Honey Seared Pork Tenderloin

I've been trying ridiculous amounts of new recipes lately. I love cooking but it's a real challenge to make meals that we both enjoy. My husband is pretty much a meat and potatoes guy. Really, really basic meat and potatoes. But we've been meeting in the middle lately. :) I made this meal in my Dutch oven, because it needs to go from stove to oven.

This recipe is also from Pinterest. It's a very simple recipe with few ingredients.

1 pork tenderloin, about 1.5 lbs
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp honey
Cajun seasoning
1/4 c water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rub the tenderloin with the Cajun seasoning. Put the honey and butter in your Dutch oven over low-medium heat (I used medium heat, and in hind sight I would have preferred a lower heat). When the honey and butter mix has just begun to bubble, add the pork tenderloin. Allow it to cook on both sides for 5 minutes. Do not move the tenderloin around too much as you want the honey butter and spices to form a beautiful caramelized crust. I also held the loin up on the "small sides" to cook for 1 minute per side just for a more uniform appearance.

Cover the Dutch oven and place it into the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees. The original instructions say to remove the meat to a platter and deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of water to use as a glaze...however, the honey butter was a bit black and I did not want to. I just put a couple of pats of butter on top of the tenderloin and drizzled about a tablespoon of honey on top. It melted right onto the meat and it was AMAZING. :) Always slice a pork tenderloin against the grain into about 1/2" slices. The tenderloin had a beautiful textured crust on the outside.

I served this with honey-cinnamon carrots and mashed potatoes.

Tip: If you don't have a bottle of Cajun seasoning around, use a mix of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and a generous sprinkle of cayenne pepper. This is what I usually do when recipes call for Cajun seasoning.

Homemade Cajun spice mix.

Everything you need to make this yummy tenderloin.

Sprinkle the loin generously with the spice rub and rub, rub, rub.

Side 1 after cooking for 5 minutes.

A perfect plate!

All done! I posted this pic because you can clearly see the crunchy dark crust on the meat. Yum!