Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Jen's Version

(Acworth, GA)

I'm gonna be modest for a minute. I make the best pork tenderloin. I mean I didn't invent the recipe, but my execution is fantastic. I top it with a balsamic reduction sauce and my family just goes nuts for it. I commit to the laborious process for special occasions or to get myself into the good graces of my husband, because it's a job. Pork is easy to mess up. Cook time and temperature is so important, and honestly it stresses me out. I kept seeing a crock pot version of pork tenderloin on Pinterest, and figured the blog could use a nice, new experimental recipe. Mostly, I needed something easy and tasty. I think this was the first dinner I cooked since last week's blog recipe. I'm failing as a housewife :(

I'm going to warn you now; I did not take a lot of pictures of this recipe. I was preparing this the day before I headed out of town for work and was juggling laundry, work and kids so my photo skills lacked. I did take a lovely shot of the hunk of meat that I carefully dropped into the pot without touching. At some point in life I will buy gloves...

I haven't done a cast of characters picture in a while. I finally found a small container of pure maple syrup. I was so excited too, because it was cheap! Also notice my soy sauce bottle. Why it took me this long to buy the fun bottle you get at restaurants, I'll never know.

I could literally just eat this mixture. Soy sauce, balsamic, diced onion, maple syrup, Dijon mustard...mmmh. Next time I cook this, I will triple the sauce, it wasn't near enough.

And my favorite part...

This is my final picture. I actually took one of the final product, but not sure what happened to it. I'm a little OCD and delete photos on my phone often to free up space. It drives my husband nuts! He just doesn't understand me :)

The meal was delicious though. I served the shredded pork on my new fave quinoa/brown rice mixture. The girls ate it all up too! It's not AS good as my normal pork, but it did the job!

Val's Version 

(Denver, CO)

I believe I've stated this before when cooking with chicken, but I am pretty certain I could be a vegetarian after I cook with raw meat. There is just something so repulsive about it. Not to mention, we went to an Urban Farm this past weekend and I was petting a cow and talking to it like it was my baby. Ya know - the high pitched happy voice you use when speaking to infants? Yep. That was me. 

(skip to the next picture if you don't want to hear about what raw pork loin reminds me of)

Raw Pork loin:

 mucus covered alien from a horror film

river monster aka leach

 a newborn animal when squeezed out of its casing

 quite slippery, so make sure your sink is clean

I am so sorry if this turns you off from reading further. Just an honest assessment and if you've never thought it, you may never look at pork loin the same again. Welcome to my world. Now the taste … divine!!!!!!

I seasoned the pork generously with some salt, pepper, garlic powder and dry mustard. Even though the recipe calls for yellow mustard, I thought a few extra dashes seasoned right into the hunk of meat couldn't hurt.

Jen told me that the dish could use more sauce, so I did a bit more. Like 1/4 cup more.

I also came up with this really clever technique in dicing dry onions. 

I hand-crushed them. So, I don't really know how much I used, but I'm guessing 3 tablespoons. Give or take. 

Mix it all up and drown your alien baby in it. I mean succulent pork tenderloin. I also topped it with a little more dry onion straws and made a race track around the perimeter with soy sauce. 

Best part of cooking with the crock pot is you tend to have fewer dishes. You can also get those cleaned and put away during the processing time. I've also discovered that no one in my family enjoys doing dishes (have actually yet to meet someone that does), so this makes crock pot nights a little more appealing. 

You want to know what I don't like about slow cooker meals … you have to wait.  You're stuck immersing yourself in the award winning aroma while you wait all day to dive in. Maybe that's why full time working families can appreciate it that much more. They don't resent it come 6pm.

While the pork was doin' its thing, I cooked up some Feta and Spinach Scalloped Potatoes. This could actually be a meal in of itself, but what the heck. Go big or go home. 

I said it once and I'll say it again, divine!!!

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

1.5-2 lb. Pork Tenderloin (the larger - the more liquid)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, then a few dashes

2 tsp. dry mustard
2 T Yellow Mustard
2-3 T maple syrup
2 T olive oil
3 T Diced dried onions, then a few more pieces
1 1/2 T Garlic Salt or Powder

Mix ingredients above. Pour over Tenderloin in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.

Recipe made better from AllRecipee.