I will confess that I really didn’t enjoy pork chops for a good portion of my life. They never seemed interesting and were often dry without a lot of flavor. My opinion has completely changed on that however. There a few key things to make a pork chop interesting and delicious to me – not overcooking them, appropriate seasoning level, and serving them with some kind of sauce, chutney, etc.
I pretty much always cook my pork chops sous vide, because it is soooo much easier to get that to that perfect point of done enough, but not dry. If you don’t want to sous vide then I definitely suggest an overnight brine in a typical brine solution, because this also helps keep them moist.
This recipe has a really delicious creamy garlic mustard sauce with spinach that goes with the chops which brought all kinds of flavor to the dish. I served these with some roasted potatoes on the side.
Pan Seared Pork Chops with Creamy Garlic Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 boneless pork chops thick cut
- salt and pepper to taste
- oil for searing
- 1 tsp paprika
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 onion minced
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tbsp cream
- 3 cups spinach
- 1 tsp dried italian seasoning
- 3 tbsp whole grain mustard
- 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
- chopped parsley for serving
Instructions
- If you are not using sous vide to cook the chops, brine overnight in a salt/sugar/water solution. Heat your sous vide machine to 145 and seal the chops in vacuum bags with some salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Cook for 2.5-3 hours. If pan cooking the chops, dry them off from the brine.
- Heat a few tbsp of oil in a heavy cast iron pan and get it smoking hot if you cooked sous vide. Place the chops in and allow to brown deeply for 1 minute. Flip and brown the other side as well. Since they are already cooked you don't need to worry about the temp.
- If pan cooking, heat oil over high heat until smoking. Brown the chops as above and then transfer to a 375 degree oven to finish cooking until the center reaches 145-150.
- In the pan you seared the chops in, add the garlic and onion over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes. Add the spices, stock, cream, a little salt and pepper, mustard and stir well. Cook down until the sauce is reduced to a almost thickened sauce. Add the spinach and allow to wilt. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then add the chops to the pan to rewarm.
- Serve with rice, potatoes, or a side salad. Spoon the sauce and spinach over the top of the chops.