Sheet pan meals are a super easy way to get a simple but flavorful meal on the table with very limited hands-on time. This easy sheet pan pork tenderloin recipe is completed with beautiful purple sweet potatoes, roasted cauliflower, and carrots.
Recipe: $13.54 | Per Serving: $3.39 | Yield: 4
My clients are LOVING these easy sheet pan meals, and I know you will too!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Easy cleanup! Everything cooks in one pan.
- Healthy dinner! Lean pork, brightly colored vegetables, and healthy fats.
- Simple preparation that requires only TEN minutes of hands-on time to prepare.
- Lots of flexibility! Swap the veggies to use what you have on hand or make slight changes to make sheet pan pork tenderloin work for you!
Ingredients
This recipe is made using simple, wholesome ingredients. Let's look at some of the most important ones.
- Olive oil: A healthy olive oil that's perfect for roasting vegetables in the oven.
- Apple cider vinegar: I prefer the milder flavor of apple cider vinegar in this marinade but you can swap it for another vinegar.
- Honey: Adds a bit of sweetness to the flavors.
- Lemon: A bit more acid and brightness that brings all the flavors together.
- Herbs: You will need dried basil and rosemary, but Italian seasoning will also work.
- Pork tenderloin: It should be about 1.25 pounds in weight to make four servings. Check below for more about picking out pork tenderloin.
- Vegetables: I'm using a combination of purple sweet potato, cauliflower florets, and carrots. The variety of colors makes a stunning plate! If you can't find purple sweet potatoes, the regular will work but you will get a bit less color!
- Whole grain mustard: Optional but it adds a nice contrasting flavor to the marinade.
The full list of ingredients and the quantities you need is in the recipe card.
What's the Best Pork for Sheet Pan Meals?
Let's talk pork! Who likes it? Hopefully, if you're here, that means you do.
Lots of people are afraid of pork, but I can't stress this enough: the quality of the food is more important than whether it is animal-based or plant-based. Though it's important to consider personal preference!
The quality and amounts and variety of foods are all important things. There are healthy and unhealthy parts of literally every single food that exists.
We are meant to be exposed to nutrients and anti-nutrients and small amounts of toxins and stressors, alongside large amounts of antioxidants and plants.
BUT high-quality pork (heritage, pasture-raised, humane) in normal, moderate amounts, is no scarier than 'healthy' foods like spinach or beans, or avocado.
So...Where to Buy Quality Meat?
- First, check your local farms. Ask what they feed their animals - in the summer and the winter. Get a feel for their practices. Are they raising happy animals who get to roam around and eat real food? Or are the animals in a tight, confined environment eating soy, corn, and grains? (Animals like cows and pigs are not meant to eat soy or corn.) You can also ask about their sustainable and regenerative practices.
- Use a resource such as Eat Wild (USA) to check for pastured and grass-fed local farms. You'll be surprised what you find! Maybe there's an awesome farm near you that offers a CSA or has a farm store.
- Try buying meat from a quality online company. This is not a sponsored post, but I do recommend Moink (affiliate link) because I have communicated with them numerous times about the quality of the meat they source from small family farms. Plus, it is super convenient to have a meat box delivered to your house!
- Not impressed with my favorite online meat delivery? That's okay! Check out this great post from my friend and colleague Abra Pappa all about her favorite online sources for organic, grass-fed, pastured, wild, sustainable animal products.
How to Make One Pan Pork Tenderloin
Let's look at what goes into making this pork tenderloin sheet pan dinner.
Make the marinade. Combine all the ingredients to make the marinade in a small bowl or shake it up in a jar.
Marinate the pork. Add the pork tenderloin to a large bowl or shallow dish and coat with about two-thirds of the marinade. Let this marinate for 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge.
Prep the veggies. Break or cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets and cut the sweet potato into equal-sized pieces. I like to roll cut the carrots. This cut alternates the angle of the cut, creating about one-inch pieces. You can see more about how to roll cut the carrots in the video for this recipe.
Prep for the oven. Spread the veggies out on a parchment-lined sheet pan and drizzle with one-third of the sauce. Toss the vegetables around to cover all the pieces. Place the pork on top of the veggies and drizzle any remaining sauce over the entire sheet of vegetables and pork. Roast in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes.
After cooking. When the pork is cooked and the vegetables are tender, remove them from the oven. Place the pork on a sheet pan and let rest about 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving. Turn the oven off and place the tray with the vegetables back inside to stay warm while the pork tenderloin rests.
Serve it up! Feel free to drizzle with more olive oil and serve with lemon and optionally, some horseradish!
Expert Tips
The type of protein matters. Match the cooking time of your proteins with the cooking time of your vegetables. You'll often see sheet pan dinners with pork, chicken thighs, or other fattier cuts of meat because they have a slightly longer cooking time and are less likely to dry out than leaner proteins such as chicken breasts.
Cut the veggies into small pieces. Carrots and sweet potatoes are root vegetables and generally have a longer cooking time. Cut them into smaller one-half-inch pieces but no more than one-inch so they cook in the same time as the pork.
Take the time to marinate the pork. The longer it can sit the more flavor it will have.
Don't overcook the pork. You want it nice and juicy. Use a digital thermometer to check the temperature, pork is cooked when it's 145° F.
If you're not AIP definitely don't skip the mustard!
⭐️ Budget-friendly Meal Prep Tip: Buy pork tenderloin on sale or in bulk, or replace it with chicken thighs. You can also bulk this up with grains on the side.
What Vegetables are Best for Sheet Pan Meals?
Hearty vegetables like carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage work well with slower cooking higher fat proteins like chicken thighs, pork tenderloin, and sausage.
Fast-cooking vegetables with high water content, like zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, and grape tomatoes work best with fast-cooking proteins like chicken breasts, salmon, white fish, and wild cod.
And then, there are some in-between vegetables that work well for either, such as onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and brussels sprouts (depending on how they're cut).
Dietary Modifications
Paleo: Yes!
AIP: Leave out the black pepper and mustard.
Vegetarian: No, but you can make sheet pan meals with chickpeas! Follow this recipe and eliminate the pork. Add some chickpeas or tofu to the baking sheet and toss with the marinade just like the vegetables.
More Sheet Pan Recipes
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Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin with Vegetables
Ingredients
For the Marinade:
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar or other vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- juice of ½ a lemon about 1-2 Tablespoons
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- optional not AIP: 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard + ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Pork + Veggies:
- 1 ¼ pounds pork tenderloin
- another ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large purple sweet potato ~1 lb
- 1 pound cauliflower florets
- ½ pound carrots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a large bowl or shake in a jar.
- Add pork tenderloin to a large bowl or shallow dish and coat with about ⅔rds of the dressing/marinade. Let this marinate for 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge.
- Break the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Roll cut the carrots into even pieces (see video on YouTube for exactly how to do this!). Chop the sweet potato into equal-sized pieces, about ½-inch cubes. Spread veggies out on lined sheet pan and drizzle with ⅓ of the sauce, tossing to coat.
- Place tenderloin atop the vegetables.
- Drizzle any remaining sauce over the entire sheet of vegetables and pork.
- Roast for about 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Let pork rest about 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving. I like to turn the oven off and put the vegetables back in to stay warm while the pork tenderloin rests on a separate cutting board.
- Feel free to drizzle with more olive oil or whole grain mustard to serve. Serve with some horseradish or gut-friendly sauerkraut!!
My husband bought a tenderloin that was already marinated. I didn’t notice that and I went ahead and made your marinade. When I went to put it on the meat I noticed so I didn’t put it on the meat. Lol. Since I had already made it I just put it on the vegetables only. It’s in the oven now. I will let you know how it turns out lol. I’m using sweet potatoes, carrots, onion and purple cabbage.
Haha that has definitely happened to me before! I'll look for your results!
I made this tonight, and it was delicious. I had to swap a couple of things out since I'm on a keto diet, but it worked out fine. The marinade sauce is amazing.
Thanks so much for sharing! I'm glad you enjoyed it and were able to make it work for you!
Oooh purple potatoes! Looks like a beautiful and tasty dish! Thank you.