This Grilled Asian Pork Tenderloin Salad is fresh and flavorful. It’s made with greens and a bright honey-ginger vinaigrette.
Grilled Asian Pork Tenderloin Salad
This Grilled Asian Pork Tenderloin Salad is wonderfully flavorful and easy to make. The tender grilled pork is perched on a bed of fresh greens drizzled with a homemade honey-ginger vinaigrette, offering a dish that is light and yummy, and oh so pretty.
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I created this recipe for the National Pork Board (NPB) and PorkBeInspired.com to further highlight the amazing versatility of pork. The great take-away my family got from this dish is that pork tenderloin doesn’t need to be cooked in its whole form that we are so used to. This technique, where we sliced the tenderloin prior to marinading and grilling, was a new one for us. In the past, we’ve only grilled or baked the tenderloin whole, and then sliced it prior to serving.
Can I just tell you how awesome it is? And easy!
Over the past month, I’ve been sharing with you about America’s love affair with pork, spinning off of the NPB’s recent exploration of 30 million social media posts about pork. Creating my own mashups of flavors and textures, I’ve been tempting you with delicious new pork recipes for you to make in your own kitchen.
(photo courtesy of PorkBeInspired.com)
Read more about America’s love affair with pork right here. And be sure to check out this recipe from Chef JJ Johnson for Pork Suya with Kimchi, another awesome flavor mashup with pork. Here’s a video of the chef and this dish, plus find the recipe here.
I also highly recommend my Grilled Charmoula Pork Kebabs with Yogurt Mint Sauce…
and my Jalapeño Corn Cakes with Honey Whipped Goat Cheese and Bacon. Such fabulous bites!
To learn more about the NPB’s social media findings of trends in flavors, ingredients, and pairings, go here.
My latest recipe, this grilled Asian pork tenderloin salad, promises to return to our table again and again.
How to Make The Perfect Pork Salad
The pork tenderloin is first sliced, and then left to marinate for an hour in a tasty mixture consisting of honey, soy sauce, orange juice, and fresh ginger. The tenderloin pieces are then quickly cooked on a hot grill, leaving the pork juicy and perfectly pink and tender inside.
I just love this new-to-me method of grilling pork tenderloin. If you haven’t tried this technique yet, you simply must put it on your list!
While the pork is resting for a bit after coming off the grill, a big platter of fresh greens is prepared. I sprinkled mine with carrot and radish slices, green onions, edamame, and cilantro leaves, and then drizzled a light and lively homemade honey-ginger vinaigrette over it all. Then I topped the colorful salad with the charred slices of pork tenderloin, arranging them casually over the greens.
Salads such as this make me so happy. Fresh with greens and a bright vinaigrette, and topped with tender and juicy pork protein, this salad both nurtures and sustains me. You can bet this is going to be a regular menu item at our house this grilling season.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the National Pork Board. Thank you for supporting the brands that I carefully choose to work with, that help make this site possible. All opinions are 100% my own.
Grilled Asian Pork Tenderloin Salad
Ingredients
for the grilled Asian pork tenderloin
- 1.5 lbs. pork tenderloin cut into 1/2″ thick slices
- ⅓ c. honey
- ⅓ c. soy sauce
- ⅓ c. freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 T. sesame oil
- 2 T. minced fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 T. ground mustard
- ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
for the honey-ginger vinaigrette
- ¼ c. honey
- 3 T. rice vinegar
- 2 tsp. fresh orange zest
- 2 T. freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 T. minced fresh ginger
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
to assemble the grilled Asian pork tenderloin salad
- your favorite lettuce greens
- 3 to 4 carrots peeled and sliced thinly into coins
- 3 to 4 radishes sliced thinly into coin
- 3 to 4 green onions sliced thinly
- 1 c. edamame
- ½ c. fresh cilantro leaves
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- FOR THE GRILLED ASIAN PORK TENDERLOIN
Place sliced pork in a large resealable plastic bag. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients and then pour over the pork. Place marinating pork in refrigerator for one hour.
Drain and discard marinade. Heat grill to high and place marinated pork slices on clean grill grates. The pork is thin and will cook very quickly, and your goal is to have juicy, pink pork. Cook for about 1-1/2 minutes per side, or to an internal temperature of 145°. Remove pork from grill to a platter to rest for 3 minutes.
FOR THE HONEY-GINGER VINAIGRETTE
In a medium bowl, whisk all ingredients together. This can be prepared many hours, or up to a day, in advance. The vinaigrette is actually better when it has some time for the flavors to mingle. Just store in the refrigerator and whisk again to incorporate right before serving.
TO ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
Layer lettuce greens on a large serving platter with carrots, radishes, green onions, edamame, and cilantro. Drizzle some of the honey-ginger vinaigrette over the top. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Then arrange grilled pork tenderloin slices casually over the top, leaving plenty of green salad showing. Serve immediately.
This is my husband’s favourite pork marinade recipe but the recipe seems to have disappeared?
Hello Samantha –Â Please try again – I was having some issues with my recipes. It should be fixed now. I’m so glad to hear that you make this recipe – enjoy!
I’d like to try this but grill the pork on a cast iron grill pan. Would anyone have any tips how to do that? Too much snow here in Ottawa for BBQing :(
Yum. This salad sounds amazing! I love grilling season!
I cook with pork often but when I buy tenderloin I always cook it whole. This is such a great method and I bet slicing it and then marinating it imparts great flavor. Beautiful photos!
This method is SO GOOD! I hope you give it a try!
This looks FANTASTIC! Such a pretty meal!
Thank you so much, Gaby – hope you’re having a great weekend!
What a pretty and flavor packed salad!
This sounds fantastic! I never thought to slice the tenderloin like this and grill it. It makes for a gorgeous salad and I know it was delicious! I can’t wait to try it on the grill now. Thanks!
Thank you, Mary. As I was grilling and eating it, I questioned why we had never done this before, too. It’s wonderful. Hope you like it, too!
I can never resist an entree salad—and yours looks divine!!!
Thank you so much, Liz. Happy Weekend!
This looks soooo good, Brenda! And that dressing! I think I could eat it straight with a spoon!
Thank you, Liz. The dressing is wonderful. I’ve been making it for my everyday salads, nice and light and super flavorful. Happy Weekend!
With just a substitution of gluten-free soy sauce, this recipe will be perfect for my family! I am always looking for ways to add some variety into our menu and I don’t do pork recipes often at all. This will be a great one to work in to our rotation.
This makes me so happy to hear. Please let me know what you think!
This is a salad I want to DIVE into!!
:) Thanks, Megan. Happy Weekend!
Wow, Brenda! This looks amazing!! I know if I show this to Curtis…he will want me to make it! <3
:) Thanks, Julie. :)
This recipe looks incredible! We are always looking for something different to make for dinner, this will be perfect!
~Liz@HoosierHomemade
Thank you, Liz. Enjoy the salad. And Happy Weekend!
It’s totally time to get back into grilling. I love that you took it one step further and topped it with the salad. Your pork recipes always look great. Have a terrific weekend.
Thanks a bunch, Heidi. Happy Weekend!
I like everything about this new recipe, Brenda. The flavors sounds amazing.
Ohhhhh, you’d love this, Mom. Put it on your menu plans!
This is so bright and flavorful. Totally my kind of dinner!
Thanks, Miss! Happy Weekend!
If only I could get great grill marks like this!
Hi Lori! The secret: Clean grill grates, high heat, and don’t be too eager to flip the pork – let pork sit without moving it, to let the charred marks develop before turning. This is a great recipe to practice on!
We often cook with pork tenderloin and pork chops, so I am loving all of your pork recipes. With those Asian flavors, I know my family would love this salad.
Thanks, Dara. I hope you give this a try. I love this slice-first, grill-second method = more grill char marks and flavor!
This is SO gorgeous! Love that you grilled the tenderloin. Adds such great flavor and looks beautiful too.
Thank you, Rachel! Happy Weekend! :)