In my quest to find something other than turkey to serve at Thanksgiving I decided to try my luck at a stuffed beef tenderloin. Spoiler alert – the experiment worked! LOL!
While this looks like a fancy dinner the actual making of this meal is really easy. Think about ingredients and flavors you like, sauté them in a pan, then roll it up inside the meat and bake uncovered and that’s really it. Unless of course, you would like to try your hand at getting the beef flat, if so check out my Instagram highlight of how the process went for me.
Stuffed Beef Tenderloin Filling Ideas
You can really let your imagination go and use whatever your taste buds are feeling. Just be sure to sauté the ingredients before you roll them up in the beef. Raw ingredients will not be tender if you do not precook them.
- Bacon, onion, garlic, and mushrooms
- Sage, cranberries, and soft breadcrumbs
- Sundried tomatoes with spinach, onion and feta cheese
- Mushrooms cooked in red wine with herbs like thyme, parsley and rosemary
Mushroom, Spinach and Olive Stuffed Beef Tenderloin
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Ingredients
- 1 beef tenderloin, trimmed and sliced or pounded flat*
- 1 small sweet onion – chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped Kalamative olives – chopped
- 1/2 bag baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup mushrooms – chopped
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- cooking twine for wrapping up the tenderloin
Instructions
- Flaten the tenderloin*. If you’re feeling adventurous you can do this yourself (see notes below) or ask the butcher where you purchased the tenderloin and he/she will most likely do this step for you free of charge.
- In a deep skillet melt 1 tablespoon of butter and saute the diced onion, season with salt and pepper and cook until slightly tender. Then add in the chopped mushrooms and cook until tender. Lower heat and add in the olives and spinach. Stir until the spinach has wilted and reduced. Remove from pan and allow it to cool to room temp. Note – do not fill the tenderloin with hot filling, it could start to cook from the inside out.
- Lay the flattened tenderloin out and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Once the filling has cooled place a layer of filling over the entire tenderloin.
- Starting at the short end, and using both hands, tightly roll the meat into itself. Then, using cooking twine tie the roll so it stays together while cooking.
- Bake at 270F for about 1 hour or the internal temp reaches 125F, for medium-rare. Cover with foil and allow to rest at least 10 minutes prior to slicing.
- Serve with horseradish sauce or make a little gravy out of the pan drippings.
Notes
*To flatten the tenderloin – make a slit on the top of the meat but do not go all the way thru. Open the two sides like a book and press down. Place beef between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound to an even 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Be careful not to pound too aggressively (as I did) because you will make holes in the beef.
You can watch the highlight reel of the process on my Instagram account.
Keywords: Beef Tenderloin, Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday, dinner
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