Easy Traeger smoked bacon wrapped pork tenderloin is packed with flavor. Salty bacon… sweet bbq sauce… bbq rub… good God, it’s delicious! We make this popular pellet grill recipe for holidays and Sunday dinners. Let’s smoke pork tenderloin to perfection…
Smoking pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon definitely makes my list of easy smoker recipes. It’s great for beginners.
Table of Contents
Why is this recipe for smoked bacon wrapped tenderloin so good?
- DELISH – Packed with huge smoke flavor and bacon flavor!
- Relatively short cooking time (just a couple hours).
- One tenderloin feeds 3-4 people.
- It’s an easy recipe to scale up for a larger dinner or holiday meal.
- Makes a great use of tenderloin – an underappreciated cut of meat IMO.
- New to smoking foods? See my step by step video for beginners (scroll to bottom of page).
HEY THERE — Don’t forget I post quick, easy recipes on Instagram. Join me at @sipbitego.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make bacon wrapped pork tenderloin in a smoker.
- 1.5 LB pork tenderloin
- Bacon
- BBQ seasoning (any pork rub or bbq rub)
- BBQ sauce
Shaving off silverskin before smoking tenderloin
If your pork tenderloin has a layer of silver skin on the meat (tough white tissue), you’ll want to use a knife to shave it off before seasoning the meat.
Why?
If you leave on silver skin, it won’t be fun to eat later (it gets chewy). And it can create an imbalance of flavor being able to penetrate the meat. And it can create pockets of uneven smoking temperatures. So shave it off!
How to smoke bacon wrapped pork tenderloin
Now I’ll walk you through it…
Quick look at recipe
- Prep smoker, season tenderloin, and wrap it in bacon.
- Smoke tenderloin for 1.5 hours.
- Brush on BBQ sauce and finish smoking ~30 minutes until pork reaches 145 degrees F.
- Rest and enjoy.
Detailed recipe steps
- Preheat Traeger smoker or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 225 degrees F.
- Prepare bacon for tenderloin. Lay strips of bacon down on a cutting board or sheet pan so the edges touch, or just barely overlap. The amount of bacon needed to wrap tenderloin will depend on the size of the piece of pork. Then place the pork tenderloin on top of the bacon.
- Season. Sprinkle BBQ rub seasoning on pork tenderloin. (I like to sprinkle it on the pork, over the bacon, so extra seasoning falls onto the bacon. It’s just a little tasty OCD detail that I care about!)
- Wrap pork tenderloin with bacon. You’ll see in the video, we do a kind of criss-cross with the bacon when we wrap it around the pork on the top. It’s not easy to explain right here, but the edges of the bacon come down in a V-shape and cross over each other to secure tightly onto the pork. Do this one piece of bacon at a time, and make sure to cover the edges with bacon as well. The tenderloin should be hidden like a little mummy inside the bacon wrap. (Instead of just strips, you could make a “bacon weave” – see FAQs in this recipe – it’s like a bacon version of a pie lattice that looks cool.)
- Smoke pork tenderloin in bacon. Place the bacon wrapped tenderloin directly on the Traeger Grill grates or Pit Boss or whatever you’re using (seam side where bacon ends meet DOWN) . Smoke with the lid closed for 1.5 hours.
- Add BBQ Sauce and finish smoking. Brush BBQ sauce on top of bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (I do this while it’s still in the smoker but you can take it out if desired). Smoke tenderloin in bacon for about 30 minutes more, until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (for medium). Exactly how long to smoke a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon may vary depending on exact size, etc. so use an internal read thermometer to check if the tenderloin is safe to eat before turning off the smoker. (In this demo, the smoked wrapped tenderloin reached 145 degrees F in about 2 hours. The bacon wasn’t extremely crispy bacon – but it came out perfect for us – nice and meaty and dense in flavor.)
- Rest and enjoy. Remove smoker cooked bacon wrapped tenderloin from the pellet grill and rest it on a cutting board for 15 minutes. Slice in 2-3 inch chunks (about the width of a slice of bacon). Serve with extra BBQ sauce if desired, and enjoy.
This bacon wrapped smoked pork tenderloin is delicious with this simple jalapeno ranch sauce.
FAQs
They are different cuts of pork. Tenderloin is long and thin, boneless, and comes from a portion of the pig along the back bone. Pork loin is about twice as wide, also from the back of the pig, and sometimes is sold with the bone. You can also make smoked pork loin wrapped in bacon, but it will take longer to cook due to the size.
One day soon I will share on YouTube a smoked bacon weave pork tenderloin. But for now, just visualize how you make a lattice for pie. It’s like that, just with bacon. Make a bacon weave large enough to wrap around the pork, and then wrap it. I don’t find a weave necessary to make the bacon stick to the pork, but it does look pretty cool.
Smoke bacon tenderloin with pellet flavors that are on the sweet side like fruit-forward cherry or apple are good choices.
Favorite smoker recipes with bacon
These are great dishes with smoked bacon IN them, or ON them…
- Onion rings wrapped in bacon on the smoker
- Smoked bacon wrapped meatloaf
- Smoked bacon wrapped pork tenderloin
- Jalapeno poppers smoked with bacon
- Smoked mac and cheese with gouda
- Smoked mashed potatoes
- Bacon smoked burger
- Smoked bacon
More Tasty Grill + Smoker Recipes
- Smoked leg of lamb
- Smoked wings
- Smoked turkey breast
- Whole smoked turkey
- Smoked onion rings
- Traeger smoked ham
- Smoked whole chicken
- Traeger tri tip
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- Smoked jalapeno poppers
- Smoked corn on the cob
- Traeger beef ribs
- Smoked brisket flat
- Smoked shrimp
- Grilled chicken wings
- Grilled skirt steak
- Flank steak marinade
- Grilled potato wedges
- Smoked pulled pork
- Want more? See my lineup of easy smoker recipes
See my favorite smoker tools and seasonings in my Amazon Storefront.
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, hope that answers all your questions about making smoked pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. It’s really a treat.
If you’re into sous vide cooking, check out my recipes for sous vide pork tenderloin and sous vide pork loin.
If you don’t follow me on instagram you totally should @sipbitego. And for more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel and see the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
Smoked Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin On Traeger Pellet Grill Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb pork tenderloin
- 8 pieces bacon +/- a couple slices, depending on tenderloin size
- 1 tbsp BBQ seasoning any pork rub or bbq rub
- 1 ½ tbsp BBQ sauce plus more for serving
Instructions
- Preheat Traeger smoker or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 225 degrees F.
- Prepare bacon for tenderloin. Lay strips of bacon down on a cutting board or sheet pan so the edges touch, or just barely overlap. The amount of bacon needed to wrap tenderloin will depend on the size of the piece of pork. Then place the pork tenderloin on top of the bacon.
- Season. Sprinkle BBQ rub seasoning on pork tenderloin. (I like to sprinkle it on the pork, over the bacon, so extra seasoning falls onto the bacon. It’s just a little tasty OCD detail that I care about!)
- Wrap pork tenderloin with bacon. You’ll see in the video, we do a kind of criss-cross with the bacon when we wrap it around the pork on the top. It’s not easy to explain right here, but the edges of the bacon come down in a V-shape and cross over each other to secure tightly onto the pork. Do this one piece of bacon at a time, and make sure to cover the edges with bacon as well. The tenderloin should be hidden like a little mummy inside the bacon wrap. (Instead of just strips, you could make a “bacon weave” – see FAQs in this recipe – it’s like a bacon version of a pie lattice that looks cool.)
- Smoke pork tenderloin in bacon. Place the bacon wrapped tenderloin directly on the Traeger Grill grates or Pit Boss or whatever you’re using (seam side where bacon ends meet DOWN) . Smoke with the lid closed for 1.5 hours.
- Add BBQ Sauce and finish smoking. Brush BBQ sauce on top of bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (I do this while it’s still in the smoker but you can take it out if desired). Smoke tenderloin in bacon for about 30 minutes more, until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (for medium). Exactly how long to smoke a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon may vary depending on exact size, etc. so use an internal read thermometer to check if the tenderloin is safe to eat before turning off the smoker. (In this demo, the smoked wrapped tenderloin reached 145 in about 2 hours. The bacon wasn’t extremely crispy bacon – but it came out perfect for us – nice and meaty and dense in flavor.)
- Rest and enjoy. Remove smoker cooked bacon wrapped tenderloin from the pellet grill and rest it on a cutting board for 15 minutes. Slice in 2-3 inch chunks (about the width of a slice of bacon). Serve with extra BBQ sauce if desired, and enjoy.
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