Easy Pan Fried Pork Chops
Cook up perfectly juicy, well-seasoned pan fried pork chops without flour! With this guide and recipe for how to fry pork chops, you will know exactly how to cook the best bone-in or boneless pork chops that will get rave reviews at the dinner table!
Servings: 4
Calories: 298kcal
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops loin or center cut, bone or boneless, 1 inch thick
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- salt
- black pepper
- ¼ cup vegetable oil more or less to taste
Instructions
- Wash and cut slices into the side of each pork chop with the fat and silver skin along the edge. This stops the pork chops from curling.
- Make cuts every 1 ½ to 2 inches along that edge. The cuts should be no more than ½ an inch deep.
- Dry pork chops with paper towels and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
- In a large skillet, with a lid, heat oil until it shimmers or a drop of water flicked in it dances.
- Sprinkle the first side of each pork chop with salt, pepper and a then ¼ teaspoon of sugar.
- Press into pork chop.
- Next, gently place pork chop in skillet, sugar side down.
- Repeat with remaining pork chops.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper on the tops of all the pork chops once in the skillet.
- Cook until sugar side is nicely brown, 5 to 9 minutes.
- Flip and reduce heat to low.
- Cover and cook until the center of each pork chop is cooked. Use a thermometer to check (140 degrees usually) and between 3 and 7 minutes.
- The sugar side will be a darker color.
- Serve immediately with applesauce if desired. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Don't skip the sugar. I know it seems a bit odd, but it gives it a richer golden color than cooking without it!
- Don't overcook. Gone are the days when pork needed to be cooked until it's all dried out. For the most accurate measure, use a digital thermometer and don't rely on the color of the meat (a little pink is ok if the internal temp is good) or only the cooking time.
- Let the pork chops rest after cooking! This allows all the juice in the pork to reabsorb into the meat, making each bite more moist and delicious!
- Bone-in pork chops cook up with more flavor!
Nutrition
Calories: 298kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 66mg | Potassium: 519mg | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg