This slow cooker pork tenderloin turns three simple ingredients—pork, onion soup mix, and golden ale—into a tender, savory dinner with almost no prep. The golden ale creates a mellow, malty cooking broth that is perfect spooned over mashed potatoes, noodles, or baby potatoes. You’re going to love how easy it is when dinner needs to take care of itself.
Why You’ll Love It
- Only three ingredients — pork tenderloin, onion soup mix, and golden ale.
- No chopping or browning — just add everything to the slow cooker.
- Tender and juicy — pork tenderloin cooks gently in flavorful juices.
- Mellow savory flavor — the golden ale adds a lightly malty note without tasting overly beery.
- Feeds a crowd — the recipe stretches nicely for four to six people.
Ingredient Notes
For this recipe, look specifically for pork tenderloin, not pork loin. The names are aggravatingly similar. Pork loin can work, technically, but it needs longer cooking and won’t have quite the same delicate texture. Tenderloin is the smaller, narrower cut, usually sold in a package with two pieces.
The onion soup mix is doing a lot of work here. Use the standard 1-ounce packet from the grocery store—the familiar yellow-and-blue kind when available, though store brand works just fine. No need to be precious about it.
For the beer, use a mild golden ale. Nothing aggressively hoppy. A simple golden ale is what you want here: mellow, lightly malty, easygoing.
And yes, the alcohol cooks with the pork. What matters is the flavor it leaves behind—warm and savory, not boozy.
Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloins, about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds total
- 1 packet (1 ounce) onion soup mix
- 1 bottle or can (12 ounces) golden ale, mild rather than strongly hoppy
Instructions
- Pat the pork tenderloins dry with paper towels and lay them in the bottom of your slow cooker. It takes thirty seconds and helps the seasoning cling instead of sliding around in a sad little wet pile.
- Sprinkle the onion soup mix evenly over the pork tenderloins. Don’t stir it into the beer yet or worry if some lands in the bottom of the cooker—it all sorts itself out while cooking, like the laundry never does.
- Pour the 12 ounces of golden ale around the pork, rather than directly washing all the soup mix off the top. Again, this is not a make-or-break situation, but it gives the tenderloins a nicer start. Put the lid on the slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, until the pork is tender and reaches 145°F in the thickest part. Start checking around the earlier end of that window if your slow cooker runs hot. Pork tenderloin is lean, and cooking it longer does not make it more tender—it just makes it dry, which is a downright shame with meat this nice.
- Transfer the cooked pork tenderloins to a cutting board and let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon a little of the hot cooking liquid over the top while they rest if you like.
- Slice the pork into medallions and arrange them on a platter or straight onto dinner plates. Spoon plenty of the cooking juices over each serving, especially if you have mashed potatoes, boiled baby potatoes, egg noodles, braised cabbage, roasted carrots, or green beans alongside. That broth should not be left behind. It’s half the point.
Variations
The plain three-ingredient version is the one to make most often, because sometimes “most often” means “the version that can be remembered without looking at a phone.” But if you aren’t committed to keeping it strictly three ingredients, add three or four smashed garlic cloves to the slow cooker, along with a dramatic amount of pepper. Garlic makes everything better, though the line is drawn at garlic in brownies. There are boundaries.
If you want a thicker sauce, take the pork out when it is done and pour the cooking liquid into a saucepan. Simmer it for several minutes until it reduces a bit, or whisk in a small cornstarch slurry and cook until it thickens lightly. For a dinner that needs a little extra polish, it’s a nice touch.
You can use a small pork loin if that is what you have, but it will need a longer cook time and won’t be quite as tender. Keep a thermometer handy.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftover pork with some of the cooking juices in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days. The juices matter. They keep the slices from drying out and make reheating much more forgiving.
For the microwave, put a few slices in a microwave-safe dish with a spoonful or two of broth, cover loosely, and heat gently until warmed through. Do not blast it into oblivion.
You can also reheat the pork in a covered skillet over low heat with some of the juices. This is the preferred method when there is an extra ten minutes. Leftovers are especially good tucked into a sandwich with a little mustard.
Final Notes
There are recipes that are impressive, and recipes that are reliable. This is firmly in the reliable camp, which is not an insult. Reliable is underrated. So is a dinner that smells like somebody cared enough to plan ahead, even if the planning was basically opening a packet and pouring a beer into a crock.
Serve it with something that catches the juices. Sit down while it’s hot if you can. That part is harder than the recipe, frankly.
Slow Cooker 3-Ingredient Golden Ale Pork Tenderloin
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Ingredients
- 2 pork tenderloins pork tenderloin About 2 to 2 1/2 pounds total
- 1 packet onion soup mix 1-ounce standard packet
- 12 ounces golden ale 1 bottle or can; use a mild ale rather than a strongly hoppy one
Instructions
- Pat the pork tenderloins dry with paper towels and lay them in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Sprinkle the onion soup mix evenly over the pork tenderloins.
- Pour the 12 ounces of golden ale around the pork, then put the lid on the slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, until the pork is tender and reaches 145°F in the thickest part. Start checking around the earlier end of the cooking window if your slow cooker runs hot.
- Transfer the cooked pork tenderloins to a cutting board and let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing, spooning some of the hot cooking liquid over the top if desired.
- Slice the pork into medallions and arrange them on a platter or dinner plates, then spoon plenty of the cooking juices over each serving.
