Bacon Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloins

Pork tenderloins pounded thin and layered with cream cheese, roasted garlic and fresh chives before being wrapped in bacon. The bacon wrapped, stuffed pork tenderloins are cooked indirect on the grill until that bacon is dark, golden brown before being carved into medallions which can be eaten as is or on slider buns.

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The inspiration for this grilling recipe came from Joe Thomann of Bad to the Bone BBQ during our annual Backyard BBQ Bash last fall. Several of our staff raved about the samples Joe passed out and suggested I pay a visit to his booth.

Joe was eager to share his creation and gave a verbal description of the process that produced this tasty treat. Several weeks later I attempted to recreate Joe’s gem from memory on yet another grilling adventure where we shoot from the hip based on inspiration such as this. Here’s hoping I did justice to Joe’s fine effort.

Bacon Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloins Ingredients:

• 2 whole garlic ears (not cloves, the entire ears)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 2 pork tenderloins
• 8 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 1 bunch, fresh chives
• 8-12 slices bacon
• Slider buns

Yield: 16-20 Sliders, depending on how thick you slice them

Stuffed Pork Tenderloins Prep:

To begin, I will roast some garlic for the stuffing.

Slice the stem top of the ears to expose the fragrant garlic cloves inside and drizzle with olive oil:

Place in a foil tent and roast for about an hour at 350:

Trim the Tenderloins

While the garlic roasts, remove any excess fat from the tenderloins:

Don’t sweat the “silver skin” as it’s not tough like with a beef tenderloin. It will melt away during the cooking process.

Butterfly the pork tenderloins being careful to not cut all the way through the meat:

If you’re curious about the knife, it’s a Shun Classic 6 inch utility knife. You will see a lot of them on this site as we are big time Shun fans.

Spread the tenderloins on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap:

Pound the meat to ½ to ¾ inch thickness as shown:

After an hour in the oven and the house smelling amazing, pull the garlic from the oven.

Notice how golden brown it is?

Squeeze the roasted cloves onto the inside of the pork tenderloins, mash, and rub into the meat:

At this point the option is leave the cloves in or remove them after rubbing.

I chose to leave them in:

Divide the cream cheese in half.

This may look to be too much, but remember some will be lost in the cooking process:

Smear the cream cheese over each tenderloin.

The next step adds another layer of flavor as well as more color.

Finely chop the fresh chives:

That knife is the Kershaw Shun Ken Onion 8 inch chef knife. It is the best knife I’ve ever owned. It’s incredibly sharp and practically ergonomically perfect. It feels like an extension of my hand. If you would like one yourself, they aren’t cheap, but they are worth it. You can get one here

The chives are sprinkled evenly over both pork tenderloins:

***Editor’s Note ~ You could also mix the roasted garlic and fresh chives in with the cream cheese before spreading onto the pork tenderloins***

Now roll the pork tenderloins up:

One of the pork tenderloins bacon wrapped and secured with toothpicks. Then repeat with the second:

You could also use cooking twine here, and I would’ve but I was out. 

The bacon wrapped, stuffed pork tenderloins are smoked with apricot wood

Click here for the most comprehensive list of smoke woods and what proteins they pair with:

How to Grill Bacon Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloins

I set up the kettle for indirect grilling with coals to the right and left of the bacon wrapped pork tenderloins in the center:

That’s one hot ash fire!

***Editor’s Note ~ Should you buy one of these, I would recommend not picking up the cast iron grill grate and flipping it over at chest height like dad did to clean the bottom. If you do, you just might lose one of the flaps on either side that flip up, again, like dad did. That sucker shattered into about 30 pieces. That’s why one side is always open on that bad boy. He’s working on getting a replacement***

The bacon wrapped pork tenderloins are on the kettle grill, smoke wood added, lid dropped, and vents adjusted.

Smoke the bacon wrapped, stuffed pork tenderloins about an hour to hour and a half, depending on the heat of your grill.

Or as Joe said, “When the bacon’s done it’s done.”

Here’s a peek after 30 minutes of grilling on the grill.

Bacon is browning nicely and the stuffed cream cheese is oozing forth:

The bacon wrapped pork tenderloins have smoked for one hour and 15 minutes and are done, despite one looking lighter than the other. 

The lighting was not great after the sun went down:

I used Joe’s bacon method but suggest using a probe thermometer to make sure the pork tenderloins come to the right temperature of around 140-145 degrees for a nice medium, although you don’t have to cook pork to medium or higher anymore as explained here.

The bacon wrapped, stuffed pork tenderloins are removed from the kettle and brought inside to rest before slicing and as you can see the bacon for both is nicely browned:

Resting allows for the juices, in an excited state from the heat of being smoked, to calm down and redistribute throughout the meat. Resting is very, very important.

Joe served his tenderloin slices naked, as appetizers.

I chose to create sliders.

I picked up sweet Hawaiian rolls at the local market and they await preparation by my bread knife, it slices everything else too!

Bacon Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloins Summary:

Here it is! It’s ready for everyone to dig into a combination of flavors and textures: sweet bread, crispy bacon, smoked pork, and creamy herbed stuffing, all creating a delicious treat that has become a family favorite. Here are a couple pics from each end of the long plate, one of the tenderloins is sliced, the other is staying warm until the first one is eaten:

Joe, I hope I came close to what you served that day and thanks for the inspiration. 

If you have any questions or comments about this grilling feat, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

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Bacon Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloins Recipe Card:

Print Recipe

4.80 from 5 votes

Bacon Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloins

Pork tenderloins stuffed with roasted garlic, cream cheese and chives, wrapped in bacon and smoked on the grill

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: BBQ

Servings: 8 -10

Ingredients

• 2 bulb garlic (not cloves, the entire bulb)
• olive oil
• 2 pork tenderloin
• 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 bunch fresh chives finely chopped
• 8 to 12 slice bacon
• Slider buns

Instructions

• Slice the top off of each bulb of garlic
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Place in foil tent and bake at 350° for 1 hour
• Whole garlic is roasting, remove excess fat from pork tenderloins (don't worry about the silver skin)
• Butterfly the tenderloins by cutting lengthwise down the middle being careful not to cut all the way through
• Cover with plastic wrap and pound with mallet till 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
• When garlic is done, squeeze the roasted cloves out onto the tenderloins and spread into the meat
• Divide cream cheese in half and spread over the tenderloins
• Spread chives over the cream cheese
• Roll the tenderloins up and wrap with bacon, securing the bacon in place with toothpicks
• Smoke the tenderloins indirect at 250° to 275° for 75 to 90 minutes until the bacon is done and the pork has reached at least a minimum internal temperature of 145°
• Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes
• Slice and place on the buns to serve

Notes

Serve with a toppings bar of a variety of cheeses (havarti and pepper jack work well) and sauces (basil pesto, honey mustard, or BBQ sauce), but they can certainly be enjoyed without anything, even a bun.

Greg Thomas

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This article was initially published on: January 30, 2013