The Plight of a Pork Chop.
Poor little pork chops.
You sure do get a bad rap, don’t you?
Too tough… too fat… too dry… too thick. No wonder you have body image issues. I would too.
Well, I’m here to bring a little light… err, I guess I should say moisture… back into your life. I really can’t call throwing you in a scorching cast iron skillet and watching you fry until you become a beautiful, crispy golden brown color “light,” now can I?
I know you have probably felt like the red-headed stepchild in this relationship of ours considering I give so much attention to the main meat in my life – bacon. I can’t say I will apologize for that; bacon and I have a good thing going. However, I’m here to share a little more love with you and hopefully spice you up a bit so others will stop talking trash. Sound good?
Good.
First, you’re gonna take a nice long bath in a big pool of buttermilk. Now calm down. Buttermilk is good, don’t be scared. It might be a little cold though, sitting in that fridge all night. I’ll make sure to leave the light on since I know what it’s like to be afraid of the dark.
After that, I’m gonna wrap you up in some delightfully crunchy panko breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. This whole panko thing? It is kind of new in our world, but I think you’ll like it. Much better than regular breadcrumbs. And you should feel comforted considering I’m pairing you up with one of my closest friends that has always helped me in times of distress: cheese. I think you’ll get along great.
The next part is where things get dicey. I don’t really want to go into detail about where you’re going to end up, but let’s just say it will be slightly unpleasant. Especially once Mr. How Sweet finds you. But I ensure you that you’ll be found in good hands. See you on the other side!
Buttermilk Soaked Baked Parmesan Pork Chops
makes 4 pork chops
4 thin-sliced, boneless center cut pork chops
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry, any flour will do)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + a little more for garnish
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
Tenderize and trim fat from pork chops if you’d like. It’s not necessary but I do it. Add pork chops to a baking dish and pour buttermilk over top. Soak for at least 2 ours, or over night. Remove pork chops from fridge 30 minutes before you plan to make them.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a bowl, combine panko, flour, salt, pepper and parmesan. Heat an over-safe skillet on medium-high heat and add olive oil. Grab a pork chop from the buttermilk, letting any excess milk run off. Dredge through panko mixture, coating completely. Lay down in skillet and repeat with remaining chops. Brown pork chops for 3 minutes on each side only! You don’t want them to toughen up. After six minutes, turn off heat and add chicken stock to pan. Sprinkle a little parmesan on pork chops and cover skillet. Bake for 20 minutes.
P.S. Sorry my stove was so dirty. If I knew that this would be your last hurrah, I would have been a bit more diligent in my daily yearly cleaning.
135 Comments on “The Plight of a Pork Chop.”
This sounds and looks so good! I have all ingredients on hand, yayy!!
I I love pork chops (not enough pork chop recipes on the blogs if you ask me). To make pork chop extra moist, my mom told me that you bake them in the iron skillet first, then fry them until the outside is crispy. Works like a charm :)
Agree! Not enough pork recipes on blogs. I think people are afraid to make/post them. And I need to try that way, it’s basically the opposite of what I do!
I love pork chops! It’s such a bummer because my husband refuses to eat pork. So I’ve inadvertently given it up too sort of, unless we are out somewhere. This looks ah-mazing!
Does he refuse to eat bacon then? Sad face.
I don’t know why I’m a little scared to make pork chops – but you made it look relatively painless. And very yummy.
Hey Jess! Love this post! This will be my next dinner “outside the box” according to my husband. Can’t wait to try it! You’re starting to make me like cooking.
Yay! :)
You make me laugh! I love reading your blog. These pork chops sound really good and I’m not usually a fan of pork chops. Way too dry for me. Can’t wait to try them! I love your recipes!
So much love for the little pork chop. It’ll be missed i’m sure!
This whole meal looks wonderful. I can’t wait to try it out on my hubs :)
Mmm those pork chops look SO crispy!!
I haven’t had pork chops in YEARS!!! I guess as a kid we ALWAYS had them so I refused to eat them and my mom just stopped making them. Maybe I will suggest these….Hope it doesn’t put my mom into shock or make her obsessed with pork chops again lol
Thanks
Hayley
Light or not, that is one fantastic-looking pork chop.
Mmmmm….this looks so good! All this talk of panko…I think I’m going to need some soon.
I haven’t had pork chops in so long. I’m usually making them too dry as well. This is definitely going on my to-cook list!!
I’m getting up to put my porkchops in the buttermilk. I CANNOT wait dinner tomorrow!!!
Oh and I’m making your crispy shrimp tacos tonight!
Never eating pork chops growing up, I have recently discovered them and have been trying to prepare them in different ways. Now that I was given a cast iron skillet, I can’t wait to try this :D
This looks incredibly tasty. Thanks for sharing the recipe. :)
I love pork chops. Ben won’t eat them. Do you sense a theme in my life?
What DOES he eat? ;)
As you may know, I’m fairly new to your blog. What are panco breadcrumbs and where do you get them? And yes, these pork chops look wonderful! I have some in the freezer that I’ll try this recipe with. Another question, I use the powdered buttermilk so that I don’t have to buy fresh and waste most of it. Will that buttermilk work for this recipe, do you think?
Hi Lynda! First, I honestly am not familiar with powdered buttermilk so I am not sure if it would work. But I say it’s worth a try! Second, panko is a crunchier breadcrumb – you should be able to find it at your local grocery store now. If not, I’ve made it before: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/10/homemade-whole-wheat-panko-breadcrumbs/
This is not regarding this recipe, but I was wondering if you know how much lemon extract equals 1 tsp. of lemon peel???????
By the way, I printed the panko recipe, will try it with the pork chops this weekend!!!!!
Just found this WONDEFUL website that shows how to substitute certain things for other things!!!!!!!! (i.e., how much lemon extract to use in place of lemon peel). Thought you all might like it, could be very helpful. The link is http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/common-ingredient-substitutions/Detail.aspx
Just copy and paste and you’ll find the list.
Thanks!
Oh, I guess you can just click on the link. It’s called “Common Ingredient Substitutions!
I want to grate that cheese straight into my mouth.
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Holey Moley…it makes me want to throw out the Tator Tot Hot Dish (yes I am from MN) that is baking in the oven, except for the fact that I don’t have any pork chops that aren’t already committed to a meal!
This will be on my list, since we love the “other” white meat!
I know I’ve told you this many times before, but you’re a genius. I made these tonight for dinner. Best pork chops we’ve ever had. Scrumptious!!
I made these last week… YUM! They made the BEST pork chop sandwiches EVER the next day. The first time Iq baked them, the parmesan crust did end up a bit on the wet side. I think the bottoms ended up a bit soggy because they’re sitting in chicken broth. I know this makes the chops tender… but is there a way to do this without the slop? Thoughts?
So glad you liked them! You can definitely try adding less stock until they seem less soggy?
I don’t think I’ll ever make another pork chop without soaking it in buttermilk first!
Hi
How do you tenderize a pork chop.
Hi Jackie,
You “pound” it using a meat tenderizer: http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=760360 or you can use something heavy like a frying pan.
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I made these last night and the flavor rocked! My issue was with the chops getting soggy in the oven sitting in the chicken stock. The whole bottom laying of breading fell off in the pan when I picked them up to serve onto plates. Any advice for avoiding this in the future? I tried using less stock (about 1/2 c instead of 3/4 c)…should I try even less? Would they be just as tasty only cooking them on the stove top? Thanks for all the yummy recipes! I’m trying the baked buffalo chicken pasta tonight! Can’t wait :)
Hmmm yeah that happens to me sometimes too. Maybe decrease the stock even by a little more? I wouldn’t just do them on the stovetop – they won’t be as tender!
Hi there! I am making this recipe tonight and I have a question. When you add the chicken stock do you add it to the skillet that you just browned the pork chops in or the baking dish when you put them in the oven??
I made this recip and it was super good. I agree about the breading getting very soggy but it still has wonderfil flavor. Are you supposed to cover the pan when its in the oven? Thanks for the great recipe:)
The first part of this post makes me so happy. :) The recipe does too, of course! But I’m glad you’re so kind to your pork chops.
Hey! Just tried this recipe last night and it was awesome! Wanna know why? Eighteen months ago my husband was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. It’s a rare type of head and neck cancer … and after all the chemotherapy and radiation, his saliva glands were damaged. He has trouble eating a lot of food and hasn’t been able to eat a pork chop since the treatment started last year. But YOUR recipe worked! It’s tender and moist and delicious … and he was able to eat it! So thank you thank you thank you … we’ll be making it often! :D
Wow – this just gave me chills. Amazing! So glad it was a hit.
i think i was actually sad after reading this post.
poor, poor pork chop. it’s so scared.
wow i have issues.
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I made these last night and I was so disappointed. :( The buttermilk didn’t add anything to the flavor of the chops, which were downright bland, and the coating came off completely from the chicken stock in the pan.
I’m wondering if the chicken stock is necessary to the recipe? I know the recipe doesn’t claim to be crispy but the whole point of using Panko is to get a crispy crust, right?
I had to throw away at least 1 1/2 C of panko bread crumbs even though I made 6 large pork chops. It was quite the waste. Also, what is the point of the chicken stock? My kids refused to eat it because it was “mushy”. I scrapped off the bottom portion so any of my family would at least try it. I am very disappointed. And, don’t like that I wasted so many ingredients.
So I plan to make this tomorrow night for a dinner party, very excited! I am wondering though, I am doubling it to have enough for 8. I really don’t have an oven-safe pan that will fit 8 chops, so is this going to be ok to transfer into another pan? Can I skip the skillet and go right to the oven? Any help is appreciated!
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Just tried this ..it was so so moist..best pork chops I ever made!
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I’m making these for dinner tonight! Although I only had thick chops. Fingers crossed
Jessica, I may have to propose to you… the pork chops turned out amazing!
I also had a lot of breading leftover, but I just froze it and used it the next time I made these pork chops.
Then tonight I used the last of it to bread some chicken breasts for Chicken Parmesan. Soooooo good! I paired it with a nice Late Autumn Riesling from Inniskillin