BBQ Pork Tenderloin Tacos
These pork tenderloin tacos are topped with a simple BBQ sauce and wrapped in flour tortillas with a tangy jicama-radish slaw.
Pork Tenderloin Tacos
If it’s tender meat wrapped in a flour tortilla and served with toppings, I’ll grab one and call it dinner. So, spoiler alert: I’ve never met a taco I didn’t like, and these pork tenderloin tacos are a new recipe to add to the list.
They’re inspired by a dinner I had once of sliced BBQ pork tenderloin with jicama slaw on the side, and, at the time, I wished there was a stack of warm tortillas to wrap it all up. So, I recreated it and turned that dinner into tacos. So, don’t forget, if you dream it can be a taco, you can make it a taco.
Ingredients
- Pork tenderloin
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Ketchup
- Apple cider vinegar
- Worcestershire sauce
- Chili seasoning
- Pepper jelly
- Mayonnaise
- Honey
- Dijon mustard
- Chopped jicama
- Sliced radishes
- Shredded green cabbage
- Chopped fresh parsley or fresh cilantro
- Flour tortillas
How to Make the Tacos
First, put the tenderloin in the oven, and while it bakes, you can make the BBQ sauce. It’s so simple you only need five ingredients! Once it’s made, mix up the jicama slaw, and then, once the pork is done, assemble the tacos.
More Taco Recipes
Chipotle Chicken Tacos | Baked Tacos | Easy Shrimp Tacos | Buffalo Chicken Tacos
BBQ Pork Tenderloin Tacos
These pork tenderloin tacos are topped with a super simple homemade BBQ sauce and wrapped up in flour tortillas along with a tangy jicama-radish slaw. Everything comes together in the time it takes to cook the pork so when the pork is done you just wrap and serve.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 10 small tacos 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the Pork Tenderloin
- 1 pound pork tenderloin
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the Sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
- 2 tablespoons pepper jelly (see note)
For the Coleslaw
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 cup chopped jicama (see note)
- 6 large radishes, sliced
- 1 cup shredded green cabbage (see note)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
For Serving
- 10 small street taco flour tortillas (see note)
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
How to Prepare the Pork Tenderloin and Sauce
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a sheet pan with tin foil. Pat the tenderloin dry with paper towels, then rub the olive oil over the top. Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper on both sides. Bake it for 20 minutes.
- Combine the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, taco seasoning, and pepper jelly in a small saucepan. Heat the sauce over medium heat and, stirring frequently, bring it to a simmer. Once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and give it a stir every so often. You want to ensure the pepper jelly melts into the sauce. Transfer a few tablespoons of the sauce from the pan to a small bowl. Save the rest of the sauce for spooning over the tacos.
- After the tenderloin has baked for 20 minutes, brush or spoon half of the sauce in the bowl over the top of the tenderloin in an even layer. Bake it for another 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, brush the rest of the sauce from the bowl over the top of the tenderloin. Bake it for another 10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145-150°F. At this point, I like to remove the tenderloin and let it rest for a few minutes, during which its internal temperature will increase to about 160-165°F, which is about medium doneness. After the tenderloin has rested, cut it into bite-sized pieces.
How to Make the Coleslaw
- In a medium bowl, combine the mayo, vinegar, honey, and mustard. Add the jicama, radishes, cabbage, and parsley and stir to combine.
- Spoon the coleslaw on the tortillas and top with pieces of tenderloin. Drizzle some of the reserved sauce over the top and garnish with chopped parsley, if using.
Notes
Pepper jelly is sold at most grocery stores, and there are usually a few to choose from. I use pepper jelly with jalapenos, which gives the sauce a spicy kick.
Jicama is a round tuber with light brown skin. You can buy and peel a whole one or look for pre-prepped jicama sticks in the produce department. They are a little pricier but a lot easier to deal with. If you can’t find jicama, you can substitute the same amount of chopped granny smith apple, which will change the flavor slightly, or omit it.
A whole head of cabbage yields a ton of shredded cabbage, so I like to buy bags of pre-shredded cabbage instead.
I like to use small street taco flour tortillas, but you can also make regular-sized tacos with 8-inch flour tortillas and assemble fewer tacos. I used the Mission brand, so the nutrition estimate may vary depending on the brand you use.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 small taco
- Calories: 202
- Sugar: 8.9g
- Fat: 9.8g
- Carbohydrates: 25.8g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 2.7g
The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
A Few More Recipe Tips
In a hurry? Try some of these shortcuts!
- Skip making the BBQ sauce and use your favorite store-bought sauce instead.
- I love the jicama and radish combo in the slaw, but if you’re in a hurry, make the slaw with shredded cabbage.
More Dinner Recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Here are a few more dinners I love to make!
Happy taco-making 🌮
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Post updated from the archives. First published in April 2019.
These tacos look amazing. Your easy to make sauce and perfectly done pork make my mouth water.