Honey Garlic Pork Chops

Share this post!

These Honey Garlic Pork Chops couldn’t be more delicious! Quick to make with minimal ingredients, these truly are the perfect date night dinner and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner this is the perfect stay home meal for the family.

My son Tyler is sixteen in the 11th grade and working on his drivers license, Lord help me! 🤦🏾‍♀️ How did this happen? It’s really starting to hit me that I need to start preparing him to leave the nest. Part of that is teaching him how to cook easy and healthy meals for himself so he doesn’t live on pizza and ice cream.

So I taught Tyler how to make these Honey Garlic Pork Chops which are super juicy and tender, coated with the most delicious sticky honey garlic sauce. This is an amazing dinner recipe that is ready in less than 30 minutes. We don’t eat pork chops to often but we love a good pork chops recipe and this one is truly one of the best. The meat is super flavorful and simply melts in your mouth.

This is a perfect Valentine’s dinner recipe when you’re short on time but you want something impressive. It is super quick to put together, with a few ingredients, that are ready in less than 30 minutes. All you need is honey, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, garlic, butter, fresh herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme, salt & pepper and pork chops. It doesn’t get any better than this! If you have a large cast iron pan, I strongly recommend using it.

The cast iron pan distributes the heat is evenly and cooks the meat perfectly while giving them that golden brown color. This is an easy and the perfect dish to serve to your family during the week, special occasion but it’s also budget-friendly ingredients!

Perfect Pork Chops

Whilst the honey garlic sauce is beyond delicious, it’s not going to mask poorly cooked pork chops. For this recipe it’s best to pan fry them, so here’s a few tips on getting soft and juicy chops.

How to get juicy Pan Fried Pork Chops

1.Room temp – Make sure you bring your chops to room temp before you fry them. If you fry them straight out the fridge they’ll seize up and go tough.

2. High heat – Bring your pan to a scorching hot heat to get a nice sear on the outside. Whilst you can fry them at a low/medium temp, you’ll miss out on a huge amount of flavor and they won’t be as moist.

3. Butter – Once you flip the chops, baste them in herbs, garlic and butter to keep them nice and juicy.

4. Let them rest! – After you’ve seared both sides on high heat and seared the fat, let them rest for at least 5 mins. This will not only give the chops time to continue cooking through the centre, but will allow them to soak back any juices trying to escape.

Honey Garlic Sauce

There’s something about the combination of honey and garlic which makes me weak at the knees. Alongside the garlic and honey, there’s just a few other ingredients that really complete this sauce.

Honey Garlic Sauce Ingredients

Honey Garlic Butter – this will be leftover from basting the pork chops AND infused with rosemary/thyme and extra garlic.

Soy Sauce – will give gorgeous depth to the sauce.

Apple Cider Vinegar – balances out the sweetness of the honey and adds a hint of apple, which coincidentally pairs perfectly with pork.

How to make Honey Garlic Pork Chops

1. Bring pork chops to room temp and liberally coat with olive oil in cast iron pan, salt and pepper.

2. Fry on high heat until charred and golden.

3. Flip over and baste with butter, herbs and garlic. Sear fat then remove and rest.

4. Turn down heat to a low-medium and make honey garlic sauce. Add chops back to the pan and coat with the sauce.

I hope you and your family have a great Valetine’s Day and if you make this recipe don’t forget to tag @aliinthevalleyor #aliinthevalley.

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

Servings

2

servings
Prep time

5

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes
Calories

kcal

Ingredients

  • 2x 8oz pork chops (bone in)

  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter

  • 4 cloves of garlic (2 lightly crushed with skins on, 2 minced)

  • ¼ cup honey

  • 1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar

  • 1 tbsp soy sauce

  • 1 sprig of rosemary

  • 1 sprig of thyme

  • Salt & pepper

  • Olive oil

Directions

  • Bring your pork chops to room tem then liberally coat with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
  • Place a frying pan over high heat, wait a couple minutes for it to get nice and hot then lay your pork chops down. Fry for 3-5 mins or until charred, then flip over.
  • Drop in your butter, thyme rosemary and 2 garlic cloves. Baste the chops for another 3-5 minutes, or until the second side is charred & the juiced are running clear. Flip and sear the fat until golden, then remove & rest to one side.
  • Turn heat down to a low-medium, & then the pan has cooled down add your minced garlic. Make sure it’s not still scorching hot or the garlic will burn & go bitter.
  • Fry until the garlic just begins to catch colour, then pour in your honey, soy sauce and apple cider vinegar. Simmer until you can coat the back of a spoon, stirring regularly. Add pork chops back in (just to coat in the sauce) then serve. Your chops should just be cooked through after resting, but if they need a little extra, then add to the sauce for a few minutes until hot through the centre.

Ali in the Valley is a lifestyle blog about healthy, delicious food and simple lifestyle tips on how to be a great host or hostess…all while staying on a budget.

I create simple recipes for the urban soul and live by my motto:

“Home Grown Cooking – Down To Earth Living!”

Like most women, I’m the Energizer bunny that keeps going and going. And, actually… I LOVE IT. Power mom! Power life!

I’m an entertainment biz executive who loves to entertain at home, as well as abroad!!

I passionately blog about it, share recipes and write cookbooks––plus produce a web show centered around live music and good food.

Discover more...