Pork Chop Recipes

Ah, the pork chop. Ambrosia to some and downright poison to others. The pork chop is usually a difficult cut of meat to cook right since it has all the fat on the outside but then the loin in the middle is usually very lean and therefore comes out dry and stringy if cooked wrong.

Now, you know those moments when you are at the grocery store and there's a sale on a sale of pork chops and you just had to buy 300 lbs of pork chops because the price was so wonderful. After all you have an army at home who are just ecstatic to be fed the same thing day in and day out for months... Not!

You get home with your bounty and then it dawns on you, what are you going to do with all those pork chops? Let's be honest, grilled pork chops every night for a week gets old. Can you tell this is experience speaking?

My solution comes in variation so here are three recipes that save me. They range from medium to super simple but at least you will keep the family interested in dinner and won't hear "Chops?!? Again?!?"

Ingredients:

2 pork chops

2 tbls Dijon mustard

1 tbls honey

2 tsp Worcestshire sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

1 cup water

2 tbls heavy cream

1 tbls cornstarch

Directions:

Stir the mustard, honey, Worcestshire sauce and lemon juice together in a bowl. Coat the chops and let them marinate for about an hour. They can easily marinate for longer if you wish to prepare them the evening before.

Place them in a baking tray and bake until done, about 145 degrees on your meat thermometer when inserted into the center of the chop.

Carefully remove the tray from the oven and pour all the juices into a small saucepan on the stove.  Cover the chops while you prepare the sauce.

Add the water to the sauce, or if you feel you have enough liquid then forego the water.  Add the heavy cream and the cornstarch diluted in a little water. Stir constantly until the sauce reaches the consistency you like.

Place a chop on a plate and spoon sauce over. Serve with basmati rice and more sauce on the side.

This recipe also works great with chicken breasts.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops

1/2 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves

1 tbls basil

1 tbls oregano

1/2 tsp orange/lemon rind

Directions:

Take out your trusty blender and whizz everything except the pork chops until the garlic cloves have been turned to paste. You will definitely have more marinade than you need.

Coat pork chops and let sit for an hour. Bake to required doneness. Your house will have a strong smell of garlic but even a garlic hater, who initially said "What is that horrible smell?" really loved this recipe.

You can also do the same thing with a whole loin and it comes out amazing.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops

1 large Granny Smith Apple

1 tbls butter

1 clove garlic

1 shallot

1 cup dry apple cider

2 tbls cream

1 tlbs cornstarch

Directions:

Gently fry the finely chopped garlic and onions in the butter in a pan. When soft and translucent add the chops and cook until browned.

Add the peeled and coarsely chopped apples and cook for a minute or two. Add the cider and allow to simmer, covered, until the meat is cooked.

Remove the meat from the pan and stir in the cream to the remaining juices and apples. Thicken the sauce with the cornstarch.

Serve the chops with the apples and sauce spooned over.

Sometimes, to add more veggies into our food I will add mushrooms alongside the apples.

Hopefully you will find these recipes enjoyable.

Since I did mention grilled pork chops earlier I thought that I should put in a quick recipe that's a little different to the usual "slap-on-barbecue-sauce-and-set-em-on-fire" recipe. So here's a quick vid which makes a nice, tasty boneless pork chop dinner. Enjoy!