Tender, herb-crusted pork tenderloin is served over creamy polenta with roasted garlicky cherry tomatoes. This simple, minimal no-fuss dinner is sure to impress any night of the week or for any special occasion.
Easy dinners that require minimal hands-on effort but look and taste oh-so-fancy make me giddy.
This juicy, herb-crusted pork tenderloin with creamy, dreamy polenta and garlicky roasted balsamic cherry tomatoes practically cooks itself. It's SO SIMPLE, and yet its flavor is soooo big. You'll wonder what kind of voodoo magic just took place on your dinner plate.
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🌟 This dinner is perfect for:
- Any weeknight when you are in need of a cozy, comforting, minimal fuss dinner.
- Having guests over for dinner? This meal will impress.
- Date night!
- A simple, but fancy-ish holiday meal. Think Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, the whole month of October (#nationalporkmonth <-- who comes up with these things?)
🛒 Ingredients
(Sorry to show you a hunk of raw meat.)
Take a quick peep at these ingredients. It feels very minimalist, doesn't it? And minimalism when cooking dinner is like winning the golden ticket.
- Pork tenderloin
- A couple of pints of sweet cherry tomatoes
- Polenta
- Some salty Pecorino Romano
- Garlic
- Fresh herbs (rosemary and thyme)
- Butter
- Balsamic vinegar
- A little salt and pepper
- And some water and milk that unintentionally were left out of the ingredient selfie (would that make it a groupie?)
🔪 How to make this super simple dinner
Step 1: First, we're locking in the juicy flavor and moisture of the tenderloin. Give it a good rub with some olive oil and slather it with fresh rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Then sear it darlin' for 4 minutes on each side. Marvel at how easy that was.
Step 2: Once the tenderloin has been seared on all sides, turn off the heat, scooch the tenderloin to one side of the pan, and add those pretty little cherry tomatoes to the other side of the pan with some garlic, butter, and balsamic. Pop the pan into the oven for about 15 minutes and let it cook. Marvel at how easy that was.
Step 3: Make the polenta. Bring water and milk to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Stir, stir, stir. Take a sip of wine from that glass you poured for yourself before Step 1. Stir the polenta a little more. Add some butter and cheese. Marvel at how easy that was.
Step 4: Remove pan with the tenderloin and roasty maters from the oven. Let the tenderloin rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. Take another sip of vino and give a toast to yourself for making such a quick and simple dinner that everyone will swoon over. Wasn't that easy?!
Unless you are the type who has strong feelings about keeping your food groups from touching on your plate (no judgment), serve up this dinner by topping a big swoosh of the creamy polenta with several pork medallions and a large spoonful of the juicy, roasted tomatoes. Then definitely drizzle some of the pan juices over everything, including your face, because it's tasty and amazing.
Creamy, simple, savory, elegant, comforting, minimal fuss dinner. Easy weeknight dinner dreams do come true. ♡
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Did You Make This Recipe?
If so, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment and a star rating below! I greatly appreciate your feedback and it is also so helpful for other PMST readers who are thinking about making the recipe. Remember to snap a photo and tag @passmesometasty on Instagram so I can see!
📖 Recipe
Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Polenta
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Tender, herb-crusted pork tenderloin is served over creamy polenta with roasted garlicky cherry tomatoes. This simple, minimal no-fuss dinner is sure to impress any night of the week or for any special occasion.
Ingredients
Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin & Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 whole pork tenderloin, roughly 1 ¼ pounds
- extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 pints (about 4 cups) cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Creamy Polenta
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups whole milk*
- 1 cup polenta (also known as corn grits)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup Pecorina Romano, grated*
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin & Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Pat pork tenderloin dry. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, just enough to coat. In a small bowl, combine rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub herb mixture all over pork.
- In a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, add a drizzle of olive oil. Add pork; sear on each side for about 4 minutes until browned. Turn off stovetop, and remove skillet from heat.
- Scooch tenderloin to one side of the skillet. Add cherry tomatoes to the other side of the skillet and top tomatoes with, garlic, butter, and balsamic vinegar.
- Transfer skillet to oven and roast until a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of the tenderloin reaches 145°F, about 14 to 16 minutes.
- Transfer the tenderloin to a cutting board, and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.
Creamy Polenta
- While the tenderloin is cooking in the oven, in a medium pot, bring water and milk to a boil over medium heat. Slowly whisk in the polenta, stirring until the polenta is soft and thick, about 5 minutes. Stir in the butter, Pecorino Romano, salt, and pepper. If the polenta thickens too much, thin with additional water or milk.
Put it all together!
- Divide the polenta between serving plates. Place several slices of pork tenderloin and roasted cherry tomatoes over top. Drizzle with juices from the skillet. Enjoy!
Notes
For the polenta, I sometimes substitute plain, unsweetened almond milk for regular milk with success. I also sometimes substitute Parmigiano-Reggiano in place of the Pecorino Romano but feel free to use whichever cheese is your favorite! You may have to adjust the cheese quantity slightly based on your cheese's particular flavor profile.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
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Tina says
I only made the herb-crusted pork without the polenta, because I already made a collard green salad with sweet potatoes as my starch. The pork was simple to prepare but had so much more complexity to the flavor profile. This is a delicious recipe. I am looking forward to making it again, this time with the creamy polenta!
Fiona says
Turns out really great every time! It’s one of our go to recipes because it’s so easy! I sometimes do sweet potato mash or plain potato mash, sometimes I do a rice instead and it’s still great! Although the polenta is my favorite.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Shannon Emery says
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment Fiona! And I agree, the pork tenderloin goes so well with some many sides other than polenta. I'm so glad to hear that you love this recipe!
Gina says
Absolutely delicious, and easy to make! I am not the greatest cook, so I love being able to pull off something this flavorful and satisfying. While the cooked tenderloin is resting, I often add fresh spinach to the skillet with the tomatoes, and cover with a lid allowing the residual heat to wilt/warm it.
Shannon Emery says
Awesome Gina, I'm so happy to hear! The addition of spinach is great idea!
Kelly Recktenwald says
We really loved the flavors and will make again!
Shannon Emery says
Hi Kelly! I'm so happy to hear! Thank you for your comment! 🙂
Stephanie Matlock says
This is UHmazing! Do all your chopping, rinsing, etc beforehand and it comes together very easily. This was a real winner in my house
I’m not a real tomato fan, but loved them in this. We had grape tomatoes in the fridge and used those instead of cherry tomatoes.
Shannon Emery says
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment Stephanie! I'm so happy to hear that you and family enjoyed this meal!
Tara says
Such a perfect dinner dish to enjoy! I like to use herbs when breading tenderloins as it provides an amazing boost to the flavor.
Claire says
This looks like quite the dinner! I love a good pork tenderloin but don't make it all that often as I never know what to pair it with besides potatoes. I'm definitely going to be adding this to our menu soon.
Debbie says
This Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin is so flavorful and it was cooked to perfection. As if the tenderloin wasn't good enough the polenta and tomatoes were so good. There wasn't one morsel of this yummy meal left!! Thanks for an amazing meal I wowed my friends with.
Danielle says
This is the way to go when you have pork and need to decide on the dish to make for dinner. And that polenta is so creamy and delicious!
Amanda says
This was so great serving to friends! It took so little hands-on time to put together, and everyone loved it. Perfect meal for entertaining!
Shannon Emery says
Thank you Amanda! So happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
Tatiana says
I love when I find a recipe that has polenta on it, it will be my dinner tonight!
Shannon Emery says
Enjoy Tatiana!
LaKita says
This dish is definitely being added to my list of date night at-home meals! It looks amazing and I love a good bowl of cheesy polenta anytime!
Shannon Emery says
So perfect for date night! I hope you and your date love it!
David says
Oh wow! I love pork tenderloin and this is such a delicious version. I haven't tried making polenta in a while either, your tasty version is inspiring me to do so soon.
Shannon Emery says
Polenta is sometimes the forgotten grain, right?! Have fun cooking this up!
Nicoletta and Loreto says
Quick, pretty easy and so flavorful, this herb-crusted pork tenderloin with polenta and roasted cherry tomatoes can easily become a weeknight favorite!
Shannon Emery says
So glad to hear you think so as well Nicoletta & Loreto!