Pork Tenderloin W/ Balsamic Marinade

Chicagoland Chef du Jour's Note:

This is an incredibly tasty way prepare a pork tenderloin. I could not get over how delicious it was. Even my young kids like it. The amount of chili powder is deceiving, I thought it would be very spicy and it was not. Absolutely perfect for company! Serve with buttered noodles, baked apple sauce and you're good to go! Enjoy. NOTE: 6-8 hour marination time required

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 ½-2 lbs pork tenderloins (*can use a smaller tenderloin)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove , crushed & minced
• 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder (*adds heat, (to taste)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Trim and rinse pork as needed. Place in a ziplock bag or dish with a tight seal.
2. Whisk together all ingredients until thoroughly blended.
3. Pour marinade over pork. Marinate in refrigerator at least 8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
4. Heat grill to medium high. Grill pork until center is pale pink, about *15-17 minutes or to desired doneness. Let rest for 5 minutes, slice & serve immediately.
5. NOTES:
6. May need to adjust cooking time +/- depending on the size & thickness or the tenderloin.
7. The chili powder does not add the heat you may expect. Not sure why, but it won't be spicy as one might anticipate.

Reviews

[Truffles]

Recipe was easy and smelled very good when cooking, but it lacked the flavour I was expecting. Marinated it 8 hours, but I cooked it in the oven, so maybe it needed to be grilled as stated in the directions. I had higher hopes for the balsamic/chili powder combo. With so many tasty way to prepare a tenderloin I will not likely try this again.

[Maito]

The flavor in this marinade is really wonderful. I tripled the garlic and left out the cloves and cinnamon for DH's taste. I can see how someone put this in their best of the year cookbook.

[BocaToJerseyGirl]

Since my husband is not a fan of pork tenderloins, I made this marinade for pork chops. It was delicious! We grilled the bone-in thick pork chops for 5 min. on each side and then let them sit for 5 min. They had so much flavor. What a nice surprise. I served noodle kugle (with no fruit) and baked apples as accompaniments. Perfect! I know it was a little heavy for a summer dinner, but we love comfort food at our house!