Whenever cooking for a group or gathering, no matter how big or small, it can always be quite overwhelming. After all, you’re trying to figure out how much each person needs as a suitable serving size. If you overfeed them then there is food gone to waste. Yet if you underfeed them your guests are left feeling hungry and unsatisfied. Knowing how much beef tenderloin for 4 adults, 20 adults, or even more can be a seriously helpful skill to have when preparing meals for a gathering of friends or family.
Table of Contents
- What is Beef Tenderloin?
- How Much Beef Tenderloin Should be Served Per Person?
- Buying Beef Tenderloin
- Beef Tenderloin Nutritional Information
- Are 6 Ounces of Beef Tenderloin Enough Per Person?
- FAQs on Beef Tenderloin
What is Beef Tenderloin?
Beef tenderloin is an incredibly tender, and expensive, cut of beef that is loved for its lean yet tender complexion. The tenderloin is a part of the incredibly popular T-bone steak and is also part of the porterhouse steak. Filet mignon also comes from this same cut of beef as it is just so tender and perfect for cooking with.
More scientifically, the tenderloin is a muscle in an oblong shape that extends along the lower portion of the spine. The meat is so tender as this muscle rarely gets any exercise due to its placement. There is a thick layer or suet that envelopes the cut, making it a bit of work to harvest. However, this suet, a crumbly fat, can be used in the same way as lard which can minimize waste when harvesting a cow.
On either side of the tenderloin, there are other muscles. These are known as the chain, very commonly removed before the tenderloin is sold. It is incredibly rare that these are ever connected when sold. If you wanted them, you would have to specifically ask your butcher not to remove them.
How Does Tenderloin Taste?
Despite being an incredibly tender, expensive, and sought-after cut of meat; the tenderloin is not all that flavorsome.
When it comes to cuts of meat, most specifically beef, the flavor is derived mostly from the amount of marbling that the meat has. This is a culinary term to describe intramuscular fat. This marbling or fat is what flavors a lot of beef as it renders and ensures it is moist. As tenderloin is incredibly lean and has barely any marbling, it lacks a defining flavor. it is also prone to drying out very easily if cooked wrongly.
To help add flavor and prevent drying out, it is very common to see tenderloin being cooked while it is wrapped in bacon as this will not only impart the flavor of bacon onto the tenderloin but will also help retain the moisture in the cut of beef.
While the beef tenderloin may be slightly lacking in terms of flavor, it is an incredibly easy meat to marinate. As it is so lean, it absorbs marinade incredibly well. Any decent marinade will flavor your entire tenderloin as long as you know what you are doing.
How Much Beef Tenderloin Should be Served Per Person?
Deciding how much beef tenderloin is a good serving amount for each person can be quite difficult. There are a lot of variables that should be taken into account such as the person’s age, appetite, metabolism. Also, how many other side dishes and additional snacks are going to be served.
A serving of tenderloin is defined as how much of that they should have per meal. It is not an estimate of how much tenderloin they can eat until they are full. The serving size is meant to be a guideline as to how much tenderloin they should eat with the assumption that there are going to be sides, drinks, and a well-balanced plate that has all the recommended nutrients of a healthy meal.
The rough guideline for how much beef tenderloin a single person should eat is around 5-6 ounces per person. This is 170 grams.
When served alongside some general side dishes such as potatoes and vegetables, the 6 ounces of the beef tenderloin will be a sufficient amount. It should fill them up, while also giving them all the protein they need. Serving nothing but 6 ounces of beef tenderloin to your guests is going to result in almost all of them being hungry as on its own. After all, this is not much food at all.
If you are ensuring that your guests have side dishes and appetizers, and maybe even dessert, then 6 ounces is a perfect amount of beef tenderloin to serve for a single person. As well as this baseline, you should then take into account the likelihood of each person eating this much. If you are serving children, teens, and adults, it is much more likely that the children will struggle to eat the 6 ounces of tenderloin so you can instead serve them 4 ounces to cut back on how much you have to buy.
If you accidentally serve too much, you will be happy to know that it can be quite easy to store cooked beef in the fridge. This’ll will give you an extra few days to eat it. It’s great for cutting down on food waste and also for allowing you to prep your meals ahead of time.
Alongside beef tenderloin, other foods can be incredibly challenging to properly portion for a person. Pasta and rice are very difficult to portion for each person. Although they are some ways to figure out how much pasta or rice you need per person.
Buying Beef Tenderloin
When it comes to buying your own beef tenderloin, it can be quite tempting to go to the supermarket and buy it from there. This is a good idea if you are limited on funds and cannot make it to the butchers before you need the meat.
However, if you are able to, going to the butcher is a much better idea as the beef there is a lot fresher and all of the fat will be trimmed off.
Not only will any excess fat be trimmed off of the tenderloin, but the butcher will also happily cut the tenderloin into even steaks if you ask them to do so. Tenderloin is already a pricey choice of beef. So you might as well get it prepared as professionally and as well as you can by going to the butchers for this. They will have excellent high-quality beef ready for you to buy and they will prepare it incredibly well for you.
If you are buying from the supermarket instead of the butchers, you will want to try and choose the best quality cuts you can out of the selection you are given. The tenderloins in supermarkets will either come whole or cut into steaks. It is up to you which type you buy as you will need to choose differently depending on how you are cooking and serving them.
Ideally, you want to look for a trimmed cut of beef that has barely any excess fat connected to it. Most tenderloins will be in a package where you can still feel the meat. So it is a good idea to try and squeeze the meat to see how it is. You want the meat to be firm and moist.
Beef Tenderloin Nutritional Information
While it has been mentioned that beef tenderloin is a very lean cut of beef and has minimal fat in it, it is still worth understanding the nutrition that the cut has. While a serving is around 5-6 ounces, the nutritional info will be based on a single-ounce serving of beef tenderloin.
For the main nutrients in an ounce of beef tenderloin, you will find;
- 5.1g fat (2.5g monounsaturated, 2.4g saturated, 0.2g polyunsaturated)
- 24.1mg cholesterol
- 14.2mg sodium
- 85.6mg potassium
- 0g carbohydrates
- 5.6g protein
As you can see, this meat is very lean as it has more protein in it than it does fat. The nutrients were based on a singular ounce of beef tenderloin. So a serving that is 6 ounces will have a much higher content count of these nutrients. In 6 ounces of beef tenderloin, there is 33g or protein which is an incredibly good amount. Assuming the meal has good side dishes served with it, there is going to be a great amount of protein, fats, and carbs all over.
If you want to look at the minerals and vitamins of beef tenderloin, per 1 ounce there are;
- Vitamins b6 and b12
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Selenium
- amino acids
Beef tenderloin is a pretty well-rounded food and can be eaten quite often without worrying about any immediate health concerns. As there is little fat in the meat, it is not very fattening. it will not increase your body weight by lots. Additionally, there is not too much sodium in the tenderloin which is also a good sign. There is plenty of protein so this is a great choice for anyone who is trying to eat a protein-rich diet.
Are 6 Ounces of Beef Tenderloin Enough Per Person?
While it will always depend on who you are feeding, 6 ounces of beef tenderloin is a very good guideline to base your judgment on.
While it can sometimes be a bit too much or a slight bit too little, it is going to, on average, be the best portion size you can choose.
FAQs on Beef Tenderloin
Is beef tenderloin the same as filet mignon?
Filet mignon is a steak that is cut from a beef tenderloin. The tenderloin itself is an oblong muscle that is very tender and has little to no marbling. To get a filet mignon, you must simply cut the tenderloin into a steak that is around 3 inches thick. Multiple filet mignons can be harvested from an average tenderloin.
