Name: Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 38 min
Total time: 41 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 pork tenderloin; 2 tbsp dark soft brown sugar; 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard; 1 tsp paprika; 0.25 tsp salt; 1 tsp onion powder; 0.5 tsp garlic powder; 0.25 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp Frank's Red Hot sauce

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Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin

This easy recipe for air fryer pork tenderloin shows you how to cook tenderloin pork in your air fryer. It is very easy and quicker than cooking in the oven, as well as being a more energy-efficient way to cook.

Pork tenderloin in air fryer

Pork tenderloin, or pork fillet, is a tender cut of meat from a pig. The tenderloin should be very lean, but you may find some fat or silverskin on the tenderloin, which should be trimmed off before cooking.

Basted Pork tenderloin ready to go into air fryer

In many of my tenderloin recipes (links at the end of this blog post), I cook the tenderloin in the oven. Often I do this because I may be cooking baked potatoes at the same time in the same oven, so it is just easier to use the same oven.

However, I have recently discovered that my newly acquired air fryer is a great tool for cooking tenderloin. Not only is it quicker than cooking in the oven, but it also gives it a nice crispy outside, whilst keeping the inside moist and tender.

Delicious cooked pork tenderloin

And if you use a nice marinade mixture, like the one in this recipe, it will char nicely on the outside and give you a super tasty glaze.

I have a small 3 Qt Nuwave air fryer that, even though it is quite small, was big enough for me to cook the tenderloin without having to cut it to make it smaller. I did have to bend it into the basket though a little.

Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin Cooking time

The trick to using an air fryer is to get the cooking times right. We do not like to eat pink pork meat in our household, so we tend to cook pork a bit longer than some other people might do. The USDA now recommends that heating pork to an internal temperature of about 63C (145F) is sufficient to make it safe to eat.

Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin

However, you may find at this temperature it is still a little pink and a bit too moist. [The USDA did recently reduce this temperature from the former recommendation of 71C (160F)].

As we do not like to eat pink pork meat I cook the meat to about 68C (155F). For the 500g tenderloin I used in these photographs this took me about 35 minutes at 200C in our air fryer. But then as normal kitchen ovens vary, I imagine that air fryers will also have some variation between them.

That is why I recommend cooking until you are happy with the result. You may need to practice in your own air fryer to get it right. Just make sure you check enough whilst cooking the first one you try, either with a thermometer or by cutting into the meat.

Air fryer pork tenderloin with boiled potatoes and sugar snaps

Risks of cooking pork

Be aware that if you do not cook long enough, you may be risking food poisoning in the form of Trichinosis, if the pork is undercooked. And also if you overcook the meat it may become dry or even burnt. So it is worth putting in the extra effort the first time to get it just right. It is, after all, delicious meat to eat when cooked properly.

I hope you manage to create a perfectly cooked tenderloin in your air fryer. If you do try this recipe, then please let me know how you get on in the comments section below.

How to air fry pork tenderloin

Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 38 minutes

Total Time: 41 minutes

This easy recipe shows you how to cook the perfect pork tenderloin in your air fryer, with a crispy outside and a lovely tender inside.

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin

For the glaze

2 tbsp dark soft brown sugar
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 tsp paprika
0.25 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
0.5 tsp garlic powder
0.25 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Frank's Red Hot sauce

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients (without the pork) together in a small bowl with a fork, until smooth.
Prepare the pork by cutting off any white pieces of fat or sinew that may be present.
Baste the pork on all sides in the glaze mixture.
Place the pork in the air fryer and cook at 200C for anywhere between 25 and 38 minutes, depending on the size of the pork and how you like to eat it. (At 25 minutes the pork may still be a little bit pink and quite moist. The USDA says pork should be cooked to 63C for it to be safe). We do not like to eat pink pork so I cooked the tenderloin in these photos for 35 minutes).
Check the pork every 10 minutes to make sure you do not burn it, and turn it around every 10 minutes to make sure it is equally cooked on all sides.
If you are not sure if it is cooked, then either measure the temperature (between 63C and 68C) or cut into the thickest part to see what it looks like.