What's For Dinner Wednesday: Maple, Mustard & Onion Pork Chops

I know that when looking at the title of this dinner it sounds like cold weather comfort food, right? Well, there is still a chill in the air here in Chicago so I don't think it is totally inappropriate right now. Also, now that we're in the process of buying a condo and a move is on the horizon for us I thought I should start using up ingredients in my freezer, fridge, and pantry. That's one of the highlights of this recipe for me: You can make a super flavorful and impressive dinner with ingredients that are probably in your kitchen right now. My favorite kind of recipe!

Pork chops can be a dicey dinner ingredient. They can be dry, boring, gray... not good. I find them to be very challenging to work with, but they also lend themselves well to super flavorful sauces like this one. Maple, mustard, onion, and fresh thyme come together to create a really easy and nice pan sauce with a great balance of flavors: sweet, savory, and little spicy.

I also love that this dish is simple enough to make on a weeknight. I'm always looking for new delicious and easy recipes to change up weeknight dinners which can, admittedly, get really boring. This recipe would work great with good quality honey subbed in for the maple syrup or also with chicken breasts or pork medallions instead of pork chops.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 Tbs. butter
• 2 boneless pork chops
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1/4 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbs. real maple syrup
• 1 Tbs. whole grain mustard
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a cast iron (or other oven-proof skillet) over medium high heat. Add oil and butter and swirl to coat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and cook on both sides for 2 minutes, until browned.

 Add onions to the pan. In a small bowl, whisk together broth, maple syrup, mustards, Worcestershire, thyme, and white pepper. Pour evenly over the pork and onions.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until pork is cooked through and only slightly pink (at the most) in the center.

Serve pork chops with onions and pan sauce.


Looking for another way to make pork chops fun and fancy? Try Greek Grilled Pork Chops or Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola!