Char Siu Pork Tenderloin (38g Protein)
Char siu from a Cantonese roast shop is usually pork shoulder or belly, which is why it tastes so good and why a few slices carry a day’s worth of fat. Swap in pork tenderloin and you keep the sticky five spice glaze but end up with 38g of protein and about 7g of fat per serving.
No barbecue hooks, no special oven. A rack over a foil tray does the job, and the active work is maybe 15 minutes.
Why this works
Tenderloin has almost no fat, which means it has almost no margin for error. The fix is a thermometer. Pull the pork at 60 to 62C and rest it for 10 minutes; it carries over to a safe, juicy finish. Cook it to the chalky 70s and no glaze can save it. The water in the tray below matters too. Char siu drippings are mostly sugar, and on bare foil they burn and smoke out the kitchen before the pork is done.
Ingredient notes
Hoisin plus honey plus soy plus five spice gets you 90 percent of roast shop flavor. The missing 10 percent is red fermented bean curd, which is worth adding (one cube, mashed into the marinade) if your Asian grocer stocks it, and entirely skippable if not. I skip the red food coloring; the broiler gives you those dark mahogany edges honestly. Shaoxing wine can be replaced with dry sherry, and the dish survives without either.
Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk the hoisin, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of the honey, shaoxing wine, five spice, garlic, and white pepper together. Set 2 tablespoons of the marinade aside in the fridge for glazing later.
- Coat the tenderloins in the rest of the marinade in a zip bag or container. Marinate at least 1 hour, ideally overnight. The flavor genuinely improves with time, so plan ahead if you can.
- Heat the oven to 220C (425F). Set a rack over a foil-lined tray and pour a cup of water into the tray. The drippings from char siu marinade burn and smoke without it.
- Roast the tenderloins on the rack for 15 minutes.
- Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon honey into the reserved marinade. Brush the pork all over with it, then roast another 8 to 10 minutes until the internal temperature reads 60 to 62C (140 to 144F) at the thickest point.
- Optional but worth it: run the pork under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes for charred, lacquered edges. Watch it the entire time, honey goes from caramel to carbon fast.
- Rest 10 minutes before slicing. The temperature carries to about 65C (149F) and the juices stay in the meat instead of on the board.
Tips and storage
Char siu might be the single best meal prep protein. It keeps 4 days refrigerated, slices clean when cold, and is just as good in fried rice, noodle soup, or a sandwich as it is over plain rice. It freezes well too, whole and wrapped tight, for up to 2 months. I make a chicken version in the air fryer char siu chicken when I want this flavor on a weeknight with zero planning, and the lemongrass pork meal prep bowls are the move if you are building lunches for the week.
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