• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipe Index
    • Appetizers & Dips
    • Bakery Recipes
    • Bars & Brownie Recipes
    • Bread Recipes
    • Brunch & Breakfast Recipes
    • Cakes, Cupcakes & Cheesecakes
    • Cheese Recipes
    • Chocolate Recipes
    • Condiments & Sauces
    • Cookies & Crackers
    • Desserts
    • Fruit Recipes
    • Grains & Legumes
    • Muffins and Quick Breads
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Pies & Tarts
    • Readers' Favorite Recipes
  • Collections
    • Freezer Friendly
    • Heritage Recipes
    • Seasonal Recipes
      • Fall
      • Winter
      • Spring
      • Summer
    • Vintage Recipes
    • Holiday Recipes
      • Christmas
      • Easter
      • St. Patrick's Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Valentine's Day
  • Basic recipes
  • About this blog
    • The author
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Accessibility statement

Vintage Kitchen Notes logo

menu icon
go to homepage
  • ALL RECIPES
  • Holidays
  • Seasonal
  • Vintage
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • ALL RECIPES
    • Holidays
    • Seasonal
    • Vintage
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Main Dishes

    Published: Sep 30, 2012 · Modified: Aug 18, 2022 by Paula Montenegro · Income from ads and affiliate links 35 Comments

    Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce

    Jump to Recipe
    Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce

    It turns out that I like to be challenged when it comes to recipes and themes. Just a normal dose of inventiveness, let's not get carried away.  SundaySupper does that often and today is no exception. Our host is lovely Amber of Mama's Blissful Bites, and we're cooking with 5 ingredients or less, not counting salt and pepper.

    A simple theme, but I needed some brainstorming to come up with something worth posting that I would actually make for myself on a regular basis. I decided to do a savory recipe. Pork loin with port shallot sauce to be exact. A welcome change from the mostly sweet posts that invaded this blog in the last two months. I'm a baker at heart, not a cook.

    Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce

    I never really care how many ingredients I use in a recipe. I find it more complicated to use few than to go through a grinding set of detailed spices, vegetables or whatever is needed. But, even though I live alone, there are many times when the fridge is almost empty and it's late, I'm hungry and borderline cranky.

    Though pasta is my absolute staple when it comes to easy dinners, I wanted to do something a bit more interesting, and by that I mean not throwing some peas and ham with spaghetti or processing anything with olive oil and parmesan cheese and call it a pesto, because that's what I actually do most of the time, either that or Chinese takeout.

    Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce

    So I adapted a very old staple of mine, a recipe I used to feed many at different occasions along the years. Like they put at the beginning of many movies, 'this recipe is formatted to fit this theme'. Two of the five ingredients were already spoken for, since there's clearly pork tenderloin involved and it had to be seared in some olive oil. So with the remaining three I made a rich, deeply colored, a bit tangy sauce with shallots, broth and port.
     

    Port is the real deal here. It is strong but a bit sweet at the same time. And, when boiled down for a while, it turns into an amazing thick syrup. The second place goes to the shallots. They're a bit mellower than garlic and sweeter than onion. The perfect choice when the list of five is almost completed. And finally broth. I use vegetable to keep it a bit neutral. It's almost imperative to start with a lightly salted (a lot of emphasis on the word lightly), because the broth is reduced before adding it to the sauce. And then it keeps on reducing with the port and shallots. So the salt content has to be very low at the beginning.

    Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce

    This goes well with red meats of course. And I've also been known to use it as part of mini bruschettas. Toasted bread, a bit of this very reduced shallot port sauce, a piece of brie cheese on top, warm it a bit in the oven and you're in appetizer heaven. No kidding.
     
    Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce

    Print
    clockclock iconcutlerycutlery iconflagflag iconfolderfolder iconinstagraminstagram iconpinterestpinterest iconfacebookfacebook iconprintprint iconsquaressquares iconheartheart iconheart solidheart solid icon
    PORK TENDERLOIN WITH PORT SHALLOT SAUCE

    Pork Tenderloin with Port Shallot Sauce

    Print Recipe
    Save Recipe Recipe Saved

    This is a recipe that uses few ingredients, a simple cooking method and yet delivers big flavors!

    • Total Time: 55 minutes
    • Yield: 2 servings

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup vegetable broth
    • 2 pork tenderloins (about ½ pound each)
    • ¾ cup Port wine
    • ½ cup sliced shallots
    • 4 Tbs Olive oil
    • Salt (just for the pork and freshly ground black pepper)

    Instructions

    1. In a medium saucepan, boil broth until reduced to half a cup, about 15 minutes.
    2. Season pork with salt and pepper.
    3. In a skillet, heat 2 Tbs olive oil.
    4. Add pork and sear well on all sides. Remove and reserve on a plate.
    5. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 Tbs olive oil.
    6. Add sliced shallots, some black pepper, and cook over medium heat until just beginning to color, about 3 minutes.
    7. Add ¼ cup port and let reduce until almost evaporated.
    8. Add ¼ cup of reduced stock and let reduce again until almost evaporated.
    9. Repeat with another ¼ cup of port.
    10. When the mixture is thick and liquids are syrup-like add the seared pork back to the skillet and the remaining ¼ cup each of port and reduced broth.
    11. Let cook for about 5 minutes. This depends greatly on the size of your tenderloins.
    12. Remove from heat, transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest for 3 or 4 minutes.
    13. Meanwhile, check the remaining sauce left in the skillet. If it's too liquid reduce it a bit more while the pork is resting.
    14. Cut the meat into inch-thick slices, arrange on the plates, and spoon sauce over

    Notes

    This recipe serves 2, but it's easily multiplied by two or three. For more than six servings, repeat as many batches as you need. But don't make one huge large pot of sauce. It doesn't work; by the time the liquid reduces to a syrup, the shallots are gone.

    Potatoes and sweet potatoes (mashed or roasted) are a great side dish for this recipe.

    • Author: Paula Montenegro
    • Prep Time: 15
    • Cook Time: 40
    • Category: Main dishes
    • Method: Cooking
    • Cuisine: International

    Keywords: pork with shallot sauce

    Did you make this recipe?

    Tag @vintagekitchenblog on Instagram and hashtag it #vintagekitchenblog

    More Main dishes

    • On white marble a white ramekin with lentil stew. Grey cloth beside it.
      Lentil Stew
    • White plate with lentil cheeseburger on a bun on a wooden board.
      Easy Lentil Burgers
    • Soba noodle salad topped with green beans on white plate, wooden table.
      Sesame Soba Noodles
    • White plate with serving of corn tomato casserole, blue dish in white background
      Pastel Azteca (Mexican chicken casserole)

    About Paula Montenegro

    I'm Paula, a baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe developer, sharing the best ones here with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Thank you for leaving a review for this recipe Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Amanda says

      October 04, 2012 at 2:53 pm

      Passing this on to my sister -she's going to love it!

      Reply
    2. Alice Choi says

      October 03, 2012 at 8:02 pm

      Oh my goodness! This Pork looks amazing!!!! I love pork and will definitely give this recipe a try! thank you for sharing!

      Reply
    3. Patti says

      October 03, 2012 at 11:13 am

      Just love the sauce in this recipe! I'm sure you could use this with chicken as well! Beautiful photos!

      Reply
    4. Susan says

      October 02, 2012 at 8:22 pm

      Just gorgeous! And perfect for autumn.

      Reply
    5. Stephanie Zielinski says

      October 02, 2012 at 12:15 am

      I have had a hard time finding a pork loin recipe I wanted to try, until now! looks delicious!

      Reply
    « Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    Person with apron and tray of scones

    Hi, I'm Paula!

    A baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe finder, sharing the best ones on this blog, with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.

    More about me →

    Featured in:

    Several colorful logos on white canvas

    Popular recipes

    • Shortbread fingers stacked on white surface
      The Best Lemon Shortbread
    • A white bowl with peach dump cake, blue spoon
      Peach Dump Cake
    • Easy No Bake Lemon Dessert
    • White plate with two wedges of roasted pumpkin, white background, herbs, forks, salt.
      Easy Roasted Pumpkin
    • Purple bowl with almond cream being lifted with a silver spoon. Grey and white surface and background.
      Frangipane (almond cream) with video!
    • Lifting a slice of ricotta cheesecake from the whole cake on a white plate with a silver knife. White background.
      Easy Ricotta Cheesecake

    Fruit desserts

    • Serving of apple berry crumble in a white bowl. Hands holding it. Teal background.
      Apple Berry Crumble
    • Close up of chocolate cherry dump cake serving in a white bowl.
      Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake
    • White round dish with peach crisp and silver spoon
      Easy Peach Crumble (or crisp)
    • White plate with square of apple crumb bar with ice cream. Green cloth in the background.
      Easy Apple Crumb Bars

    Footer

    About

    The author
    Privacy Policy
    Amazon Associate
    Cookie Policy
    Accessibility

    Contact

    Sign Up! for emails and updates
    Contact


    Copyright © 2022 Vintage Kitchen Notes