Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin Recipe

This recipe from AllRecipes.com was nothing short of AH-Mazing! We used the 2-pack of tenderloins from Costco and planned to have a good amount of leftovers....but that didn't happen. It went well with some mashed potatoes and broccoli (with cheese, because we are cheese lovers).

Ingredients:

• 2lb pork tenderloin
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1c water
• 3/4c red wine (or 1 mini bottle)
• 3Tbs minced garlic
• 3Tbs soy sauce, reduced sodium
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Place all ingredients in crock pot
• Cook on High for 3.5hr

One special change you'll want to make is to cook this on HIGH for 3.5 hours, not LOW for 4. I think the original poster must have made a mistake. For the red wine, we used a cabernet sauvignon. Since we don't typically keep alcohol in the house, we usually buy the mini-bar bottles that come in 4-packs when a recipe calls for it. We've tried the "cooking wines" in the past, and those are full of salt (as a preservative). It's better to just get the real stuff in smaller quantities, albeit less cost effective. This recipe is a great freezer meal. Simply combine all ingredients in a gallon ziplock bag and freeze until you're ready. Thaw overnight. You can also freeze the marinade part separately if you want to make up a few bags using a full size bottle of wine. The marinade portions fit nicely into quart ziplock bags. If you've got leftovers, try pulling the pork and saving for later to use on sandwiches with your favorite BBQ sauce.

As a side note, let's take a moment to talk about fresh minced garlic. There. Is. No. Substitute. Do not use one of those bottles of minced garlic. Don't grab the dehydrated flakes. Fresh garlic is amazing and will change your life. When you go to the grocery store, buy a head of garlic (looks like a white ball with some roots coming out of the bottom). When ready to use, pull off a few small cloves (look like oval pieces). Next, peel them. You can easily peel the skin off of the individual cloves by pinching the clove or rolling it around on the countertop. Finally, place your skinless cloves into your press. I love my Pampered Chef garlic press, specifically because it comes with a cleaning brush that clips into the handle when not in use. If you don't have one of these, get one. ...And while you're at it, buy one for a friend too!