Why This Recipe
Ever wonder how to prepare those big pork chops with the bone in without drying it out or using your oven? So did we. I think everybody struggles now and again when preparing pork chops. The struggle is not drying that wonderful pork out. The struggle is not seeing the juice flow when you first cut into that piece of meat. The struggle is forcing yourself to eat that dried-out piece of jerky because you can’t bring yourself to toss it. So I will just quickly tell you the secrets. Get a good crust on the meat with high heat. Baste the pork chop while cooking. Allow it to rest for almost as long as it was cooked. That’s it. You do these four things and you will be serving up the juiciest, more flavorful pork chops you have ever tasted. Need a side to go with these amazing pork chops? Try our Roasted Green Beans and Mushroom dish. Or, if you’re following the Keto path, pair this up with an incredible Loaded Cauliflower Mash! Let’s break it down into some easy steps.
Cooking A Pan Fried Thick Cut Pork Chop
First things first. Have you ever pan-fried a pork chop, and it curls up on you? When that happens, it will cause the pork chops to cook unevenly.
Here’s an easy tip to keep that from happening.
Lay them out on a cutting board and take a sharp knife, cut through the fat straight down every 2 inches or so.
As the pork chop cooks, the cuts will expand and allow the chop to stay flat, giving you an even cook.
Once you have that complete, season the pork chops liberally with salt and cracked black pepper.
Go ahead and push that salt and pepper into the meat, ensuring it will adhere when it’s time to go into the hot pan.
Set the pork chops to the side and begin to prepare the other ingredients.
Grab 4-5 cloves of garlic and give them a smash with the flat of a knife. We only want to crush them a little, allowing the garlic to infuse with the oil when we toss them in.
Prepare the onion by giving them a rough chop. You want big pieces of onion, not diced.
Put a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Allow that oil to get nice and hot.
When ready, add the pork chops to the pan, laying away from you to avoid any pesky hot oil popping up on you.
Before turning, check the cooked side for doneness. You should see a wonderfully caramelized cook. Then turn over to the other side.
When you have turned it, turn the heat down to medium and add the butter, garlic, onion, and sage leaves.
Move the garlic, onion, and sage around in the butter and olive oil, pressing them here and there to release those wonderful oils.
Tip the pan and, using a spoon, take the butter and olive oil and begin to baste the cooked top of the pork chop.
This will infuse those flavors as well as keep them moist. Baste often as it cooks the additional time.
The butter and oil will begin to change to a beautiful nut-brown color, and the smells in your kitchen will be amazing!
Using some tongs, sear the edges of the pork chop by holding it vertically and cook each side of the pork chop until the fat has rendered sufficiently.
A minute or so should be sufficient.
Check the other side for doneness. If you want to ensure the pork chops are done, use an instant-read thermometer. Insert the thermometer close to the bone but not touching it.
This is a particularly useful tool in the kitchen, and if you don’t have one, I highly recommend you get one.
Cook the pork chops to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
When cooking is complete, remove the pan from heat and place the pork chops to rest on a cutting board. Allow them to rest the same time you cooked them.
This will give all that super-heated moisture in the meat the time to calm down and redistribute. This will ensure a juicy, tender pork chop versus the Sahara Desert pork chop.
After 5-10 minutes of resting, plate the pork chops, drizzle the butter and olive oil with garlic, onions, and sage over the meat, and serve.
We have cooked this many times, and it always comes out amazing.
You can play around with the herbs and aromatics as well.
Instead of onion and sage, perhaps some thyme instead? Any aromatics with a brown butter sauce will make the bone-in pork chops sing!We do love that sage and butter sauce, though!
Remember, the big secrets of juicy, moist pork chops are to get that sear, baste them, and allow them to rest.
Everything else is entirely up to you. Give it a try, and let us know how it turned out!
Or, if you want to take it up a level, check out our double bone-in smoked pork chops. These are crazy good, introducing some smoke to the cast of players.
I don’t think I need to say anything about the wow factor … see for yourself! 🙂
Tips And Tricks
Allowing the pork chops to sit out at room temperature an hour before cooking will speed up the cooking process and allow the salt to brine the pork chop. Highly recommended.Use an instant-read thermometer to ensure the pork chop is cooked to a perfect temperature. Pull the pork chop off the heat at around 140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit.Use whole clove garlic when cooking this dish. If you want to use diced garlic, don’t add it until the last few minutes. This will ensure that the garlic does not burn.If using boneless pork chops, the cooking times will be less.If you have thin pork chops, increase the heat a bit to get the sear. Cooking times will be much shorter, but you still want a good sear. Keep that instant-read thermometer handy.
Variations
Use different herbs to produce different flavors. Rosemary and thyme make great substitutions.Using cumin, chili powder, and paprika and leaving out the sage will give you a more robust, spicier version of this dish.
