I’ll admit I was a little bit reluctant to make this recipe. Butterflying and stuffing a pork tenderloin seemed like kind of a lot of effort on a weeknight, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually very easy and quick to do. Plus it was delicious!! I really liked this, and it will go into my repeats list.
Butterflying a pork tenderloin actually only consists of making a cut about 3/4 of the way through it down the center, opening it up, and pounding the meat out with a meat mallet until is roughly the same thickness throughout and can be filled and rolled. You do need some kitchen string to tie it up, which you can get at the grocery store. Since it is stuffed with things that don’t need any prep to use, it was quite fast to do this process.
This version of the recipe I filled with pesto (because we had some leftover), sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice, dijon mustard, mozzarella, prosciutto, and spinach. This combo was really good as you can imagine. After I flattened, stuffed, rolled and tied the meat, I seared it in a super hot pan to get a good sear, and baked at 425 until it was cooked in the center. We ate this with extra dijon on the side and we all really liked it. There were no leftovers, which I was a little sad about. 🙂
Italian Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pesto sauce
- 2 pork tenderloins trimmed and butterflied and pounded to even thickness
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard plus more for serving
- 2 tbsp olive oil for searing
- salt and pepper
- sliced mozzarella cheese as needed
- 1 package prosciutto
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes chopped
- kitchen twine for tying
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425 and line a sheet pan with foil. Butterfly the pork (there are great youtube vids on how to do this) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pound them to an even thickness about 1/2 inch thick.
- Spread the pesto, lemon juice and mustard on the pork and then layer on the sun dried tomatoes, spinach, cheese and prosciutto. With the long side facing you, place a piece of twine under the end of the pork and start rolling up into a roll like the picture. Tie in a few places to keep roll together.
- Heat oil in a cast iron pan or skillet until smoking. Add the tenderloins and sear them well on all sides. Place onto the baking sheet and transfer to the oven.
- Bake about 20-30 minutes, until the center reads 155-160. Let rest for 10 minutes, remove the strings and slice. We ate these with extra dijon the side.