrus acidity.
- Cover basket and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Then add slices of the red onion once done chilling and ready to cook.
- Then set it in the pressure cooker (you can use Instant Pot or another brand pressure cooker, read the setting instructions). In my device, I set it on pressure high for 45 minutes, meats.
- Once done cooking, let the pressure cooker naturally release the steam before opening the lid. This can take about 10 minutes.
- Reserve the cooked marinade on a heat proof container. Place the tenderloins on a platter and shred them with a fork.
Pulled Pork Tenderloins In Pressure Cooker
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloins
- 0.5 cup olive oil
- 2 navel oranges
- 2 sour oranges
- 2 lemons
- 2 limes
- 1.5 tbsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tbsp peppercorn
- 0.5 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp dry oregano
- 8 garlic cloves
- 1 red onion
- 1 tbsp brown sugar optional
Instructions
- Squeeze all citrus fruits and set the juice aside. Optional zest one lemon for added flavor.
- Place the pork tenderloins on the basket of the pressure cooker. Add olive oil, citrus juice, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, garlic. You can mince, crush or just slice the garlic.
- Cover the basket and place in the refrigerator for tenderloins to marinade.
- Once you get the basket with tenderloins out of refrigerator, add sliced red onion over the pork and marinade. Place basket inside pressure cooker. Set it to cook on high for 45 minutes (meats setting).
- Let it naturally release once done cooking. Remove pork tenderloins from the pot and place them on a platter. Add as much as the onion as you can get over the tenderloins. Shred the pork tenderloins with fork, they'll be that tender!
- Reserve some of the marinade you used for cooking in a pyrex glass. Add it over the pulled pork for extra flavor. Enjoy:)
Notes
- Pork tenderloins usually come in a package of 2, so weight can vary sometimes. Most times 2 pork tenderloins give me enough pulled pork for 8 portions.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
- Serve this dish with added sauce if you so desire, you can add sweet and tangy, or sweet and sour or BBQ etc etc.
- Side dishes – I usually serve this dish with rice, salad and beans.
- I usually add 1 tbsp brown sugar if I’m going to serve the pulled pork with some kind of sweet sauce. The brown sugar balances the acidity of the citrus fruits.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please pin one of the pictures of this post to your boards in Pinterest. Let me know in comments if you made the recipe, any variations or any questions:). Thank you for reading my blog!
Other Main Dishes
Feel free to check out some of my other recipes:
- Pork chops with mint chimichurri
- Braised beef shanks
- Filet mignon
- Skillet chuck steak
- Creamy pork with mushrooms
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