How to Reheat Pork Tenderloin and Avoid Drying It Out

Learn the 5 easy ways (described in detail) to reheat your pork tenderloin and keep all its juices in.
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Jeremy Bivens
Jeremy Bivens
Research Writer
Jeremy Bivens is a passionate writer and grilling enthusiast. He's been working as a freelance journalist for over 15 years now and has a particular interest in food writing read more
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Bruce Williams
Bruce Williams
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Claims that grilling is the art that he has been learning all his life long and is not planning to stop. Has been grilling for as long as he can remember. Author of numerous read more
Last updated: September 07, 2023
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Pork tenderloin is one of the most delicious meals that you can make for yourself and your family for dinner. Not to be confused with pork loin, it is lean and full of protein Trusted Source Pork tenderloin - Wikipedia Pork tenderloin, also called pork filletpork steak or Gentleman’s Cut, is a long thin cut of pork. As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle along the central spine portion, ventral to the lumbar vertebrae. This is the most tender part of the animal, because these muscles are used for posture, rather than locomotion en.wikipedia.org , making it a healthy and scrumptious piece of meat for any day of the week. Perhaps the best thing about it is that pork tenderloin usually makes a large meal, so you are sure to have some leftovers when you are done. Of course, since this meat is so lean, you need to know how to reheat pork tenderloin to make sure that you don’t dry it out.

This can be done in a variety of ways. You can use a pan, slow cooker, microwave oven, or a smoker. No matter which method you decide to use, you will use similar steps, though you might need different ingredients. Once you find the method that works for you, then you will be guaranteed to reheat your pork tenderloin leftovers with ease so that you can enjoy them for days on end.

Best ways to reheat your pork tenderloin:

On a pan

How to Reheat Pork Tenderloin and Avoid Drying It OutOne of the methods that lots of folks like to use to reheat their pork tenderloin is with a frying pan. You can use a standard skillet or a non-stick pan, though you will want to make sure that you have a lid that fits the pan perfectly. This will help to keep the meat from drying out on you while you warm it up.

In order to use a pan to warm up your tenderloin, you first need to put in some cooking oil and warm the pan over medium heat. Then, make sure to cut the tenderloin into thin slices with a sharp knife so that it will easily fit into the pan. The thinner the slices, the faster the meat will reheat.

Once you have the pan up to the right temperature, you can add the tenderloin. It will take about 15 minutes to heat the tenderloin if you have thick slices and only about 10 if you sliced it thin beforehand. You should flip the meat throughout the heating process and keep it covered so that it doesn’t have a chance to dry out.

This method is great for: slices of pork tenderloin.

In an oven

How to Reheat Pork Tenderloin and Avoid Drying It OutIf you have a larger piece of pork tenderloin or a whole one, then you won’t be able to use a frying pan to reheat it. The thickness of the meat is going to be too much for the pan to handle and will definitely result in you drying out the inside of the meat and possibly burning the exterior.

If you have a whole tenderloin that needs to be reheated, then one of the best methods to choose is to use an oven. Not only is this nice and easy, but it will also reheat the tenderloin in such a way that it will taste just like it did when it was first made.

To use this method, all you need to do is heat up your oven to 325 degrees. From there, you need to place the pork tenderloin into an oven-safe dish. It is best if you choose a deeper cooking vessel so that all of the juices don’t have a chance to overflow in any way. From there, put the dish into the oven and leave it in for about 20 minutes. You can use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature as you go so that you don’t have the meat in the oven for any longer than you need to. For pork, the finished internal temperature should be 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

This method is great for: whole pork tenderloin.

In a slow cooker

How to Reheat Pork Tenderloin and Avoid Drying It OutSlow cookers are another fine way to reheat a pork tenderloin. While these appliances are great for pulled pork, they also allow you to reheat or cook food without having to constantly supervise it all the time. They also allow for slower cooking, as the name implies, which makes it that much easier to make sure that the meat doesn’t dry out on you.

To use a slow cooker to reheat your tenderloin, simply place your leftover pork into the slow cooker with some form of liquid. This can be as simple as water, though you might want to try out some gravy or other type of flavoring to add an additional bit of zest to your dish.

Once everything is inside of the slow cooker, set it to its lowest heat setting. This might be a warming function, or it might be labeled as low. No matter what, when using a slow cooker to heat anything up, slow and steady is the way to go, so don’t be afraid to take your time.

This method is great for: whole pork tenderloin.

In a smoker

How to Reheat Pork Tenderloin and Avoid Drying It OutOne of the most popular ways Trusted Source Smoking (cooking) - Wikipedia Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and lapsang souchong tea are often smoked. en.wikipedia.org to cook pork tenderloin is to use best electric smoker. These help to create a crusty texture on the outside of the meat that seals in all of the juices on the inside. It also helps to imbue the meat with a delightfully smokey flavor, which is extremely delicious.

Smokers can also be used to reheat meat as well, especially if there is still a lot of it. If you have a majority of your tenderloin left over, then this is a great method to try. All you need to do is place the loin in a grill-safe pan and allow the smoker to heat up to about 225 degrees Fahrenheit. From there, you can heat the meat for about 10-15 minutes on the smoker. Again, you should check it with a meat thermometer until it has an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

This method is great for: whole pork tenderloin.

In a microwave oven

How to Reheat Pork Tenderloin and Avoid Drying It OutThis method is perhaps the fastest way to heat up a pork tenderloin. It is also, however, one of the simplest ways to dry out your meat as well. As such, you need to be especially careful not to overdo the amount of time in the microwave so that the meat tastes just as good as it did the first time you made it.

First, you need to make sure that you have the tenderloin cut into slices. Next, you can place the pieces into a microwave-safe dish and coat them with melted butter, oil, or some form of broth. The dish should be covered with a vented lid or plastic wrap with holes poked in it.

You need to change the power setting so that you are using the only ¾ of your microwave’s power. You also need to have a good idea of how much the meat weighs. For every 200 grams of meat, you should heat it for 1 minute. You do not want to do too much at once since shorter amounts of time in a microwave will help to keep it from drying out too much.

This method is great for: sliced pork tenderloin.

How to not dry it out

Pork tenderloin is extremely lean. This makes it difficult to cook without drying it out, and it makes it doubly hard to reheat for the same reason. One of the best ways to make sure that you are not drying out your meat is to use a low amount of heat. By letting the meat slowly come back to temperature, you have a much better chance of keeping it nice and juicy.

You should also always try to keep it covered while you are reheating it. This will help to keep the environment in whatever cooking conveyance moist, which will help the meat to achieve the same.

Safety tips

Though the pork tenderloin has already been cooked and should be safe for consumption, you still need to pay close attention to a few things to ensure that it remains that way.

First of all, you want to make sure that you don’t reheat it more than once. The process of heating and cooling will cause the meat to lose its flavor after a bit and will also increase the chance of bacteria being added to the mix.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should only keep the meat in the fridge for a maximum of three days.

Finally, if the meat sat out at room temperature for over 2 hours, you should not attempt to save it since bacteria could’ve easily started to grow on it during this time.

Final thoughts

The name of the game when you are reheating your pork tenderloin is to take your time and keep it as juicy as possible. You don’t want to rush this process since this could cause the meat to dry out and harden up, which can really reduce its deliciousness.

Thankfully, once you know how to reheat pork tenderloin, this should be a thing of the past. You can use a lot of different methods depending on how much you have left. If you take your time and find the method that is right for you, your leftovers are sure to taste just as good as they did when you first made them, which will help to make sure that you get your money’s worth with your pork tenderloin.

References

1.
Pork tenderloin - Wikipedia
Pork tenderloin, also called pork filletpork steak or Gentleman’s Cut, is a long thin cut of pork. As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle along the central spine portion, ventral to the lumbar vertebrae. This is the most tender part of the animal, because these muscles are used for posture, rather than locomotion
2.
Smoking (cooking) - Wikipedia
Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and lapsang souchong tea are often smoked.

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