Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
As someone who grew up in the Midwest, Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches have always just been a part of life. Like the miles and miles of cornfields that pop up every summer. This sandwich is inevitably on almost every menu of any restaurant you will go to. I don’t know of its exact origin. But it is said to have been created in a place called Nick’s Kitchen in Huntington, Indiana. I live in the neighboring state of Illinois so I am grateful that it found its way into my neck of the woods!
If you have never experienced the joy of sinking your teeth into one and are wondering what it is, let me tell you. It is a slice of pork loin, pounded out and tenderized. It is then coated in a breading consisting of crushed up saltine crackers and fried to golden, crispy perfection. Simple, yet so incredibly delicious! Is your mouth watering?
And if you like sandwiches as much as I do, check these out!
Chopped Italian Sliders – these have been viewed on my social media channels over 40 MILLION times!!!
Chicken Caesar Sub Sandwiches – one of my personal favorites
Chicken Salad – my late grandma’s recipe and one that I get requests for constantly!
So How Do You Make a Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich?
You can either buy a pork loin and cut it yourself. Or you can buy it presliced. My grocery store runs awesome sales on these so I make sure to stock up when they do. They will be labeled boneless pork loin chops. the ones I am using are 4 oz each. Then you want to cover them with plastic wrap and pound them with a meat mallet until they are about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
Next you want to prepare your breading station. Put 2 sleeves of saltine crackers into a ziploc bag (or a food processor) and crush them up. I put them in a baggie and used a rolling pin. Transfer them to a bowl, then add flour and seasonings and mix well. The exact measurements will be on the recipe card below.
For the egg wash, you will mix eggs, milk and the seasonings used in the cracker mix.
Then you will dip the loins into the egg wash, and then into the crackers. Make sure to press down firmly on the cracker mix to make sure it really sticks. You then want to let them sit for at least 15 minutes to really make sure that breading isn’t going anywhere! I just set them on parchment paper.
Heat up some oil (I recommend canola, vegetable or peanut oil) to about 350 degrees. Carefully place the cutlets into the oil, and fry for about 2-3 minutes per side. They cook quick! They are done when they are a nice golden brown on both sides. Place them on a cooling rack to drain.
How To Serve Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches
My favorite way to eat these is on a grilled bun. Then the toppings are whatever you want! think of it as a burger- so pretty much anything! I prefer to keep it simple so the taste of the tenderloin shines through. Pickle, onion, mustard and ketchup! My husband puts a ton of mayo on his!
Some good sides would be French fries, pasta salad, potato salad, baked beans, Lipton onion soup roasted potatoes or even funeral potatoes.
If you do make this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating! I love hearing from you and it helps so much! Thank you!
Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
Ingredients
- (6) 4 oz Slices of a pork loin
Dry Batter Ingredients
- 2 sleeves Saltine Crackers (approximately 80 crackers), crushed I put them in a baggie and used a rolling pin but a food processor is also great for this
- 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 tbs each Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and Black Pepper
Wet Batter Ingredients
- 3 Eggs
- 1/4 Cup Milk
- Same seasonings as for the dry batter
- 4 Cups Oil, for frying Canola, Vegetable or Peanut oil work best
- Salt to taste if needed
Instructions
- Cover the slices of the pork loin with plastic wrap and use a meat mallet to pound them out to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
- In 2 large bowls, mix together the ingredients for the dry and wet batters.
- Dip the pork loins slices into the wet batter first, then into the dry batter. Be sure to press down on them while they are in the dry batter to make sure they get coated really well.
- Let them sit for about 10-15 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a large pot or deep fryer to 350 degrees. Carefully place the tenderloins in the oil and fry for approximately 2 minutes per side. Flip when it starts to brown on the edges and floats to the top. They are done when they are a golden brown on both sides.
- Season with salt IF NEEDED. I find that they don't usually need any because of the amount in the saltines, but feel free to add salt if you need to.
- Place on a cooling rack and repeat with each remaining cutlet.
I think the breaded pork sNdwich, shown in the pic, us Hoosiers look like pigs. DISGUSTING!!!
I really don’t see why you felt the need to come on here and be nasty. Your behavior is what is disgusting.
Yeah, I pity you is your nickname Karen? Now I’m not from the Midwest, but your spelling and sentence structure are that of a Child.
Thank-you for sharing your tenderloin recipe! It was very easy to make! I give it 5 stars and recommend it to all my family and friends!! This is the best tenderloin sandwich I have ever made thank’s to you! I really appreciate it! Sincerely, Cindy.
Thank you so much for the high remarks! I am so glad you enjoyed the tenderloins! 🙂
I didn’t use this particular recipe, but it’s the same recipe I’ve been using for years. I’m originally from Indiana, but have lived in Arizona for 30+ years. Obviously AZ’s outside the Breaded Pork Tenderloin boundaries. Therefore, if I wanted one without having to go home, I’d better learn how to make them. So I did! The secret is how thin you pound out the meat.
DON’T keep pounding the meat to try replicate the size in a restaurant. (They have commercial kitchens, we don’t) That makes them too thin and tasteless. Pound the Tenderloin out to about ¼ – ⅜ of an inch thick for best results and taste.
They’re not hard to make and you’ll thank yourself later for learning how to make these. Like above, we use 4 Pork Tenderloins to make approx. 15-18 Tenderloins, and freeze them. When we want one, we take out the frozen Tenderloin, put it in the 360° oil and 4 minutes later we’ve got Breaded Pork Tenderloins!
Good luck!
This is the best breaded Pork tenderloin recipe I have tried!!!My brother in-law would go to Iowa where he grew up and bring these back. This recipe is the closest to those. Thank you for sharing!! This will be my go to recipe from now on!
Thanks for the recipe, I too live in Arizona and I miss breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. It’s like Arizona only has breaded chicken, like WHO CARES
Yes I to lived in Indiana and Arizona and it very true they don’t make the huge tenderloin sandwiches like you can get from Indiana. Love this recipe. Thank you so much
I was literally just thinking about making these again and I got the notification that you commented! I am really glad you like the recipe!
It is a nice industry standard version recipe of what most of us hope to see on their plate when they desire to satisfy a simple craving for the industry standard pork tenderloin sandwich. My scan to see what folks are doing with this classic wound up with mostly standard approaches. My only surprise is how much less often folks add bread crumbs in with the cracker crumbs. I agree with cwilken regarding the nastiness. Although grammar is important at all times, the discussion of fried up lunch sandwiches on websites is not where torching up folks for a couple of typo’s with scolding notes regarding grammar is ideal. It often does not do much of anything but upset kind souls that are sharing knowledge. A kind suggestion is to save that sort of torching up for someone submitting a final cookbook draft. Even then, stereotyping large groupings of residents should only be presented after the findings of intense studies have been concluded and can be published along with such scolding outbursts. A great place for complaining is for when we all have cooked long enough with enough variety to realize that most of what we find to be flavorful and the most enjoyable to consume winds up getting us all in trouble with our physicians who all are bound by law to point out all of our high cholesterol levels. Then there is always the matter of dill vs. sweet pickles to argue about. It’s a nice recipe. May we all wind up with those big fryers with the baskets that can accommodate those huge pounded out tenderloins that dwarf even the biggest of buns. Those always involve the decision whether to spread the condiments outside the bun or not in order to eliminate those first bites that leave something to be desired. May we all use those big fryers sparingly. Thank you for your efforts to share. We all have to eat.
This my first time attempting this recipe.. Are you sure about 1 tablespoons (tbs) of each seasoning in bag and eggs? For a total of 2 tablespoons of pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Seems like a lot. I hope it’s correct. But looks very excessive in egg bath…
My thought whenever I make a recipe for the first time is that I can always add more seasoning at the end if needed. In this case, you would most likely just need to add salt. I am a little heavy handed with the seasonings, but if you feel it is too much just cut it in half 🙂
It is a nice industry standard version recipe of what most of us hope to see on their plate when they desire to satisfy a simple craving for the industry standard pork tenderloin sandwich. My scan to see what folks are doing with this classic wound up with mostly standard approaches. My only surprise is how much less often folks add bread crumbs in with the cracker crumbs. I agree with cwilken regarding the nastiness. Although grammar is important at all times, the discussion of fried up lunch sandwiches on websites is not where torching up folks for a couple of typo’s with scolding notes regarding grammar is ideal. It often does not do much of anything but upset kind souls that are sharing knowledge. A kind suggestion is to save that sort of torching up for someone submitting a final cookbook draft. Even then, stereotyping large groupings of residents should only be presented after the findings of intense studies have been concluded and can be published along with such scolding outbursts. A great place for complaining is for when we all have cooked long enough with enough variety to realize that most of what we find to be flavorful and the most enjoyable to consume winds up getting us all in trouble with our physicians who all are bound by law to point out all of our high cholesterol levels. Then there is always the matter of dill vs. sweet pickles to argue about. It’s a nice recipe. May we all wind up with those big fryers with the baskets that can accommodate those huge pounded out tenderloins that dwarf even the biggest of buns. Those always involve the decision whether to spread the condiments outside the bun or not in order to eliminate those first bites that leave something to be desired. May we all use those big fryers sparingly. Thank you for your efforts to share. We all have to eat.
Very simple recipe that was a crowd pleaser. I’ve made it a few times and it’s always a hit. I didn’t need to make any adjustments.
Hi Im a Arizona transplant from Iowa Im 71 now it was a staple growing up eating tenderloins I like the use of cracker crumbs over bread or panko crumbs easy straight forward recipe .they were delicious thank you Craig
I am very glad you enjoyed them so much, Craig! Thank you!
Awesome instructions everything good thanks
Thank you so much Carlos!
I make these usually once a week at the request of my beyond picky teenager. I follow this recipe as is, the only change is I fry at 7 per side, just a preference for us. I’m from Indiana and I’ve found tenderloins are either flat with too much breading or too thick with a heavy breading. This is the perfect tenderloin to me. It’s not too thin and not too thick with just the perfect amount of breading. Usually served with wavy chips and veggies and condiments on the sammies!