Juicy pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. What could be better? What if we give the pork a brown sugar rub before we wrap it? Now we are talking flavor! Salty sweet, bacony, and porky. Let’s fire up the air fryer and get this air fryer pork tenderloin cooking.
Can’t get enough of bacon? Try Chef Eric’s Whiskey Bacon Chutney!
Watching your sugar? Try the BBQ style rub I made: Dry Rubbed Pork Tenderloin With Herb Cream Sauce
On that note cooking pork tenderloin in an air fryer can be tricky. The pork is so low in fat it is difficult to keep it juicy. Wrapping in bacon helps solve this problem.
The bacon adds a layer of protection (haha bacon armor) from the aggressive convection of the air fryer and renders the pork tenderloin’s fat helping keep the juiciness level at maximum.
Ingredients
- Pork Tenderloin
- Thick cut bacon 8-10 strips
- Brown Sugar
- Salt
- Black pepper
The Brown Sugar Rub
Let’s begin by mixing up our brown sugar rub. Take 3 tbsp of dark brown sugar and blend it with 1 tbsp kosher salt, and 1/2 tbsp black pepper. Set that aside for later.
Removing The Silver Skin
The only tricky part of this recipe is removing the silver skin from the tenderloin. It’s only tricky in that it requires a bit of knife skill/confidence. Trust me the confidence is the important part.
Locate the silver skin on the tenderloin find the edge and insert the tip of a thin-bladed knife into the edge. Keeping the blade slightly angled up, cut along the length of the tenderloin.
Now you should have a sort of ‘ribbon’ grab the end and cut the opposite direction removing a part of the silver skin. Repeat this process till the entire silver skin is removed.
Cut In Two
Next slice the tenderloin in half so we have 2 manageable pieces. Coat each half with the brown sugar rub and work it into the meat thoroughly.
Take a second now to preheat your air fryer to 375 F or 190 C
Let’s Wrap It Up
Next, you want to lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter to make sure it is long enough to lay a strip of bacon on. Place one half of your tenderloin at one end then lay slices of bacon down side by side slightly overlapping.
Position your pork at one end of the strips and use the plastic like a sushi roller to roll the pork in the bacon.
Remove the plastic carefully, and lay a piece of butcher’s twine down. Be sure it’s long enough to wrap the pork long-wise. grab each end of the twine and tie the pork snugly. We just need to keep the bacon secured. Turn the pork over and repeat with the second piece of twine.
Time For The Air Fryer
By now the air fryer should be good and hot. Set the timer for 20 minutes. give it a light spray with cooking spray. It probably won’t stick, but who wants to risk losing that precious bacon because it stuck the basket?
Place both halves of the bacon-wrapped tenderloin in the air fryer basket. Let it cook for 20 minutes turning every 5 minutes so that each side gets properly browned.
The cooking time may vary a lot depending on how large your tenderloin is. 20 minutes is a reliable time to start taking an internal temperature of the pork.
So at this point, I put 10 more minutes on the timer and take a temp every 2 minutes till I hit 140 F or 60 C. Remember to continue turning the pork as you take temps.
Once it is done let it rest on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
That’s basically it. You just made the tastiest pork ever, now it’s time to enjoy.
Till next time, I’ll be dreaming up new things to wrap in bacon and air fry. – Chef Eric
Bacon Wrapped Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Tongs
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Butcher's Twine
- Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
- 1 Pork Tenderloin
- 8-10 strips Thick cut bacon
- 3 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tbsp Ground black pepper
Instructions
- Take 3 tbsp of dark brown sugar and blend it with 1 tbsp kosher salt, and 1/2 tbsp black pepper. Set that aside for later.
- Trim silver skin, and any excess fat from tenderloin
- Next slice the tenderloin in half so we have 2 manageable pieces. Coat each half with the brown sugar rub and work it into the meat thoroughly.
- preheat your air fryer to 375 F or 190 C
- Next lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter make sure it is long enough to lay a strip of bacon on. Place one half of your tenderloin at one end then lay slices of bacon down side by side slightly overlapping.
- Position your pork at one end of the strips and use the plastic like a sushi roller to roll the pork in the bacon.
- Remove the plastic carefully, and lay a piece of butchers twine down. Be sure its long enough to wrap the pork long wise. grab each end of twine and tie the pork snugly. Turn the pork over and repeat with a second piece of twine.
- Place both halves of the bacon wrapped tenderloin in the air fryer basket. Let it cook for 20 minutes turning every 5 minutes so that each side gets properly browned.
- Cook to an internal temperature of 140 F or 60 C
- Once it is done let it rest on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
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Pub Food, Anyone?
Check out our Spicy Bacon Cheese Fries or our Hot Dogs with Rainbow Platter.
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