How To Make Easy Pan-Fried Pork Chops

Here’s how you make a pan-fried pork chop that can truly rival a great steak at home: Brine it with brown sugar, pan-fry it, and then baste it with butter. If that sounds a lot like how you cook a steak at home, you’re right — this is basically pork chop steak!

There are a number of reasons you might want to serve pork chops instead of steak (cost and effort chief among them), but our favorite is this: A steak-fried pork chop is incredibly tender and juicy, bathed with brown, garlicky butter, and just as satisfying as its beefy brethren. Here’s how to cook a pork chop like a steak on the stovetop.

Pork chops truly are an underrated dinner option. For everything from weeknight dinners (pork chop in the oven is particularly great for this) to great dinner party fair, pork hits the sweet spot of being all but universally adored, relatively inexpensive, and easy to prepare. And the key to getting the crusty-outside, juicy-inside pork chop of your dreams is to treat it like steak.

If you’ve ever pan-fried a steak in hot cast iron and finished it with butter, you already know what a pleasure it is to cook and eat. The exterior develops a golden-brown crust that’s flaked with salt and butter, and the interior cooks to juicy, rosy perfection.

This method allows the pork chop to hold on to its juices so you won’t need a drip of added sauce — the flavor from pan juices are all you need to finish it off. The only thing we do differently to cook a pork chop like a steak is a quick brine and tenderizing before pan-frying.

Pork is much leaner than beef, with less marbling to keep the meat tender and moist. For pan-frying — and to avoid dry pork chops — buy thick, bone-in rib chops. These pork chops have more fat and connective tissue around the bone to keep the pork chops moist and prevent overcooking.

Pan-frying pork chops only takes about a total of 10 minutes. Once the cast iron skillet begins to smoke, sear the pork chops for 1 minute on each side. When they begin to brown and release some fat into the pan, continue cooking for 8 to 10 minutes. Make sure to flip the chops every minute so they don’t dry out.

• Tenderize the meat with a fork. I learned this trick from my grandmother, a prudent home cook, who regularly gave this treatment to all steaks and chops. Pricking meat with a fork to make it more tender works especially well for thick pork chops; it helps the brine permeate the pork chops make it easier for the butter to seep in while cooking.
• Brine with brown sugar. We pretty much always suggest brining when it comes to pork chops. Not only does it add moisture, but it also seasons the meat inside and out. A little brown sugar in this brine also helps the exterior caramelize in the pan.
• Cook in cast iron. We have two goals for these pork chops, right? A juicy interior — aided by fork-tenderizing and brining — and a golden, crispy exterior. More than any pan, cast iron allows for the best sear on meat, and these pork chops are no exception.
• Flip frequently and finish with butter. Maybe this goes against meat cooking advice you’ve previously learned, but we want to flip these pork chops often and here’s why: Repeated flipping cooks the pork more evenly, ensuring that every angle meets the pan and gets golden on the outside while remaining rosy on the inside. Towards the end of the cooking process, add a few pats of butter to the pan and use a large spoon to repeatedly coat the chops in butter to finish cooking.
• Rest right in the pan: Your temperature destination for pork chops is 145°F — the sweet spot of juiciness and a rosy interior. You’ll be resting the pork chops in the butter-y pan for five minutes off the heat, so don’t wait any longer after that to thinly slice the pork chops and serve right away in a pool of their buttery pan juices. There’s no need for steak sauce for these steak-like pork chops!

Pork chop is such a versatile protein that you can serve with vegetables, salads, potatoes, rice or pasta. Here are some recipes to complement those tender, juicy pork chops.

• Arugula Beet Salad
• Roasted Vegetable Salad
• Mashed Potatoes
• Garlicky Parmesan Sweet Potatoes
• Crash Hot Potatoes
• Garlic Broccolini
• Brussel sprouts (With Balsamic and Honey)
• Blistered green beans (With Pickled Shallots and Toasted Breadcrumbs)
• Mushroom Rice Pilaf
• Smoked Almond and Herb Couscous