Delicious, tender and perfectly seasoned, this smoked pork tenderloin recipe has directions on how to make in a traditional smoker, a gas grill or a Traeger brand grill.
water (only for traditional smokers and gas grills)
Instructions
Begin by placing some newspaper in the bottom of the chimney starter. Fill the starter the rest of the way with charcoal briquettes. Light the newspaper on fire and let it catch to the charcoal. This can take around 30 minutes.
Place about ½ a cup apple cider vinegar in the spray bottle. You most likely won’t end up using all of this, but it’s better to have more than not enough.
Fill a small metal dish with water and place it in the offset smoke box, or if your smoker doesn’t have an offset box, place it in on the grill rack with the meat wherever it will fit.
While your charcoal is heating up, rub the tenderloin down, all over, with the yellow mustard. You just want a thin coating. There’s no exact amount to this.
Mix together all the seasonings in a small bowl.
Season the tenderloin on every side and rub it into the meat.
At this point, the charcoal should be ready. Place it in the smoke chamber and place two of the pecan logs on top.
Place the tenderloin on the grate and close the lid. Once every hour, coat the tenderloin by spraying it with the apple cider vinegar. This should be about 5 squirts each time.
Keep temperature at around 225 degrees fahrenheit for 3 hours. Add logs as they burn out.
At the 3-hour mark, use your meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat. It needs to reach at least 145 degrees fahrenheit. Once it reaches that temperature, it’s set to go and can be removed from the smoker.
SMOKER TIPS: You want the smoke coming from the smoke stack to appear bluish instead of whitish. Whitish means the fire isn’t getting enough air. If this is happening, open the damper or smoke chamber and let some air in. This will happen as you add a new log on, more than likely.You can check the temperature of the meat before the 3-hour mark if desired. You don’t have to wait until 3 hours has passed to do so.
Notes
DIRECTIONS FOR A STANDARD GAS GRILL:
If you don’t have a smoker and are making this tenderloin over a gas grill, follow these steps. You’ll need a wood chip box. You can find these on Amazon or at your local home improvement store.
Soak the wood chips in water then place them in the box. One burner needs to be lit and the box will go over this burner.
Place the meat over the burners that aren’t lit.
Follow steps 2,4,5,6,8 and 9 except keep the wood chips smoking instead of adding more logs.
DIRECTIONS FOR A TRAEGER GRILL:
A Traegar Grill makes this super easy since all you have to do is put your wood pellets in the smoker box. Preheat your grill. Follow directions 2,4,5,6,8 and 9. Use the probe thermometer on the Traeger Grill to keep an accurate temperature of the pork tenderloin.