Chipotle Honey Lime Pork Tenderloin

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Chipotle Honey Lime Pork Tenderloin

I’ve been venturing out and cooking more meat recently. I’m not sure where the inspiration has come from, but I have been enjoying a lot of these new meat recipes. Maybe I’m just getting bored with our usual chicken and salmon dishes…

As you know, I’m a big wimp, so I thought the chipotles gave a bit too much heat. I liked that the sauce gave some additional heat, so I could just choose to leave it off of my serving, while Hubby piled it on his. Luckily, the honey and fresh lime juice provide a nice counter to the chipotles.

I marinaded my pork overnight so that after work, I could just cook it up and we had dinner ready in no time flat. I love meals that are healthy, tasty, and quick!

One Year Ago: Homemade BBQ Sauce

Chipotle Honey Lime Pork Tenderloin

Yield: 8

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork tenderloin
1 cup fresh lime juice (~8 limes)
zest from 2 limes
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tbsp adobo sauce
peanut oil, or other high temperature oil
cilantro

Directions:

Trim tenderloins of fat and silver skin as much as possible. Place in a large ziplock bag or other container to marinate.

In a bowl combine lime juice, zest, honey, salt, and garlic powder.

Stir to combine, then pour half over tenderloins, reserving half for sauce.

To tenderloins add chiles and adobo sauce. Seal and marinade in fridge.

About 30 minutes before you are ready to cook, remove pork from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large, heavy oven-proof skillet (like a cast iron skillet), heat enough oil to coat over medium high temperature.

Remove tenderloins from marinade and sear in hot skillet on all sides.

Place the skillet in the oven and roast tenderloins for about 15 min.

Remove pork from the oven, cover pork in skillet with foil. Let rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes.

Remove pork to a cutting board, pour reserved lime juice mixture into skillet with meat juices and heat on high.

Allow sauce to reduce and thicken slightly, then pour over sliced pork tenderloins. If you don’t have enough sauce or it thickens too much you can add a little water and continue simmering it until it is the quantity and thickness you want.

Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.

Recipe as seen on Chaos in the Kitchen, originally from Alton Brown

Main Meal

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19 Responses to “Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting”

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Megan — January 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm

I’ll take any leftovers! They sound amazing. I keep saying dessert recipes with bacon and bookmarking them, but I haven’t tried any yet. Adding this one to the list now too. 🙂
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ann — January 13, 2011 at 5:07 pm

These look so terrific. I love the flavor combinations!
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Blog is the New Black — January 13, 2011 at 5:08 pm

I’m intrigued!
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KV — January 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm

interesting! I have a recipe for chocolate bacon fudge or maybe pb bacon fudge but I’m afraid to try it
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Rachel @ Baked by Rachel — January 13, 2011 at 6:01 pm

The frosting sounds amazing. I honestly still can’t bring myself to get behind bacon in desserts. Maybe someday I’ll try a bacon cupcake if I’m given one though. 🙂 I can only resist so long.
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Jennifer — January 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

YUM! These look so good! I haven’t tried the bacon / sweet combo yet, but I’m sure I would love it!
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Fun and Fearless in Beantown — January 13, 2011 at 6:13 pm

This looks delicious but I’ve got to ask….what is a pirate party?
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Jen — January 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm

Fun and Fearless – It’s exactly like it sounds… Everyone dresses up as a pirate (or something related – Hubby and I went as Treasure maps last year). They even hire this guy who looks like Captain Jack Sparrow to come and there’s a prize for best costume. One of the best parties of the year!
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Cupcake Activist — January 13, 2011 at 8:48 pm

Sounds great! The problem I’ve seen with bacon is that sometimes it is chewy in cupcakes. That’s not good. I like that this recipe says to cook until crispy. Extra crispy for me!
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Laura and Alex — January 13, 2011 at 9:11 pm

My favorite candy bar is bacon chocolate!!! I can’t wait to try this 🙂
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Carrie — January 13, 2011 at 9:13 pm

Wow, those look and sound amazing!
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Shannon — January 13, 2011 at 9:42 pm

oh yum. after putting bacon in last years cookies this might need to be next 🙂
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Corrine — January 13, 2011 at 9:56 pm

I’m so curious to try bacon in baked goods, but do you think turkey bacon would work?
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Jen — January 13, 2011 at 10:08 pm

Corrine – I’m sure turkey bacon would work if you could get it nice and crispy. I’ve heard that if the bacon isn’t super crispy, it has a really weird chewy texture in baked goods.
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Corrine — January 14, 2011 at 2:11 am

Thanks Jen! I’m going to give it a try!
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Evan Thomas — January 14, 2011 at 2:28 pm

This has just about everything that I would want to go together. Awesome recipe!
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Medifast Coupons — January 14, 2011 at 4:10 pm

This is certianly a unqiue mixture of tastes and textures, but it comes together nicely. Definatly a must try!
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darcyeats — January 14, 2011 at 6:22 pm

Chocolate..caramel…bacon…PERFECTION.
I am infatuated with the perfect smoky/salty addition of bacon into sweet baked goods. So delicious. Of course, I’m kind of a fan of adding bacon into just about anything.
Great pics, def wanna try these out!
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kitchenmisfit — January 16, 2011 at 1:01 am

Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out like you wanted. Have you ever tried the bacon/chocolate cupcake at Cherry Bomb Bakery in Brighton? They are fantastic!