5 Ingredient Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin Recipe (with Cranberry)

If you’re only going to make one SweetPhi fall recipe, this 5 ingredient Instant Pot pork tenderloin with cranberry sauce gravy is the one! What I LOVE about this recipe is that it cooks in an Instant Pot and so it’s an easy Instant Pot pork recipe, and it creates the most delicious gravy with it!

What ingredients do you need to make this cranberry pork tenderloin?

• Extra virgin olive oil: heating up the oil helps get a great sear on the pork tenderloin.
• Pork tenderloin: My favorite lean meat that is super affordable and great for a family
• Garlic cloves: because garlic makes everything taste better
• Cans whole cranberry sauce: if you want to spend a little extra time, you can opt to make homemade cranberry sauce as well.
• Ginger: helps add an extra little kick of flavor

This 5 Ingredient Instant Pot pork tenderloin with cranberry sauce is such a great family dinner.  The pork comes out super tender and I can report that Ben absolutely loved this meal; especially the gravy.  He had two big pieces of pork and wanted lots of gravy. He kept calling the gravy ‘tea’ so he kept saying ‘more tea please’ lol.

To make this meal, follows these simple steps

1. Pour oil into Instant Pot and set instant pot to sear setting for 12 minutes. Add in pork tenderloin and pressed garlic and sprinkle pork with salt. Sear pork tenderloin so that a nice brown crust forms. Use tongs to flip it one or two times.

2. Add in 2 cans of whole cranberry sauce and ginger, secure the lid with the valve in sealing position. Pressure cook for 15 minutes, and allow a natural release (about 5 minutes.)

3. Remove the pork tenderloin and put onto a cutting board, allow to rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve. Pour sauce/gravy into a gravy boat and serve on the side.

4. Please note that the gravy thickens up a little bit as the lid is off, it’s a sauce consistency that thickens a little into what I’d consider a gravy

Some tips for making the best pork tenderloin dinner:

• This is a great make-ahead meal for serving at family dinner. I made everything ahead, and then served it/warmed it in a baking dish (as pictured below – baked at 300 degrees for 20 minutes).

• Let the Instant Pot naturally release vs. quick release. It kind of sputters a little liquid out of the valve if you quick release it. It still works, it’s just a little shocking lol.

• You can also make this into a freezer meal by making it, and then freezing the pork and gravy in separate containers.

• I like to buy pork tenderloins from Costco, there’s 2 tenderloins per package and 2 packages sold together, so you get 4 pork tenderloins.

• You could substitute a pork roast for the pork tenderloins.  I have also made this with thick cut pork chops too. You could also make this with a turkey breast-just increase the cook time, see my post on easy instant pot turkey breast

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, this meal would also work great in a slow cooker!  Just be sure to sear the pork in a pan then transfer it into a slow cooker and cook on high for 2-3 hours (slow cookers vary, so be sure to watch the this so it doesn’t overcook and dry out the pork).  I like to serve this pork tenderloin with cranberry sauce gravy with broccoli and mashed potatoes, but really you can use any sides (for fall, squash is another great option!)

5 Ingredient Instant Pot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

This 5 Ingredient Instant Pot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin is the easiest fall dinner with little clean up!

1 from 2 votes

Print Rate

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 27 minutes

Resting time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 42 minutes

Equipment

• Instant Pot
• Grill Tongs

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pork tenderloins about 3-4 lbs. total*
• 3 garlic cloves pressed
• 2 cans whole cranberry sauce 14 oz. each. You can also make cranberry sauce from scratch.
• 1 Tbs. grated ginger
• 1 tsp. salt

Instructions

• Pour oil into Instant Pot and set instant pot to sear setting for 12 minutes. Add in pork tenderloin and pressed garlic and sprinkle pork with salt. Sear pork tenderloin so that a nice brown crust forms. Use tongs to flip it one or two times. 
• Add in 2 cans of whole cranberry sauce and ginger, secure the lid with the valve in sealing position. Pressure cook for 15 minutes, and allow a natural release (about 5 minutes.)**
• Remove the pork tenderloin and put onto a cutting board, allow to rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve. Pour gravy into a gravy boat and serve on the side. 

Notes

*The pork tenderloins I use are from Costco and are a little bigger than ones I've found at the grocery store. A typical pork tenderloin is between 1.5-2.5 lbs and is a round cylinder. A pork loin has more fat and is bigger. That cut of meat can be used as well, but the cook time will vary.

**I have tried this on quick release, and while it does work just fine, some liquid splutters out of the valve, so I would recommend natural release. 

A note about the cranberry sauce gravy consistency-the gravy thickens up a little bit as the lid is off and the pork is resting, it's a sauce consistency that thickens a little into what I'd consider a gravy