Honey Glazed Pork Chops

Honey Glazed Pork Chops are sweet and juicy! These stove top cooked chops are quick, easy and seriously tasty. They make the perfect dinner any night of the week. Honey-glazed pork chops can be serve with quinoa or rice for fuss free, effortless yum!

Recipes like my Pork Mince Noodles, Pork Mince Pasta and Pork and Fennel Sausage Rolls celebrate cooking with pork in a minced (ground) ingredient manner.

My Air Fryer Pork Belly and Pork with Asparagus in Oyster Sauce are good options that offer convenience.

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised the reasons why you will love this recipe in the points below:

• Glazed pork chops: offer maximum flavour, yet require no marinade time. Simply brush the glaze onto both sides of the chops and cook.
• Fast cook time: when using medium to high heat, the pork chops will only take 5 minutes to cook each side. This saves spending hours in the kitchen after a busy week day and gets dinner on the table stat.
• Taste and texture: there is so much flavour in the pork chops and this contrasts with the juicy succulent meat. The glaze slips and slides over the pork creating an absolutely delicious dinner dish.
• Simple serving suggestions: I haven't given you a meat and 3 vegetable combination with this one as I find that takes a long time. After work week nights, don't allow hours in the kitchen. With simple options such as precooked store bought rice, cucumber and limes, you can bring this together without spending an hour roasting potatoes.
• Alternative option to other meats: you might find yourself wanting to eat more protein, less carbs but still a whole lot of yum. Chicken is a great option, however, pork offers another option to give you variety as to not eat the same thing every night.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements.

As you can see, the recipe calls for:

• Pork chops: I am using bone in pork chops. They tender to be more flavoursome than boneless pork chops and have a little extra fat. You may find 'moisture infused' pork chops at the store when shopping and these are fine to use.
• Honey: sweet and sticky, this is such a lovely ingredient to cook with. It forms the basis of the honey glaze that we coat the pork chops in, however is slightly mellowed from the pairing with the dark soy sauce.
• Dark soy sauce: this is a different ingredient to regular soy sauce and is how we get the lovely golden brown colour into our pork chops. It will be in the same section of the supermarket as the regular soy sauce. Look for the label 'dark soy sauce'. If you hold the bottle up to the light, you will see that it is not translucent at all, whereas regular soy sauce will be light brown and somewhat see through when held to the light.
• Salt and pepper: a little of each of these 2 for seasoning. We add them to the honey and soy glaze, simply by whisking to combine.
• Olive oil: we only need a very small amount of this for coating the pan. I tend to drop it in, then use a folded piece of paper towel to spread it around. Too much oil will prevent the searing of the pork chops as the glaze also adds liquid to the pan. So use the oil sparingly.

Tasty Tip: sometimes the bone in the chops can fragment a little. This doesn't cause an issue for the recipe or taste, however, is something to be mindful as you can't grab the bone and hunker down the way you can a lamb chop. A knife and fork is your best friend for the eating in this regard.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. Star by gathering the ingredients to make the honey glaze.

• Whisk together glaze (Photo 1)
• Add oil to pan (Photo 2)
• Place chops into pan (Photo 3)
• Brush with glaze (Photo 4)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Honey Glazed Pork Chops

To make the pork chops, start by whisking together the honey, dark soy sauce, salt and pepper in a glass mug. Drop the olive oil into the pan and use a folded sheet of paper towel to spread it out into a thin layer.

Use kitchen tongs to pick up and place each chop into the pan. Use a pastry brush to coat one side of each chop with the honey glaze. Then use the kitchen tongs to flip each chop to the other side. Coat each 2nd side with the glaze.

• Ensure both sides of the chops are coated with the glaze (Photo 5)

When coating the chops with the glaze try not to let too much extra liquid into the pan. This will ensure the chops can sear and cook very nicely without the additional liquid being a barrier to the heat of the pan on the meat.

• Flip the chops after 5 mins and cook for a further 5 minutes (Photo 6)

If you are new to cooking pork chops, using a meat thermometer is a great way of knowing for sure that the chops are cooked through. You can use this to test and see that they are ready, nom nom 😁 .

Once the chops are cooked, turn the stove off and allow them to rest for 2 to 3 minutes. This process allows the juices that have come out during the cooking process, to be absorbed back into the chops, ensuring they are juicy and succulent!

🍽 Serving Suggestions

To serve the pork chops, choose either quinoa or rice. Store bought pre cooked that you can heat in the microwave offers a convenient time saving option. You can add some cooked, steamed veggies to the plate or keep it really simple like I have done and serve with Lebanese cucumbers.

Lime wedges are another great easy option as you can squeeze them over the chops for a lovely citrus zing which compliments the honey and soy combo.

You can drizzle leftovers of the honey glaze over the chops and then sprinkle some chopped chives or parsley on top for a garnish.

By all means if you want to go to the effort of making a more time intensive side dish, you can. My Creamy Garlic Potatoes and Air Fryer Potato Cubes are options that work with the chops.

👍 How to Guide

How to Guide

Whilst it is not necessary to marinate the chops, you can choose to coat them in the glaze, cover them with cling wrap and refrigerate as an option prior to cooking.

Store leftover cooked chops in a sealed air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

How to Freeze

You can coat the chops in the glaze, then place in a zip lock bag, push to remove the air and seal. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

To cook chops that have been frozen, allow them to thaw and then cook in a fry pan for 5 minutes before flipping to the other side for a further 5 mins.

To reheat cooked pork chops, place on a plate in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

• You can use regular instead of dark soy sauce, however, the colour of the chops won't be as dark.
• You can use boneless chops if you wish, pay close attention to them cooking as to not over cook.
• Add a teaspoon of sriracha sauce to the honey glaze for a little heat.
• You can use chopped parsley in place of where I have used chives if you like.
• Use lemon as an option instead of lime wedges to serve if you like.
• Steam some green beans or microwave frozen peas as extra vegetables for the plate.

🛎 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you, so that you get the recipe right from the get go:

• When coating the pork chops with the honey glaze, try and ensure that not too much extra glaze goes into the pan. Rather spread directly onto the pork chops. This allows the heat to sear the chops quickly locking in moisture and avoids liquid pooling at the base of the pan.
• Regarding the above, a pastry brush is a handy way to achieve this. You can get silicon ones from Walmart, Tesco, Aldi or your local supermarket that won't break the budget.
• Kitchen tongs are also super handy for this recipe. They are useful to help handle the pork without too much direct contact with it.
• Leftover honey glaze drizzled with the lime juice from the wedges is all you need, no need for extra sauce.
• Don't skip resting the pork chops, it only takes 2 mins and results in much better tasting chops than if you dig in too quickly. Patience my friend, then yum! 😂.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cook pork chops so they don't dry out?

Using medium to high heat sears the sides of the pork chops and ensures that they won't dry out. This process helps to lock in moisture and prevents dry, rubbery chops. Also keep in mind that it only takes 5 minutes each side for the chops to cook and over cooking them dries them out.

How long do you cook pork chops?

To cook pork chops that have a glaze aim for 5 minutes each side. If the chops are without glaze and simply seasoned with salt and pepper, they will cook in 3 to 4 minutes.

What spices are good for pork?

When it comes to spices and pork, you are only limited by your imagination. Try a wide variety of spices, starting with cumin, paprika, Homemade Jerk Seasoning, Moroccan spice mix or cinnamon, garlic and ginger.

What herb goes best with pork?

There are a number of herbs that work well with pork. Here are my top 5 herbs to pair with pork:

• Chives
• Parsley
• Coriander
• Basil
• Sage

How can I cook pork?

You can cook pork in the oven, stove top, Instant pot, grill, BBQ or Slow Cooker. Each method will have a slightly different cook time depending on techniques, marinades and sauces or cut of pork. A thermometer is a great utensil to have on hand in the kitchen to use when cooking pork as it allows you to test the pork to ensure that it is cooked through.

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

If dinner is your favourite meal of the day and you want some options that are fuss free and effortless, I have you covered. The following recipes will likely be right up your alley 😁.

• Pork Chops in Mushroom Soup
• Easy Greek Ribs
• Quinoa Stir Fry
• Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
• Air Fryer Chicken Skewers
• Oven Chicken Kabobs
• Air Fryer Beef Kabobs
• Beef Yakisoba
• Seafood Yaki Udon
• Air Fryer Roast Chicken

Get some pork on your fork my friend!

Adrianne xx

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