Bacon, Apple, and Wild Rice Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

It’s the time of year that I crave all of the typical comfort foods: pot roast and mashed potatoes, chicken and dumplings, spaghetti and meatballs, BBQ pulled pork and macaroni and cheese (SO GOOD), tator tot hot dish...I seriously could go on and on but I think you get the point: meat and carbs, meat and carbs, meat, and carbs.  Repeat.

Today I have a new meat and carb combo for you: pork tenderloin stuffed with bacon, apples, and wild rice.  Plus more healthy carbs in the form of veggies!  Which, if you didn’t notice, all of the comfort foods mentioned above are severely lacking in.

I seriously cannot say enough about this dish.  The ingredients are super simple, but the pork still has a ton of flavor.  The wild rice stuffing is made of wild rice (from Minnesota, of course!), onion, apples, garlic, and BACON.  Yep, I stuffed pork with pork.   

I also made this into a one-pan dish (minus the steps of cooking the stuffing mixture) by roasting the veggies on the same pan as the tenderloin.  They require pretty much the same cooking time as the pork (see note below) and it’s just a proud moment pulling out a baking pan that contains your entire dinner.  Plus, it makes for a fun presentation if you are serving this to company.

So about those veggies.  I like my veggies super crispy and even a little charred, so I was fine with them being in the oven with the pork for the entire 60 minutes that it was roasting.  If you want your veggies a little less crispy, wait about 15-20 minutes after putting the roast in the oven to add them.

Also, my pork tenderloin was definitely closer to the 2-pound range, so if yours is bigger, it might need 10-15 more minutes in the oven.  I recommend always using a meat thermometer so you can be sure it reaches the appropriate internal temperature.

This felt like a super fancy weeknight meal but actually came together pretty quick!  I especially loved that I could clean up all of the dishes while the pork and veggies were roasting, leaving me only one dish (the pan!) to clean after dinner.  This would also be perfect for having company over, as there is no last minute prep.  Just pull it out of the oven and dinner is served!   

Bacon, Apple, and Wild Rice Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Print Pin Rate

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Author: Taylor Ellingson

Ingredients

• ▢ 5 slices bacon
• ▢ ½ large yellow onion diced
• ▢ 1 apple peeled and diced
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 1 cup cooked wild rice
• ▢ 2-3 lb pork tenderloin
• ▢ 3-4 cups of vegetables of your choice sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, red potatoes, beets, turnips, and carrots are all good choices
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• In large skillet, cook bacon. Once cooked, remove from skillet and place on plate lined with paper towel. Once cool, roughly chop the bacon.
• Remove all but approximately 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease from the skillet.
• Heat oil over medium-high heat and add onion and apple, cooking for 5-7 minutes, until both are softened.
• Add garlic and cook one more minute.
• Add bacon back to skillet along with wild rice. Stir well to combine, then remove from heat.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut tenderloin lengthwise down the middle to make a pocket for the wild rice stuffing. I also pounded mine with a mallet to get the meat flattened out a bit, to allow for more stuffing.
• Place as much stuffing into the pork tenderloin as you can.
• Using kitchen twine or toothpicks, seal up the pork tenderloin around the stuffing.
• Place pork tenderloin on greased baking sheet.
• Toss vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
• If you like your roasted veggies crispy, place them around the pork tenderloin now. If you want them not-so-crispy, just place the pork tenderloin in the oven without them and add them to the pan about 15 minutes into the cooking process.
• Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, until internal temperature of the pork reads 160 degrees F.

Tried this recipe?Mention @greensnchocolate to let me know!

Need more ideas?Find all of my recipe pins @greenschocolate