Mr. Prof designer home

I recently confessed to having a tough time with pork chops. I asked the ladies on my cooking board for recommendations and this Quick Barbecue Pork Chops was one that immediately caught my eye. What could be easier than browning chops and then letting them simmer on the stove with BBQ sauce and a little brown sugar?


I think this recipe hinges on the sauce you use. When it comes to BBQ sauce everyone has their own preference, with tangy vs. sweet being the biggest divider. We are tangy fans and after a lot (and I do mean a lot. I think we tried every brand our store sells) of searching we found that Dinosaur is our favorite. Homemade sauce would obviously be great as well.

I served my chops with Buttermilk Mac and Cheese and green beans, but if you're making these in the summer I suggest potato salad and fresh corn on the cob. We both enjoyed the flavor of the chops and I enjoyed not having to work very hard to make them. I'll definitely be using this method again.

Quick Barbecue Pork Chops
Get Off Your Butt and Bake

2 tablespoons canola oil
4 boneless pork chops
1 1/2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper on both side, then add to skillet. Let brown, about 5 minutes per side, turning only once. Add BBQ sauce, bring to a simmer, then turn heat down to maintain a light simmer. Sprinkle in brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Mix the sauce, water and brown sugar together by moving the pork chops around a bit.

Let simmer slowly for about 20 minutes or until chops are tender.

Boneless pork chops are my albatross. I just can't seem to find a good, healthy recipe for them. Since they're boneless I'm always afraid of overcooking them since pork can go from moist to dry in a matter of seconds. This recipe for Double Crunch Honey Garlic Pork Chops caught my eye, and even though it's a far cry from healthy I thought I'd give it a shot.


SP took one look at the crunchy chops draining on the wire rack and immediately said he'd be having two for dinner. Then I dipped them in the sauce and he was even more smitten. Unfortunately there was something off and slightly burnt-tasting once we dug in. I think it might have been the fact that I used grated, fresh ginger instead of dried, ground ginger in the seasoning for the flour since I didn't have any dried on hand. We ended up scraping off the coating and eating the chops plain. A huge disappointment for sure. SP wants me to try these again so I better pick up ground ginger at the store.

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Pork Chops
This Woman Cooks!

4 boneless pork chops
1 cup flour
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 eggs
Canola oil

Sift together flour and spices in a shallow bowl or pie plte. Beat eggs in another pie plate or shallow bowl.

Dip each pork chop in the flour and spice mixture, then into the egg and then back into the flour and spice mix, pressing the mix into the chop to get good contact.

Heat a skillet on the stove with about a half inch of canola oil covering the bottom. You will want to carefully regulate the temperature (medium) here so that the chops do not brown too quickly on the outside before they are fully cooked on the inside. Fry them for about 5-8 minutes per side until golden brown and crispy. Cut into one chop to make sure it is fully cooked.

Drain on a wire rack for a couple of minutes before dipping the cooked chops into the sauce. Serve with noodles or rice.

Honey Garlic Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
3–4 cloves minced garlic
1 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a medium sauce pan add olive oil and garlic. Cook over medium heat to soften the garlic but don't let it brown. Add the honey, soy sauce, and black pepper. Simmer together for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Watch this carefully as it simmers because it can foam up over the pot very easily.

I was all set to make this recipe for Pan Seared Pork with Citrus Rum Sauce for dinner this week. Then SP told me we didn't have any rum. Oops. We have quite a few bottles of liquor, mainly for cooking not drinking, but apparently rum wasn't one of them.

So off to Google I went. Since I had a bag of oranges for the original recipe I was hoping to find a sauce that would allow me to use them up. This recipe for Pork Chops with Orange-Soy Sauce sounded good, with the bonus of being healthy and not needing to marinate ahead of time. Excellent.


SP and I were both really, really happy with this recipe. It took very little time to make and the results were delicious. I ended up reducing the sauce more than I wanted to and we were fighting over it when making up our lunches for the next day. The orange provided a nice fresh burst and soy sauce is one of my favorite ingredients because of the great depth of flavor. Definitely a winner in our book.

Pork Chops with Orange-Soy Sauce
Slightly Modified from Eating Well

2 tablespoons oil
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (took me 6 medium oranges to get 1 cup of juice)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme
4 pork chops
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet until shimmering. Combine orange juice, soy sauce, garlic and thyme in a small bowl. Set aside.

Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Add the pork chops to the hot skillet and sear until browned, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Lower the heat and continue cooking, turning as needed to prevent burning, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the chops to a plate and cover tightly with foil.

Add the reserved orange juice mixture to the pan and cook over medium-high heat until the sauce is reduced by half, 3 to 5 minutes. Return the chops to the skillet; heat through, turning to coat. Serve with the pan sauce.

I can't remember the last time I had pork chops. It's been a long time, I know that, but I get tired of the chicken, beef, pasta rotation and need to throw something different in once in awhile. Enter the other white meat. My friend, the same one who posted this amazing Bowties with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream recipe, recently posted a link to Ranch House Pork Chops that went straight onto the menu.


My crockpot and I don't get along and I didn't want to ruin the chops by experimenting, so I modified this recipe for the stove top. I used the other half of the cream of chicken soup I made earlier in the week, adding some chicken broth to thin it out. The ranch seasoning added great flavor. As the original recipe suggested, I served the chops with garlic mashed potatoes, but to keep it simple I just throw some peeled and crushed cloves into the pot with the potatoes and mash as usual. It saves so much time and effort but still produces great garlic flavor.

Ranch Pork Chops
Inspired by Real Mom Kitchen

4 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons oil
1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning (or make your own)
1 1/2 cups cream of chicken soup (homemade recipe below)
1 cup chicken broth

Pat pork chops dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on both side. Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Add pork chops and sear on both sides, about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add Ranch seasoning, soup, and chicken broth to the now-empty skillet. Whisk to combine and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the pork chops to the pan along with any accumulated juices, cover and let cook about 10-15 minutes or until the chops are no longer pink. Serve topped with sauce alongside mashed potatoes to sop up the extra sauce.

Note - you can cook the chops until just done or you can cook them for a few hours, but nothing in between. The chops will be dry if you overcook them, but a slow simmer (think a crockpot, as the original recipe indicates) will make them tender.


From Scratch Cream of Chicken Soup
Slightly Modified From Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
Dash of paprika
2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour

In medium-sized saucepan, boil chicken broth, 1 1/2 cup of the milk, and the seasonings for a minute or two.

In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup of milk and flour. Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens.

I haven't eaten pork chops in a very long time. I can't remember how long it's been, but I think it was before I was pregnant with Baby Girl. I'll admit, when I saw this recipe for Pork Chop and Hashbrown Bake on Carrie's blog I considered making it with chicken instead, but SP talked me into using pork chops. I'm glad he did - this was a great dinner.


This is not the most photogenic meal, and it calls for something a lot of food bloggers turn their nose up at, but it was absolutely delicious. Seriously. SP cleaned his plate and told me I could make this dish once a week for him. High praise!

Pork Chop and Hashbrown Bake
Modified from Carrie's Sweet Life

Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
24oz frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed
6 boneless pork chops, 1 1/2-2 inches thick
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 large can dried onion pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add thawed hashbrowns. Season with salt and pepper and cook until evenly browned, stirring occassionally. Remove to a large bowl, reserving skillet.

Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the now empty skillet. Pat each pork chop dry and season with salt and pepper. Brown pork in skillet. Don't cook through since the pork will be cooking in the oven.

Combine soup, milk and sour cream and add to the bowl with the hashbrowns. Add half of the cheese and half of the onion pieces. Spoon mixture into prepared 9×13 baking dish. Arrange pork over potato mixture. Cover with foil.

Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Top with remaining onion pieces and cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Another recipe from the May 2010 issue of Food Network Magazine, this time for Pork with Potato-Bean Salad. I used pork chops instead of the tenderloin:


... and we thought they were a little bland. I tried the recipe again, this time baking the pork chops, but with the same disappointing result. The potato salad, however, has become a staple in my kitchen:


I like the green beans in it, but lately I've been leaving them out and just making the potato salad. It's incredibly flavorful and I always have the ingredients on hand. I still love my other version of potato salad, but this one is a great weeknight throw-together.

Easy Potato Salad
Modified from Food Network Magazine

1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon, plus 1 teaspoon grated zest
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, run under cold water and pat dry.

Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, parsley, lemon juice and zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a bowl. Add the potatoes and onion; season with salt and pepper, and toss.