The Caffeinated Cook: Pork Tenderloin with Coffee Maple BBQ Sauce

by | Aug 25, 2017 | Coffee Recipes

This week I wanted to go off the path of my usual sweet tooth and go to the savory side. I have a lot of coffee beans on hand so why not make a coffee rub of some sort? I was not disappointed. Looking through tons of recipes on Pinterest I was inspired by Seasons and Suppers for my desired cooking experience. I did change a few things to suit what I liked and had in my cupboards. If you look around on her page she does a little bit of everything. She mainly focuses on cooking with in season ingredients but doesn’t make the recipe overly difficult. Win win for everybody. If you get a chance please check out her page!

From there I decided that the best way to see if the recipe was good was to ambush a group of friends into eating it. So on our bi-weekly night of Pathfinder (think Dungeon and Dragons) was the perfect time to try out my savory coffee recipe. Along with the Pork Tenderloin, I decided what better combo than mashed potatoes and broccoli to add to the mix? I can’t think of a better combo either. Let’s get his cook caffeinated!

My coffee-rubbed pork features FreshGround Roasting’s Ethiopian Yirgacheff. The Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee is one of our most popular coffees by far. We carefully roast this coffee to a medium roast level to preserve the amazing apricot aroma. It has a medium body and finishes with a citrus hint. It’s not too earthy and wanted to have something a little different for my pork loin. It’s also great for drinking, as well. I may or may not have made a cup whilst making the pork loin. For this and other FreshGround coffees, be sure to visit FreshGroundroasting. You can also find extra coffee recipes, tips, and inspiration on our FreshGround Roasting Facebook page.

 

The recipe is super easy and relatively mess free. The recipe originally wanted to use molasses and I honestly think molasses is too overpowering and kind of makes things taste like black licorice. Not going to happen. So I substituted and used maple syrup instead and it was lovely. However, since molasses is as thick as concrete, I knew I would have to add a thickening agent to the sauce later on. So I used about a tbsp of corn starch to thicken it up. Worked like a charm.

Prep Time: 5 minutes                Cook Time: 25 minutes                        Total Time: 30 minutes               Servings: 

Ingredients

  • 2 lb pork tenderloin (or two 1lb. tenderloins) 

For rub:

  • 3 Tbsp ground FreshGround Roasting coffee 
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp paprika
  • 1 Tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt

For BBQ Sauce:

  • 1 1/2 cup Black Ice Brew coffee concentrate 
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp chilli powder
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 6 Tbsp cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch (for thickening)

Instructions

  1. Trim excess fat and silver skin from pork tenderloins. In a small bowl, combine ground coffee, paprika, pepper, and salt. Divide rub between the two pork tenderloins and rub all over the meat. Wrap pork in foil and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
  2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine Black Ice Brew coffee concentrate, ketchup, chili powder, sugar, vinegar, maple syrup, and Worcestershire for the barbecue sauce. Can be made ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before using.
  3. When ready to cook, pre-heat oven to 400° F.
  4. On the stove-top, heat a thin layer of oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Add pork tenderloins and brown on all sides. Fill a 13×9 baking pan with chicken stock and place tenderloins in the broth, cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Drain excess chicken broth and replace with BBQ sauce and baste tenderloins generously. Cover with tin foil and return to oven for a further 10-15 minutes, or until pork reaches 145-150°
  5. Lower temperature from 400 to 200 for an additional
  6. Remove pork to a cutting board to rest.
  7. Place cooking skillet onto the stove-top over medium-high heat and add the remaining BBQ sauce.
  8. Take the tbsp of corn starch and put it in a bowl. Get some of the BBQ sauce liquid and pour it on top of the corn starch. Make sure you put the cornstarch in first and then the liquid on top. Otherwise, all you’ll have is lumpy cornstarch. Mix them together and add the mixture to the remaining BBQ sauce liquid in the skillet. Bring to a boil then reduce heat slightly. Allow to cook for a few minutes to thicken. Slice pork tenderloin and spoon some of the sauce on top. Serve remaining sauce alongside.

Grab some friends (or ambush them like I did) and get them to gobble up this absolutely delicious recipe. My friends thought the pork was super tender and everyone wanted more. The pork was gone in 30 mins along with the potatoes and broccoli. Until next time, stay caffeinated.
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Sarah Sill

Sarah Sill

Sarah is the Administrative Assistant and Marketing guru at FreshGround Roasting. Sarah where she talks about coffee, brewing methods, customer questions, and other awesome coffee related stuff!