Beef Tenderloin vs. Filet Mignon: What Are the Differences?

Beef tenderloin is a larger cut of beef consisting of the entire tenderloin muscle. The tenderloin is a long muscle—ranging from eighteen to twenty-four inches—stretching from the loin primal to the sirloin primal. This muscle is near the cow’s backbone, so it hardly gets any exercise. Hence, the muscle fibers are small and extremely tender, yielding a fine-grained, lean piece of meat with very little connective tissue or fat—usually only a thin layer of silverskin that chefs remove before cooking.

Butchers and grocery stores may sell the whole muscle as beef tenderloin steaks or break it into smaller steaks, such as the filet mignon that comes from the front (loin end) of the tenderloin.

Filet mignon is a tender cut of beef from the narrow front part of the tenderloin, near the short loin. It’s a very lean cut, with hardly any marbling or connective tissue. Since it doesn’t have a lot of fat, the filet mignon cut isn’t especially full of beef flavor, but it is extremely tender: A properly cooked filet mignon almost melts in your mouth.

Filet mignon is a small cut—hence its name: “mignon” means “small” in French—often just one and a half to two and a half inches in diameter. These two-inch steak medallions are usually the most expensive cut on the carcass, a luxury morsel that chefs often prepare simply and serve with decadent sides like pomme purée or sautéed asparagus.

The differences between filet mignon steaks and beef tenderloin—one is a small, sought-after part of the other—are a matter of location and portioning. Here are the differences between these cuts of meat:

• Size: Beef tenderloin is a larger cut of beef that includes the filet mignon. If you want to cook a large, shareable beef dish like beef Wellington, purchase the entire tenderloin (or a large piece of it) from your grocery store or butcher. If you want to cook one perfect steak, ask for the filet mignon.
• Regional butchery style: Depending on where you are in the world, you may find the filet mignon (and other parts of the tenderloin) in different cuts. In France, butchers break down the cattle according to muscle divisions. They remove the tenderloin from the carcass and cut it into sections, including the filet mignon in the front, the châteaubriand in the middle, and the bifteck at the rump end of the tenderloin. In American-style butchery, the tenderloin is part of a larger steak cut: T-bone steaks include the filet mignon, and porterhouse steak includes the châteaubriand.
• Cooking speed: Fat and bones act as insulators during cooking, slowing the process down. Since filet mignon is boneless and low in fat content, it cooks especially fast. Briefly sear filet mignon in a hot oven-safe skillet (like a cast-iron pan) until a brown crust forms, about two minutes per side, then transfer it to the oven for a few minutes to finish cooking. (Alternatively, skip the oven and simply pan-fry the filet mignon in a skillet over high heat, about three to eight minutes per side.)
• Cooking method: Due to its size, whole beef tenderloin is a common roasting cut: Roast larger sections of beef tenderloin in a roasting rack set in a 425-degree oven for just under an hour for medium-rare, an internal temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Alternatively, cook a tenderloin roast low and slow, then broil it at the end to sear the exterior. Rest the meat for ten minutes before carving.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Aaron Franklin, Yotam Ottolenghi, Gabriela Cámara, Niki Nakayama, Chef Thomas Keller, Dominique Ansel, Gordon Ramsay, Alice Waters, and more.