Super juicy and bursting with flavor, this pork tenderloin cooks to absolute perfection in your air fryer in about 20 minutes. Made with an easy balsamic marinade and simple seasonings, you will not believe how awesome it is!
By using balsamic vinegar as a base for our marinade, we’ll produce some amazing flavors for our pork tenderloin. This recipe is sweet, savory and absolutely delicious. It’s a perfect air fryer recipe to have an awesome dinner on your plate in under 30 minutes.
Make Sure It Says Pork Tenderloin
Pork tenderloin can frequently be confused with other similar cuts of pork. It’s important to know that actual pork tenderloin will always be labeled as such. You may see pork loin or pork loin filet, but these are NOT pork tenderloin and do not cook the same way. Pork tenderloin is a long, narrow and very lean cut of pork. It’s generally 1lb-1.5lbs in size (though that can vary slightly). It’s commonly sold in vacuum sealed packages, often with 2 tenderloins.
Easy Marinade
For our pork tenderloin marinade, we’ll use a combination of wet ingredients with a few dry seasonings. Chances are you probably have most of these ingredients on hand: Balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and lemon juice are the wet ingredients. For the seasonings we use dry crushed rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar, salt and pepper. That’s it!
To make things extra easy, we can mix all this up in a large zip-top bag. Once the tenderloin in placed in the bag with the marinade, seal it up and put it in the refrigerator. I love to let it marinate overnight for the most flavor possible. But, if you’re short on time, even a ½ hour will work. A couple of hours is even better.
Air Fry at 400° for 20 minutes
Pork tenderloin is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 145°(F). To achieve this, we’ll preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 400°. Then we’ll spray a little cooking spray in the basket (or tray if you’re using a tray style air fryer), place the marinated pork tenderloin inside, and use the air fry setting at 400° for 20 minutes. Pork tenderloins vary in size and air fryers vary as well. Smaller tenderloins may take as little as 16 minutes. Larger ones make take 22 minutes. Be sure to check internal temperature with an instant read thermometer for that perfect 145°(F).
Let it Rest
Once the pork tenderloin is done, remove it from the air fryer and place on a plate or cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving. Use a sharp knife and slice it into cuts of about ½″ thick. I love to serve with white rice and asparagus.
More Great Pork Tenderloin Recipes
- Best Damn Grilled Pork Tenderloin
- Smothered Pork Tenderloin
- Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin
- Slow Cooker Creamy Tuscan Pork Tenderloin
Recipe
Air Fryer Balsamic Pork Tenderloin
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 servings
Description
An absolutely savory pork tenderloin, marinated in a seasoned balsamic marinade and cooked to perfection in your air fryer.
Ingredients
- 1 pork tenderloin (1.25lb-1.75lb)
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dry crushed rosemary
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Remove any excess fat/silverskin from pork tenderloin.
- Mix all wet and dry ingredients in a large zip top bag. Mix well.
- Add pork tenderloin to bag, seal, and let marinate for at least 30 minutes. 2 hours is better; overnight is best!
- Preheat air fryer to 400° (F) for 5 minutes.
- Add pork tenderloin to air fryer and air fry at 400° (F) for 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes. (see note below)
- When done, remove pork tenderloin to a plate or cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Start checking for doneness after about 16 minutes with an instant read thermometer. Internal temp should be 145° (F).
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Elizabeth says
Definitely a keeper. Followed the recipe exactly and the time worked out perfectly. Kudos to you.
Betsy says
Thinking of adding sliced gold potatoes to the tenderloin. If cut in 1/2” slices, do you think that’s possible added to the side of the tenderloin? I have a 26 quart air fryer so cooking space won’t be an issue. Thank you for your advice.
RecipeTeacher says
Hi Betsy,
You certainly can. My only advice is that the much larger air fryer ovens such such as a 26qt, will usually require longing cooking times. I don’t have any exact numbers, as it varies greatly from model to model when it comes to those large sizes, but best to just keep an eye on the internal temp with an instant read thermometer. My guess is it could be maybe be 25-30 minutes to cook.
Betsy says
Thank you so much for your spot-on advice. Everything turned out perfectly delicious. For those with larger AF ovens: I cooked 3 pounds of marinated pork tenderloin (6 hours using this recipe) in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 400. Removed and rested when temp hit 145. Added halved baby potatoes and a quartered onion. The pork cut with a fork and my guests said they’ve never eaten a pork tenderloin as juicy and tasteful as this was. Definitely is the only way I will cook any pork ever. So simple to make, too.
Nicole says
I made this, but substituted apple cider vinegar for the balsamic, coconut aminos for the soy sauce and coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar and used just over half of what it called for. It was amazing! Everyone loved it, thank you!
RecipeTeacher says
Those are all solid substitutions for individuals on specialty diets. My girlfriend uses all of those ingredients for her gluten free and sugar free recipes.
Tamara Russell says
This recipe was absolutely fantastic. The only thing I changed was orange juice for the lemon juice because it is what I had on hand. Will be using this recipe in again in the future.
Anna says
Easy & flavorful!! Definitely worth repeating.
Lucille says
As suggested I tested temp at 16 min and it was 145 so I took it out, tented and let rest. It was magnificent! Great recipe!
Jeannine Meador says
I can’t tell you how often I have tried the supposedly perfect pork tenderloin recipe only to consider it a a tad better than sawdust. Until now!!! I prepared this last night and oh my word…there aren’t enough words to say how simple it was to prepare and how absolutely delicious it is. I followed the recipe exactly tho I did not cook to the higher done internal temp. Instead I went with a slightly lower cooked temp and it was perfect. Sharing it with my son in law who is new to air frying! Thank you so much and I look forward to trying many of your other posted recipes.
Leanne says
So delicious! We love the marinade. It’s so easy, cooks so quickly in the air fryer, and turns out perfect every time! I’ve made this several times and will continue to! My husband and I both love it! Thanks for a great low fat, high protein, delicious pork tenderloin recipe!
RecipeTeacher says
Awesome! I’m glad you guys liked it so much, Leanne. I appreciate the feedback!
Victoria Coss says
Absolutely delicious! Marinated the trenderloin for two days before air-frying. Deliciously crispy on outside while flavorful and juicy on inside. Best of all, so easy a caveman can do it.
RecipeTeacher says
Lol! Thank you, Victoria!
Moira says
You’ve done it again! This was delicious and, even more impressively, The Teen loved it! She actually went back for seconds! The flavor was superb and the pork was juicy.
RecipeTeacher says
Thanks so much, Moira! 🙂
Julia says
Wow!! So easy and so delicious. Thank you.