Asian Marinade for Pork Tenderloin (Gluten Free)
This asian marinade for pork tenderloin was inspired by char siu. This marinade deviates by making the hoisin sauce more prominent and leaving out 5 spice powder, red wine, and other traditional char siu sauce ingredients. You should be able to find most of these ingredients in your local grocery store. I will have links below for the specialty ingredients.
The marinade achieves a nice balance between sweet, savory, and salty which goes especially well with pork tenderloin. The reserved marinade from the ziplock bag serves as a glaze to coat the pork as it cooks. To make it safe to eat we briefly boil it to remove any bacteria from the raw pork.
Table of Contents
The Meat
Any cut of meat would be delicious with this marinade, especially pork and chicken. You can cook pork chops and even pork loin in the same way as the recipe below. If you wanted to use this marinade for pork shoulder, pork ribs, or pork belly, you would want to increase the marinade time and cook the pork in a different way. Next time I will probably try this with a pork shoulder.
The Heat
I choose to broil the pork tenderloin but you could also grill it. I preheated the broiler so it would be really hot and it would cook quickly. I avoided using moderate heat because I wanted to make this a weeknight recipe that you can quickly feed your family with. You could absolutely do this in slow cooker, I have not tried but you could easily adapt it to a similar slow cooker recipe with marinated pork tenderloin. Cooks’ Illustrated has a great book with slow cooker recipes that would help adapt this recipe.
Baby Bok Choy
If you’ve never had baby bok choy before you are in for a treat. They have a peppery bitterness to them that pairs very well with sweet flavors. We roasted the bok choy long enough for the outer leaves to soften and leave a little crunch on the inside. The timing was perfect because it let the pork rest while we roasted the bok choy.
Pickled Carrots
The pickled carrots were a welcome addition to the bok choy and the pork to add some crunch and tanginess. The carrots were a breeze to cut because we used a mandoline. If I had to julienne the carrots with a knife it would take me twice or more the amount of time. I used lime juice instead of rice vinegar because I didn’t realize we were out at the last minute. We sweetened the lime juice slightly with maple syrup to balance the acidity.
Special Equipment/Ingredients
- Mandoline – Benriner Super Slicer
- Cut Resistant Gloves – NoCry Cut Resistant Gloves
- Meat Pounder – Norpro Grip-EZ Stainless Steel Meat Pounder
- Gluten Free Oyster Sauce – Kikkoman Vegetarian Oyster Sauce, Gluten Free
- Gluten Free Soy Sauce – San-J Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce, Reduced Sodium
- Gluten Free Hoisin Sauce – Kikkoman Gluten Free Hoisin Sauce
Gluten-Free Asian Style Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
Marinated Pork Tenderloin
- 1 lb pork tenderloin approximately one tenderloin
- 1 garlic clove peeled and grated
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and grated
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or dry sherry use dry sherry for gluten free
- Green onions garnish
Pickled Carrots
- 5 medium carrots
- ⅓ cup lime juice rice vinegar, or rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
Bok Choy
- 3 baby bok choy halved with root cut off
- Salt
Rice
- 3 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
Marinade
- Trim and remove the silver skin from the pork. To butterfly the pork, cut the tenderloin down the middle and open it like a book. Do not cut all the way through. Lay the butterflied pork between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound until it is ¾ inch thick.
- Place pork in a gallon ziplock bag. Add garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, oyster sauce, and dry sherry to a bowl and mix until combined. Pour the Asian marinade into the bag and massage the pork to ensure all of the surfaces are coated. Set the bag in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours. A couple of hours or longer will make sure the flavor permeates into the meat.
- Broil or grill
- When you are ready to cook the pork. Remove the bag from the refrigerator. Set a baking rack on a baking sheet and place tenderloin on the rack. Using paper towels, wipe off the marinade from both sides of the pork and dry. Let sit out at room temperature while you preheat your broiler or grill. Pour the leftover marinade into a small saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside. I found it to be thick enough to glaze the pork but you can continue to reduce it if needed.
- Preheat your grill or broiler until it is very hot. To broil, line a baking rack on a baking sheet and set the pork on the rack. Once the broiler is hot, place the pork 5 inches away from the broiler and cook for 2 minutes. Take it out of the oven and flip it over to the other side. Spoon a light layer of the cooked marinade to cover the pork and put it back under the broiler for 3 minutes. Check the internal temperature of the pork to see if it reached 145F. Once it’s cooked, tent with aluminum foil and let the pork rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Roasted Bok Choy
- While the pork is resting, set the bok choy halves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with salt. Set the oven to 425F and roast for 10 minutes.
- Julienne carrots
- Using a mandoline or a knife (a mandoline is much faster) cut the carrots into long julienne slices. Set in a large bowl, and make sure it’s large enough to mix with the vinegar mixture.
- In a small bowl, combine the lime juice or vinegar, maple syrup, and salt. Pour over the carrots and toss. Let sit for 10 to 30 minutes.
Notes
The pork, pickled carrots, and roasted bok choy will keep for 3 days in an airtight container.