Easy Smoked Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

This smoked bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin is an easy meal with simple ingredients perfect for a showstopping dinner party and quick enough to whip up on the regular as a family favorite. Smoky bacon wrapped around lean and juicy pork with a hint of tangy heat from barbecue sauce and classic grilled flavors makes this one that gets devoured every time. 

This post was sponsored by Head Country Bar.B.Q. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a smoked pork tenderloin recipe to knock it out of the park. It’s quick and simple to make (only 5 ingredients). But also a show stopper loaded with sweet heat and classic bbq flavor. It’s the best way to put this tender cut of meat on the table. It’s perfect for a barrel smoker, kettle grill, or right over the firepit using a grill grate, or even in a pellet smoker.

The trick to the temp is getting the grill hot enough to gently infuse flavor without burning the bacon and leaving the meat inside raw. Low and slow is key here.

What you need for smoked bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin

• 1 pork tenderloin – see notes about pork tenderloin vs pork loin below, serving size and more .
• Salt – PK is low on salt, so we round it out with regular kosher salt
• GirlsCanGrill PK Pork Rub – or your favorite BBQ spice mixture
• Head Country BBQ Sauce – we went with apple habanero for this one to add a kick to balance out the sugar in the PK spice rub.
• Bacon – use regular bacon here. A thick cut can take too long to cook and never crisp up and thin bacon won’t hold up.
• Toothpicks – Essential, or the bacon can roll off as you flip the tenderloin while it’s in the grill. Alternatively, kitchen twine works to hold the bacon on, but I find toothpicks easy for this one.

How to make

Build a 2 zone fire in your grill for indirect cooking. Set your grill for a temp of 225 to 250.

Start by trimming your pork tenderloin (truth, for years I didn’t know you needed to trim these). There’s a membrane, a thin silver skin that you want to remove. Use a sharp knife to peel it off. Also, take this tim to trim the pork evenly. Often one side is bigger than the other, for even cooking, I trim them equally.

Arrange the strips of bacon on a clean work surface in rows, barely overlapping one another, to form a 10 – 12″ long rectangle. Just long enough to cover the meat edge to edge once rolled.

Next, place the tenderloin in the center of the bacon and season with salt and PK pork rub, rolling the tenderloin back and forth to coat each size.

Then, brush with a thin coating of the Head Country bbq sauce.

Wrap the bacon slices securely around the pork, staring with the thin edge of bacon strip, covered by the thicker end. I do this at an angle, almost weaving that bacon to help it stay on as the bacon cooks

Secure the bacon with toothpicks or kitchen twine.

Then, place the bacon-wrapped tenderloin on the cooler side of the grill (the indirect heat zone).

Grill, rotating every 30 or so minutes to help the bacon cook evenly until the internal temperature reaches 140F. With a grill set to 225 to 250F, a pork tenderloin will take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to cook. Cooking time will vary from grill to grill.

After 1 hour, baste with barbecue sauce, flip the tenderloin with tongs and baste the other side. Flip as needed to make sure the bacon is cooking evenly.

Finally, about 10 minutes before the tenderloin is done, baste all sides with a final coating of bbq sauce and adjust the grill to increase the temperature.

At the end, if the bacon isn’t crispy enough, place the meat on the hotter side of the grill, and sear it to your liking.

Pork tenderloin vs pork loin? 

Pork tenderloin and pork loin are in words alone pretty easy to get mixed up. And if I were cruising through the meat department just trying to get home, it would be easy to think a pork loin was a tenderloin. Why split hairs, right? 

Except, pork loin and pork tenderloin aren’t the same cuts of meat at all. Think of it just like a prime rib and a beef tenderloin. Both are incredibly full of flavor, both very very different. 

The loin is a large cut that is often sold as a roast (bone-in or boneless) or broken into other cuts.

The tenderloin is a small lean cut of meat, boneless, that is incredibly tender due to how minimally the muscle is used. Pork tenderloin can be found in most markets, coming in at about 1 to 1.5 pounds sold individually or in double packs. 

The easy trick to telling them apart (making sure you’re buying exactly what you need) one is a big roast, the other isn’t. Go for the little one. 

How to buy a pork tenderloin

A serving of pork is 3oz per person. A pork tenderloin usually comes in at around a pound to a pound and a half.

Assume that one pork tenderloin can feed 2 to 3 people. Generally, I’m guessing you know who’s gunna eat more or less. Grab an extra tenderloin if needed, the leftovers are amazing!

Pork tenderloin is sold in individual packs or sometimes as a 2 pack. It can be hard to tell because they are vacuum-packed. If the weight is more towards 2 – 2.5 pounds, it’s a two-pack.

Pork tenderloin also comes pre-seasoned by some companies, and where those are fantastic on busy nights. But, for this recipe, you want to make sure you’re buying an unseasoned one. 

Recipe Tips Tricks & FAQs

What goes with this smoked bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin?

Who cares? It’s a smoky bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin. It could seriously be its own dish. But, since it would be weird just to sit around eating meat, try serving it with coleslaw, cast iron green beans, crazy good smoked brussels sprouts, or a creamy smoked jalapeno mac and cheese.

More smoker recipes to try