This 5-ingredient slow cooker pork tenderloin is sweet, tangy, and tender with almost no prep. Apple juice, barbecue sauce, onion soup mix, and apple cider vinegar make a sauce you’ll want to spoon over mashed potatoes. Serve it with egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes, and don’t skip something to soak up that sauce.
Why You’ll Love It
- Just 5 ingredients — pork tenderloin, onion soup mix, apple juice, barbecue sauce, and apple cider vinegar do all the work.
- No browning required — everything goes straight into the slow cooker with no extra prep.
- Hands-off cooking — set it on low and let the slow cooker take care of dinner.
- Sweet and tangy sauce — apple juice, barbecue sauce, and vinegar create a sauce made for noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.
- Feeds four comfortably — with plenty of sauce for serving.
Ingredient Notes
Pork tenderloin medallions are simply slices of pork tenderloin, not pork chops and not pork shoulder. Tenderloin is lean and tender, but it can go from lovely to a little dry if it stays in the slow cooker too long. Every crock pot has its own personality. Mine runs hot, like it has somewhere to be, so I start checking around the four-hour mark.
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For the onion soup mix, use the standard dry packet from the grocery store. Lipton is what I tend to grab. Use whatever brand you find.
Apple juice gives the sauce its gentle sweetness. Not cider—plain apple juice. The barbecue sauce can be your usual favorite. I use a smoky, slightly sweet one, but if your family likes something with more tang or heat, that’s fine. This recipe isn’t precious.
The apple cider vinegar keeps things from getting too sugary. Two tablespoons may not look like much, but don’t leave it out. I did once, and the whole thing tasted sort of flat. Edible, sure. But “edible” is a pretty low bar for supper.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 to 2 pounds raw pork tenderloin medallions
- 1 packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 cup apple juice
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, whatever kind your family actually likes
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker if you feel like it—I usually do, though I have skipped it on rushed mornings and survived—then arrange the raw pork tenderloin medallions in an even layer across the bottom. Try not to pile them all in one little mound; they cook more evenly when they have some room.
- In a small bowl, stir together the dry onion soup mix, apple juice, barbecue sauce, and apple cider vinegar until it is blended. The onion soup mix will look a little grainy at first, which is normal. Give it a minute and stir again. This is about as difficult as the recipe gets, so don’t let it rattle you.
- Pour the sauce evenly over the pork medallions. Put the lid on, set the slow cooker to LOW, and cook for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork is tender and cooked through. Start checking near 4 hours if your slow cooker tends to run warm. Pork tenderloin is not like a chuck roast—it does not improve by being forgotten until bedtime. Ask me how I know. Actually, don’t.
- Spoon some of the sauce over the cooked pork and serve it hot over buttered egg noodles, white rice, or mashed potatoes. If the medallions are large, you can slice or break them into bite-size pieces right in the slow cooker so every forkful gets coated in sauce. Add green beans, corn, or whatever vegetable is giving you the guilt-eye from the refrigerator drawer.
Variations
If you have peach preserves hanging around—maybe from a jar you bought for a glaze last summer and then promptly forgot about—stir a couple spoonfuls into the sauce before cooking. It gives the pork a fruitier, softer finish that feels especially nice toward the end of August. Toast, sure. Pork, yes. A turkey sandwich? We need boundaries.
For a thicker sauce, take the pork out when it is done and pour the cooking liquid into a small saucepan. Simmer it for a few minutes until it reduces slightly, then spoon it back over the meat. This is a good option if you’re serving it over noodles and want the sauce to cling a little more. I don’t always bother, because there are evenings when an extra pan feels personally insulting.
One time I tried adding extra barbecue sauce and a bunch of garlic powder because I had convinced myself more flavor was automatically better. It was not terrible, but it was too heavy and kind of muddy. The simple version really is the better one here. I hate when that happens, because I enjoy tinkering. But there you are.
Storage & Reheating
Leftovers keep well in a covered container in the refrigerator for a few days. Make sure you save the pork with plenty of sauce around it—that helps keep the tenderloin from drying out. I reheat it gently in the microwave, covered loosely, stopping once to stir the sauce around and spoon it over the pork.
You can also warm it in a small covered skillet over low heat if you have a little more time. Add a splash of water only if the sauce seems very thick after chilling, though usually it loosens back up fine.
The leftovers are especially good chopped over rice the next day.
Final Notes
This is not a glamorous meal. It is not the kind of thing you make when you’re trying to impress somebody who owns linen napkins or knows what a beurre blanc is. It is a real-life dinner. The kind that cooks while you’re doing twelve other things, including three things you didn’t mean to start.
I like it best when summer is beginning to loosen its grip—when the evenings turn gold a little earlier and you can feel fall waiting around the corner, impatient as ever. The house can get awfully quiet by five o’clock. Then I make something like this, and for a few hours the kitchen smells warm and sweet and familiar.
Sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes you need a little more, but it’s still enough for supper.
5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Late Summer Pork Tenderloin Medallions
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 to 2 pounds raw pork tenderloin medallions
- 1 packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 cup apple juice Use plain apple juice, not cider.
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce Use your preferred variety.
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker if desired, then arrange the raw pork tenderloin medallions in an even layer across the bottom without piling them together.
- In a small bowl, stir together the dry onion soup mix, apple juice, barbecue sauce, and apple cider vinegar until blended.
- Pour the sauce evenly over the pork medallions, cover, and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork is tender and cooked through; start checking near 4 hours if your slow cooker runs warm.
- Spoon the sauce over the cooked pork and serve hot over buttered egg noodles, white rice, or mashed potatoes; slice or break up large medallions into bite-size pieces if desired.
