Ree Drummond Said Her Beef Tenderloin Recipe Is Why She’s Not a Vegetarian

Ree Drummond’s recipe for roasted beef tenderloin is so delicious, she said it’s the reason why she’s not a vegetarian anymore. The Pioneer Woman star shared her tips and tricks for the perfect tenderloin.

Ree Drummond said her beef tenderloin recipe is the reason ‘I’m no longer a vegetarian’

Drummond wrote about her roasted beef tenderloin recipe in an October 2021 blog post on The Pioneer Woman website. “Sigh. Beef tenderloin. You’ve tasted it, right? Oh, believe me, if you have, you’d remember it,” she wrote. “If you haven’t, this is the first day of the rest of your life.”

Drummond continued, “Beef tenderloin, or ‘eye fillet,’ as it’s known in other parts of the world, is cut from the middle of a cow. The tenderloin comes from the spine area and hangs between the shoulder blade and hip socket. This muscle tissue doesn’t do too much, so it’s the most tender part of the cow.”

The Pioneer Woman star said the meat is a huge gamechanger and she left her vegetarian past behind for it. “This roast is absolutely, positively, the softest, most buttery-textured meat on earth,” she explained. “And it’s why I’m no longer a vegetarian.”

‘The Pioneer Woman’ star has an easy tenderloin recipe

Drummond demonstrated how to make her peppercorn roasted beef tenderloin on an episode of The Pioneer Woman. “It is so flavorful, so delicious, and so tender.”

She seasoned the tenderloin with salt, then added what she called “a little bit of an unusual ingredient.”

“I always sprinkle a little bit of sugar on the top of my roasted beef tenderloins,” Drummond said. “The sugar doesn’t make the tenderloins sweet at all — it just sort of enhances the savory. It’s a magical thing.”

The Pioneer Woman star sprinkled crushed peppercorns over the top, pressing them into the meat. “The peppercorns add great flavor but they also give the meat just a little bit of spice and that’s really, really nice,” she explained.

In her blog post, Drummond mentioned why liberally seasoning the meat is a must. “Important point: When you’re seasoning a tenderloin, you have to remember that it will be sliced after it’s cooked,” she wrote. “So you’re talking about a much smaller surface area — just the rim surrounding the piece — for seasonings than, say a regular steak, which you’d season on both sides.

She added, “So you can much more liberally season a tenderloin because you’re having to pack more of a punch in order for the seasoning to make an impact.”

‘The Pioneer Woman’ star adds an extra delicious topping before serving

Drummond placed a meat thermometer into the end of the beef. She roasted the tenderloin in a 475 degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reached 125 to 130 degrees for medium-rare.

Before serving the beef, The Pioneer Woman star melted butter in a skillet and crushed garlic cloves then removed the garlic. She drizzled it over the beef after removing it from the oven, covered it with foil, and allowed it to rest for 10 minutes.

The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.