Stop searching for a fabulously easy pork tenderloin and cabbage recipe, and try this!
A combination of a mere 5 ingredients and minimal fussing will result in a yummy pork tenderloin and cabbage meal!
Today’s recipe will help you create a meal of pork and cabbage that will blow your tastebuds away; the simplicity makes it the best!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Pork Tenderloin & Cabbage
- You can easily adjust the recipe if you are cooking for a small family or a large party.
- The ingredients are easy to find
- You can make this ahead of serving
- The meal of pork and cabbage is easy to transport
So have you cooked with pork? Have you prepared pork? There are so many ways you can make it, but today’s is by far the easiest way!
For as long as I can remember, my mom prepared pork tenderloin and shredded cabbage.
I’d almost go as far as to say it is one of her signature meals.
As a meal, it was both simple and delicious.
Therefore, I named this recipe simple and delicious pork tenderloin with shredded cabbage.
What’s NOT in this recipe for my pork tenderloin and cabbage?
You’ll not have to put a lot of effort into this meal, the prep is very easy.
The ingredients are not hard to find.
However, you will now discover a meat meal that is super easy to create and offers a boatload of flavor.
Naturally, as with all of my recipes, you can tweak them and make them your own.
Perhaps you want more salt, pepper, or other seasonings; add them.
For those who prefer a cabbage mix, use it!
Tips For Making Your pork tenderloin and cabbage festive
If you are making this for a holiday meal, you can dress it up!
Add red and green cabbage with pork to make this recipe for the holidays and make it very festive.
Colorful red and green cabbage with pork truly makes this a fun plate to serve during the holidays.
Red and Green and Cabbage with pork is fabulous
So if you choose to use red and green cabbage with pork, you can make it look incredible when plating because the color adds to the snap of this meal.
The key to cabbage is shredding it small enough that it cooks evenly, stirring and salting it enough to taste.
Also, if I add, letting it get cooked a bit more on the bottom of the pot gives it an incredible flavor.
Cabbage starts crunchy and ends cooked so well, almost carmelized, so yummy.
That’s right, a simple addition of colorful cabbages will take this plate from every day to incredibly festive!
So let the red and green cabbage with pork color up your table easily instead of tons of table decor!
The other thing I want to mention is that you could buy a bag or 2 of coleslaw mix as it is shredded, and the carrots will add more of a pop of color and save you from doing the shredding!
Bonus Tip for this simple meal of pork and cabbage
Did I mention that you can make this meal via 2 simple and different methods, whichever you prefer?
Prepare this meal of pork and cabbage in either a frying pan or an Instant Pot!
And don’t worry; I’ve provided directions for each!
As a last bonus, you can add extra veggies in and really make my mom’s pork tenderloin and cabbage your signature meal.
Meals made with pork have many versatile options.
Beyond the pork tenderloin recipe I am sharing now, I wanted to offer a few other options.
Pork is versatile, so I went all in here to share some of my other recipes.
Honey Dijon Pork Tenderloin is a great-tasting pork meal that is great for parties but can be made in smaller batches for fewer people.
Do you love cooking with an Instant Pot?
City chicken is the recipe your family will swoon over, each time you serve it, and it’s a great comfort food source!
Onions & Pork Tenderloin and Shredded Cabbage
One thing my mom always does that pulls the most profound flavor of the cabbage out is fries up those onions.
In other words, she’s not cheap with them and doesn’t overdo it; she strikes a balance right in the middle.
When I wrote the recipe out, it’s more of a ‘bunch of this’ and a ‘ bit of that if we are being transparent.
However, for the sake of this recipe, I tried to scale it as close to what she uses when I watch her time after time prepares this meal.
Tips and Notes about Onions and Frying Them for this meal of pork and cabbage
I do love onions, and many do.
I suggest doing as my mom does and maybe redo how the recipe is written.
My mom will separately saute the onions until they are almost caramelized, and yes, it is an additional step.
Still, the taste of those caramelized onions against the cooked shredded cabbage is amazing.
Flavor Up The Pork Tenderloin with Optional Add-ins
If you love marinates, you could marinate your pork medallions ahead of time in your favorite marinade.
Additionally, if you prefer soy sauce or sesame sauce, you could cook the meat with those as well when cooking the medallions.
Do you love spicy and hot? What about a hot orange sauce, with fresh orange zest and some orange juice in the pan while preparing the meat?
I love creating an Asian spin on the recipe and adding soy sauce with a little orange zest and some hot sauce! Perfection!
Perfect For Parties and More
Use this pork tenderloin and cabbage entree for weeknight dinners, ladies’ luncheons, baby showers, bridal showers, parties, graduations, Father’s Day, or any party you want to serve a no-fuss meal, and using your Instant Pot makes it faster and more efficient.
You’ll find that using your Instant Pot may be the best option for making this in bulk.
Don’t forget to purchase shredded cabbage to make your life easier, and don’t fuss with over-chopping onions; just cut and go.
Once the onions are sliced and sauteed, they truly fall apart anyway!
The recipe for pork tenderloin and cabbage (shredded)
Pork Tenderloin with Green and Red Cabbage
Ingredients
- 1 lb. pork tenderloin cut into thin medallions
- 5 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- A medium onion (and you can add an additional 1/2 for more depth but totally optional) peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 small head green cabbage rinsed, and then thinly sliced (shredded)
- 1/2 small head red cabbage
- if using an Instant Pot you will need 1/4 water, but this is not for the frying pan method
- Optional:
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Grab a large frying pan.
- Place it on medium heat and put 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in the frying pan.
- Add in the pork and salt and paper.
- You’ll cook the pork on one side, and then flip it to the other.
- Each side will be about 4-5 minutes and you want each side to be golden in color. (8 – 10minutes)
- Once this happens, remove from heat and set the pork aside.
- (If using an Instant Pot, place the oil in, add the meat, press saute, and follow the same procedure as listed above for the pork preparation.)
- Using the same pan, add the other 3 remaining tablespoons of Olive Oil into the pan (or into the Instant Pt liner whichever you are using)
- Now, place the onion in and then the cabbages (you can also fry the onion separately from the cabbage as mentioned in my post)
- I suggest more salt and pepper atop this mixture
- You will now cook this mixture and stir it on medium heat (or in Instant Pot on Saute) until the veggies become what I will term ‘glossy’ or a tad softer. (about 15-20 minutes).
- Once the veggies are softer, it’s time to add the pork back into the skillet (or the Instant Pot)
- For the skillet, you will cook about 5-7 more minutes on medium heat.
- Remove from pan and serve.
- Enjoy.
- In the Instant Pot, add 1/4 c of water, turn off the saute, place the lid on. Seal, program high pressure, soup for 5 minutes and then allow the pressure to release naturally. Serve.
