Smoked Pork Tenderloin Wrapped in Bacon

This past weekend was a holiday here in Canada. It was the perfect reason to get the smoker fired up and invite some friends over. Along with corn on the cob and picnic salads, I smoked some ribs, chicken wings and these bacon wrapped pork tenderloin.
Good food – Good friends – Great time!
Pork tenderloin are great for BBQ parties and potlucks. I cut them into medallion slices and people can take however many they want on there plate. Since I smoke lots of different cuts of meat anytime I have a BBQ party, having smaller sized portions is great so people can take a small piece.
The funny thing is that people always come back for more of the tenderloin! It is just incredible!
I smoke pork tenderloin so many times every year. Sometimes I stuff them, while other times I just season them with a rub or glaze. One of my favourite ways to smoke them is to wrap them in bacon. Everything is better with bacon!
I have a number of different pork tenderloin recipes for the smoker:
- How to Smoke Pork Tenderloin in a Smoker – This recipe is a great ‘how-to’ for smoking pork tenderloin. It uses a simple rub for the tenderloin.
- Smoked Honey Sriracha Pork Tenderloin – This smoked tenderloin is
- Smoked Pork Tenderloin with Harissa and Tangerine Glaze – I love deep and spicy flavour of harissa and it works very well with tangerine to create an exotic taste to this tenderloin.
- Bacon Wrapped Smoked Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Roasted Red Peppers and Cheese – Pork tenderloin is a perfect cut of meat to stuff. This is stuffed with a roasted red pepper and cheese stuffing. So good!
- Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Smoked Pork Tenderloin – This might just be my favourite stuffing for the pork tenderloin. Cheesy and spicy, this filling totally tastes like a jalapeño popper!
Prep the pork tenderloin by trimming any of the excess fat off. I also like to use a sharp knife and slice away the silver skin membrane off the tenderloin.
Once the tenderloin has been trimmed, season it with a cajun spice rub. You could easily use a store-bought cajun or creole seasoning. I also have a recipe for a Cajun Spice Rub.
If you want to change up the seasoning, you could use many different types of spice blends. It is a good change to mix it up and try different spice flavours.
Wrap the pork tenderloin with bacon. I like to use 5 slices per tenderloin as it covers the meat very well and you do not need to stretch the bacon too much. The bacon does a great job of keeping the pork tenderloin moist.
Set the smoker to 275F heat level. This temperature level is a little higher than I typically use to smoke pork tenderloin. Normally, I smoke at 225F or 250F, but I find that bumping it up to 275F does a better job rendering the bacon.
Smoke the pork tenderloin for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. You want the pork to be at least at 145F, but I find that I let it smoke past that level because I want the bacon to be a little more rendered than what it gets to when the tenderloin reaches 145F. Usually, I pull it when the internal temperature is somewhere around 155-160F.
Once the pork tenderloin is finished smoking and taken out of the smoker, let it rest for a good 5-10 minutes. While it is resting, brush it with your favourite BBQ sauce.
Here are some great BBQ sauce recipes.
Slice the pork tenderloin into medallions around 1/2 – 1 inch thick. Serve just like this. It is just amazing!
BBQ Smoked Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloin
- 2 tbsp cajun seasoning
- 10 slices bacon
- 1/2 cup bbq sauce
Instructions
- Trim the pork tenderloins of any fat and membrane.
- Season pork tenderloin with cajun seasoning.
- Wrap the tenderloins with the bacon and place on smoker rack.
- Set the smoker to 275F using wood of choice (hickory, apple or cherry work great).
- Smoke the pork until they reach an internal temperature of 165F and the bacon is rendered and starting to crisp, approximately 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
- Take the tenderloins out of the smoker and brush with BBQ sauce. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- Let them rest for about 10 minutes. Slice into 1 inch medallions and serve.