Chinese Five Spice Pork Tenderloin

You Have Been Cooking Pork Wrong

This Chinese Five Spice Pork Tenderloin with an Asian-inspired glaze tastes like something you would order at a nice steakhouse but is surprisingly easy to make right on your backyard grill. The combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, ramen seasoning, brown sugar, and Chinese five spice creates a smoky, savory pork tenderloin that stays incredibly juicy and makes enough to feed a crowd.

We had family friends coming into town to spend the night before catching a flight to Alaska for their summer jobs. Since I live near O’Hare, this has sort of become one of our little traditions.

A few other people were stopping by to visit with them and I was also testing out a copycat version of the Ramen Macaroni and Cheese from Disney California Adventure’s Food and Wine Festival. I decided I wanted a good protein to go with it and grabbed a few pork tenderloins on a whim.

This recipe was completely off the top of my head, though sometimes those end up being the best ones. Everyone loved the macaroni and cheese like I expected, but people absolutely lost their minds over this pork, especially how juicy and tender it stayed on the grill.

Pork Is Not The Other White Meat

For years, pork was marketed as “The Other White Meat.” This was a campaign created in the 1980s to encourage people to think of pork as a leaner alternative to beef.

While pork can absolutely be lean, that slogan also accidentally convinced a whole generation that pork needed to be cooked like chicken, until it was completely white and very well done.

Modern pork is much safer and cleaner than it was decades ago. Pork tenderloin especially is naturally tender and best when it still has some juiciness left in it.

Many chefs now cook pork to medium and some even prefer medium rare for certain cuts. It keeps the meat flavorful, tender, and far less dry.

What The USDA Has To Say

The USDA recommends cooking pork to 145 degrees with a resting period afterward, which gives you a beautiful medium style finish with just a hint of blush pink in the center. If you prefer your pork more done, you can absolutely cook it longer to 150 to 160 degrees.

Just know the texture will become firmer and less juicy as the temperature rises. I personally like to pull pork tenderloin off the grill around 125 degrees. It continues cooking while resting and usually finishes right in that perfect juicy range.

Resting pork after cooking is one of the most important steps and something people often skip because they are hungry and want to slice right into it immediately. When meat cooks, all the juices move toward the center from the heat and if you cut it too soon, all that moisture runs right out onto the cutting board.

Letting pork rest for about 10 to 15 minutes allows those juices to redistribute throughout the meat so every slice stays juicy and tender instead of dry.

One Of My Favorite Cuts

Pork tenderloin is one of my favorite meats to make when I am feeding a crowd.

It feels a little elevated without costing steakhouse prices and takes on marinades beautifully, which means you can flavor it a hundred different ways depending on the meal, season and slice thickness.

Sometimes it almost eats like a juicy filet or even a venison medallion. It is also usually pretty affordable compared to beef and one tenderloin can go a surprisingly long way.

You can slice it thick for a hearty dinner or shave it thinner to stretch it even more for parties, sandwiches, rice bowls, or buffets.

I almost always buy my pork tenderloins from Aldi because I genuinely think they have some of the nicest ones around. They tend to be shorter and thicker instead of those super long skinny tenderloins you sometimes find elsewhere and that shape helps them cook more evenly on the grill.

They are consistently tender, easy to work with, and honestly just a really nice cut of pork for the price.

Learning To Cook From Chef Art

I actually learned a lot about cooking pork tenderloin from Chef Art Smith, who many of you probably know from Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ at Disney World. Years ago, I worked with his nonprofit organization Common Threads where we taught healthier cooking skills to low income communities facing food insecurity.

I served as the National Culinary Program Director developing recipes and programming for cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington DC. During one cooking demo, he caught me overcooking pork tenderloin and completely stopped me to show how to properly cook it so it stayed juicy and tender.

I have cooked pork that way ever since and people always compliment it.

Chinese Five Spice

Chinese five spice is a warm, aromatic spice blend commonly used in Chinese cooking. It usually contains some combination of star anise, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, and Sichuan peppercorns.

Most grocery stores carry it right in the spice aisle labeled “Chinese Five Spice Powder.” A little goes a very long way because it has a bold, almost sweet savory flavor.

If you cannot find a premade version, you can also make your own at home. Mix equal amounts of ground cinnamon, fennel, star anise, cloves, and black pepper or Sichuan peppercorns together.

Beef Ramen Seasoning

One of the ingredients people are probably going to ask about is the beef ramen seasoning. Originally I ordered a three pack of cleaner ingredient ramen seasonings from Amazon.

I wanted to try my hand at recreating that viral style ramen macaroni and cheese from Disney Food and Wine Festival, but I ended up loving the flavor so much that I started using it in other recipes too.

The pack I bought came with chicken, vegetable, spicy vegetable, and beef seasoning and the beef one added an incredible savory flavor to this pork.

I will link the version I used.

*This is an Amazon Affiliate link which means I make a small commission from Amazon, at no extra charge to you.*

There are tons of options on Amazon now. If you do not want to order specialty seasoning, you can absolutely just use a couple of the seasoning packets from inexpensive ramen noodle packs.

Worcestershire Powder

Another ingredient people always have questions about is Worcestershire powder. Worcestershire powder is something I have been using for a couple years now.

A lot of my followers use it too after trying it in my recipes. It can be ordered from Amazon and there are several different brands available.

I love using the powder because it gives that deep, savory umami Worcestershire flavor. It does not add extra liquid to a recipe.

I actually think the powder version tastes even more concentrated and pungent than the sauce. It is one of those ingredients where people always ask, “What is that flavor?” Once people start using it, they end up buying a big container.

I use it in so many recipes on my website.