Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips

We share some of the most delicious recipes of both marinades and marinated pork chops.
By
Jeremy Bivens
Jeremy Bivens
Research Writer
Jeremy Bivens is a passionate writer and grilling enthusiast. He's been working as a freelance journalist for over 15 years now and has a particular interest in food writing read more
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Bruce Williams
Bruce Williams
Expert Consultant
Claims that grilling is the art that he has been learning all his life long and is not planning to stop. Has been grilling for as long as he can remember. Author of numerous read more
Last updated: August 13, 2023
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Pork chops also taste particularly good from the grill if they have been marinated beforehand. The chop is cut from the rib and is always on the bone. A good pork chop for the grill (or for frying in the pan) should always have a fat rim. If the edge of fat is too thick for you, you can cut it off, but you should always leave a little edge. You can marinade pork chops in BBQ sauces, beer, red wine, soy sauce, and more.

Without further ado, we’ll show you some pork chop marinade recipes, how to make the marinades, and how to cook marinated pork chops.

Pork Chop with Honey Balsamic Sauce Recipe

Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips

To follow this recipe, you need chili, cream, honey, juicy chops and the in-house barbecue season can begin. For an even more intense flavor, you can marinate the meat for two hours. The following ingredients are for a serving size for two people.

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme
  • Cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 2 pork chops with a fat rim
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • Salt
  • 100 ml meat broth
  • Seasoning oil
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 1 tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of grated organic lemon peel

Instructions

Step 1. Mix the thyme and a strong pinch of cayenne pepper with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Wash the meat and pat dry. Cut the fat edge of the chops a couple of times; otherwise, the meat will bulge when frying. Brush the meat with the seasoning oil and – if possible – marinate for approx. 2 hours.

Step 2. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat the remaining oil and butter in a pan. Fry the chops over medium to high heat on both sides for 4-6 minutes, depending on the thickness. Remove from the pan and let simmer in the oven.

Step 3. Immediately deglaze the roast in the pan with the broth and cream. Simmer until creamy. Stir in honey and vinegar and season to taste with cayenne pepper as well as salt and grated lemon zest.

Step 4. Take the chops out of the oven, season with salt, and serve with the sauce. In addition to fried potatoes, you can also go with hash browns or rice.

Marinated Balsamic Pork Chops Recipe

Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips

This recipe is for 4 people; you can adjust it to your need. For a small household of 2 people: cut the ingredients in half. For one person: use a quarter of the ingredients; Prepare the paste in the mortar, as there is not enough mass for the cutter.

Ingredients

  • 1 dried chili pepper, or 0.25 teaspoon chili flakes
  • 1 tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tablespoons of black peppercorns
  • 8 branches of thyme
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 pork chops
  • Salt

Instructions

Step 1. Mix peeled cloves of garlic, peppercorns, torn thyme leaves, coarsely crumbled chili peppers or chili flakes, vinegar with a hand blender in a tall beaker to form a coarse paste; you can also crush the ingredients well in a mortar.

Step 2. Use kitchen scissors to cut the fat edge of the chops several times. Brush the cutlets on both sides with the prepared paste. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. One of the most chosen sauces for marinating meat is the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. This contains all-natural Kosher and it comes in a pack of two bottles.

Step 3. Lightly salt the chops and grill on a gas grill over medium heat for 6-8 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. Sprinkle with a little balsamic vinegar over and over again; the best way to do this is with a pipette or spray. The USDA recommends that you cook pork till it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

How to Marinate Pork Chops

Although there are BBQ sauces for marinating meat sold online, a very simple, but still very tasty way to marinate pork chops is with beer Trusted Source How to Tenderize Meat with Beer: 5 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow Cooking with beer, wine, and liquors can offer you a whole range of flavor possibilities otherwise inaccessible. Beers and wines can add rich, caramel-like flavors or lively, floral notes, all with relatively minimal cooking time. They can… www.wikihow.com . This grill marinade is particularly tasty with a pale lager as a beer type.

Then there are ingredients like mustard and onions. A little chili powder provides a bit of spiciness. All in all, grilled meat that has been marinated in a beer should end up with a piquant, fresh aroma.

Here is a recipe for marinades that doesn’t take a lot of work.

Recipe for Beer Marinade

Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips

Ingredients

  • 200 ml beer (best for this is a Pilsner)
  • 2 tablespoons of mustard
  • 2 large onions
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 20 peppercorns
  • a little chili powder
  • 5 tablespoons of oil (it is best to use neutral cooking oil, after all, the beer should give the taste of this marinade)

Instructions

Step 1. Peel the onions and cut them into rings.

Step 2. Then mix all the ingredients (from the beer to the chili powder) together well. Finally, mix in the oil and put the meat, pork chops, in it. But turkey also tastes good and tasty in this beer marinade from the grill. Although that is of course a matter of taste, for some the beer taste could be too intrusive.

Step 3. The meat needs to marinate for several hours. It becomes particularly tender and tasty when the meat is marinated in the beer overnight. As always, drain well before grilling and pat the meat off if necessary.

Step 4. With this beer marinade, you can marinate neck steaks as well as pork belly.

Soy Sauce Marinade Recipe (Version 1)

Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips

Of course, there is not only ONE recipe for pork chop marinade, so here is another one, in this case, made of soy. Here is a marinade that will make any pork chop much tastier.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons of soya sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons of spices
  • 1 black pepper
  • Sesame
  • 2 tablespoons of water

Utensils

  • Wooden spoon

Instructions

Step 1. Combine the soy sauce, water, lemon juice, and spices.

Step 2. Marinate the meat overnight.

Step 3. When cooking the meat (barbecue, oven, grill), roll in the sesame seeds.

Soy Sauce Marinade Recipe (Version 2)

Tips

You can also order soy sauce marinades online if you don’t want to add a marinade recipe to your list of tasks. And talking about soy sauce marinades, one of the most sold online is the Sauce Shoyu Soy by 365 by WFM. It has reduced sodium and is made of organic ingredients.

How to Cook Marinated Pork Chops

It is not for nothing that the marinated pork chop is a popular classic in the kitchen, which is suitable for frying, breading, grilling, and so on. Most important feature? The bone is still there, and this helps slow down the cooking process, so your chop loses little liquid during preparation and has enough time to take on the aroma.

In addition, the connective tissue of the bone helps keep the meat juicy. Bone marrow and the surrounding fat provide even more aroma and have a positive effect on the taste.

Cooking the Pork Chop: 5 Methods

The ideal core temperature for marinated pork chops is around 145 degrees Fahrenheit Trusted Source Pork Cooking Temperature - National Pork Board Finding the correct pork temperature is the final step in plating a perfectly juicy, tender cut of meat. www.pork.org . Do you like your steak juicy and slightly pink in the center, it should have the core temperature mentioned above. Remember: the chop pulls when you rest.

There are several ways to prepare the chop so that it ends up juicy on your plate. Whether roasting, grilling, or cooking sous vide – the cooking time depends on the thickness of the meat. Remember: if you have thinner or boneless chops, the specified cooking time will be shorter.

Fry the cutlet in the pan

  1. Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking TipsPat the chops dry with a kitchen towel.
  2. Rub the chops with vegetable oil.
  3. Heat the pan and fry the cutlets for 2.5 minutes on each side. After 1 minute, turn the heat up to around 350 degrees so that they brown evenly.
  4. Take the pan off the heat, add the butter, let it melt, and scoop over the chops.
  5. Take the chops out of the pan and wrap them in aluminum foil, leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Cook the chops in the oven

  1. Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking TipsPreheat the oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Pat 250 g chops dry with kitchen paper and rub with vegetable oil.
  2. Heat the pan and sear the chops for about 40 seconds on each side. Remove from the pan and bake in the hot oven for 17 minutes. Let the cutlet rest for 10 minutes.

Cooking it the sous vide style

  1. Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking TipsHeat water with the Sous Vide device to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Pat 250 g chops dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Vacuum seal in a foil bag and cook in water for 50 minutes. Take the chop out of the bag and pat dry. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and fry the cutlets for about 45 seconds on each side.

Grill the cutlet

  1. Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking TipsPreheat the grill.
  2. Grease the grillage.
  3. Pat 250 g chops dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Place on the grill rack and sear for approx. 3 minutes on each side over direct heat.
  5. Close the grill hood and cook the cutlets on indirect heat for about 10–15 minutes, remove from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes.

Smoked Chop

  1. Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipes and Cooking TipsPreheat the smoker and bring it to a temperature of 250 degrees.
  2. Pat 250 g chops dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Place on the wire rack and cook for approx. 1.5 hours until it has reached a core temperature of approx. 145 degrees. Let the chop rest for 10 minutes.

How to Store Marinade

Once your marinade is done and you are yet to use it – or perhaps you have some leftovers after the recipe is done – you can keep it for up to a month in the refrigerator, in a tightly closed container.

Choosing a Good Pork Chop: Tips and Tricks

Finally, here are some tips on choosing a good pork chop:

Color

The first clue for fresh chops is their pink color with a light sheen. Depending on the feeding and age of the pig, this can be more intense or paler. In principle, however, the following applies: the younger the pig, the lighter its meat. If your chop looks greyish, you’d better keep your hands off it.

Juice Holding Capacity

The fresher the chop, the better it can hold the meat juice. If cutlets are already in their juice in the display, you know what that means: the meat is no longer fresh and of poorer quality.

Cutting Thickness

When buying chops, make sure the pieces are of the right thickness. If they are very thin, they will dry out quickly when you cook them. Bone chops should be at least 2.5 cm – 4 cm thick. Loosened chops are on point after a short time and should therefore have a cut thickness of at least 2 cm.

Marbling

Fat is not only a flavor carrier but also protects your chop from drying out. If you like it fried crispy, stick to clearly marbled cuts when buying. Because the following applies to them: the more fat they permeate, the better and longer they can withstand heat. In addition, they get by with less fat in the preparation.

Lean pieces, on the other hand, can only tolerate the heat for a short time and are not as aromatic as marbled pieces.

Final Thoughts

Marinating the pork adds flavor and softens it. You can make your marinade or buy one of those that they sell already prepared.

It’s important to remember that marinades usually need to contain an acidic ingredient that will tenderize the meat. So be sure to include that ingredient in your recipe if you’re making your marinade. In just a few hours or leaving it overnight, you can make your pork chop marinade with beer sauce, red wine, soya sauce, or soy-lemon sauce.

Put the meat in the container with the marinade and let it rest, turning it occasionally. Marinate at room temperature for an hour. Refrigerate tenderloin, ribs, or large roasting chunks and leave them in the marinade for 1 to 2 days. These larger cuts take longer to soften and absorb the flavors of the marinade. Finally, you can fry, smoke, grill, or cook the marinated pork chop in the oven.

References

1.
How to Tenderize Meat with Beer: 5 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
Cooking with beer, wine, and liquors can offer you a whole range of flavor possibilities otherwise inaccessible. Beers and wines can add rich, caramel-like flavors or lively, floral notes, all with relatively minimal cooking time. They can…
2.
Pork Cooking Temperature - National Pork Board
Finding the correct pork temperature is the final step in plating a perfectly juicy, tender cut of meat.

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