Smothered Pork Chops Recipe
Published October 2, 2020. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
These smothered pork chops are pan-roasted to perfection and then simmered in a delicious caramelized onion gravy and finished with fresh herbs.
There are some days where all I want is comfort food in less than 1 hour, which can sometimes be hard to do. If you are the same then absolutely check out my pasta primavera or beef stroganoff.
Smothered Pork Chops
This classic southern dish is the epitome of comfort food. It’s an incredibly easy to make one-pan meal consisting of pork chops, caramelized onions, and a homemade gravy that makes for the perfect weeknight meal. In addition, you can also add mushrooms to the dish to make it similar to a chopped steak.
Ways to Tenderize Pork
Pork can often come off as dry or chewy if is cooked incorrectly. Here are a few ways to ensure that it is tender and flavorful:
- Brine – A salty-vinegar solution that seasons the pork by marinating it overnight.
- Marinade – There are several delicious marinades that will allow the acid, seasonings, and herbs to penetrate the pork. I always recommend marinating overnight for the most flavor.
- Pounding – Using a meat mallet to break down the meat to help tenderize it.
- Braising – This happens when you sear meat and then slowly cook it in a flavorful broth to help break it down.
- Not Over Cooking – The easiest way to make sure pork is delicious is by not overcooking it. Anything past 155° internally it will begin to become chewy.
The Gravy
One of the most important aspects of flavorful smothered pork chops is the gravy. It’s incredibly easy to prepare and only has 5 ingredients. Here is how you make it:
- Add the onions to a large frying or cast-iron pan over medium heat with 3 tablespoons of rendered fat or oil and cook for 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Mix in the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the flour and mix it in completely with the onions and garlic.
- Pour in the stock and bring to a low boil and cook until thick, which only takes 3-4 minutes.
How to Make Smothered Pork Chops
Follow these easy procedures to make this tasty recipe:
Season the pork chops well on both sides with salt and pepper.
In a small amount of oil in a large frying or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat cook the pork chops until very browned, about 3-4 minutes per side.
Next, remove the pork chops and prepare the gravy, and then place the pre-cooked pork chops in the gravy to heat up.
Finish the pork chops and gravy with a touch of heavy cream and fresh herbs.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: While these are meant to be eaten right away, you can make these up to 1 hour ahead of time, just keep the pork chops in the gravy over very low heat.
How to Store: Cover and keep in the gravy in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. These will freeze covered in the gravy for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of pork and gravy to a medium size pan and cook over medium-low heat until warmed, which takes about 10 minutes. You can also reheat in a microwave.
chef notes + tips
- You can use chicken stock, or beef stock, or a combination of both like I did.
- I prefer to use double thick-cut bone-in pork chops for the most flavor. You can easily substitute with thin cut pork chops, pork loin, or pork tenderloin.
- These pork chops go perfectly with mashed potatoes and green beans.
More Amazing Pork Recipes
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Video
Smothered Pork Chops Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 thick-cut bone-in pork chops
- 1 ½ tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 3 peeled and thickly sliced medium-size yellow onions
- 3 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 32 ounces chicken stock, beef stock, or combination of both
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- sea salt and pepper taste
Instructions
- Season the pork chops well on each side with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.
- Add the oil into a large frying or cast-iron pan over high heat until it begins to lightly smoke.
- Next add in the pork chops and butter and turn the heat down to medium-high and cook for 3-4 minutes or until very browned.
- Turn the pork over, baste, and cook for another 3-4 minutes and set aside.
- In the same pan turn the heat down to medium and add in the onions and cook for 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Next, stir in the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Stir in the flour until completely mixed in and then add in the stock and turn the heat up slightly to medium-high and cook until it becomes thick like gravy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the pork chops back in the pan to heat them up and finish by stirring in the heavy cream.
- Garnish with optional finely minced fresh parsley, rosemary, and thyme.
Notes
- Make-Ahead: While these are meant to be eaten right away, you can make these up to 1 hour ahead of time, just keep the pork chops in the gravy over very low heat.
- How to Store: Cover and keep in the gravy in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. These will freeze covered in the gravy for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
- How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of pork and gravy to a medium size pan and cook over medium-low heat until warmed, which takes about 10 minutes. You can also reheat in a microwave.
- You can use chicken stock, or beef stock, or a combination of both like I did.
- I prefer to use double thick-cut bone-in pork chops for the most flavor. You can easily substitute with thin cut pork chops, pork loin, or pork tenderloin.
- These pork chops go perfectly with mashed potatoes and green beans.
Family loved it!! Made it into our regular rotation!
DELICIOUS, now that the weather is changing, I can’t wait to start cooking this amazingly simple but tasty dinner.!
thanks!
Love this recipe you have the best way of teaching.
my pleasure!
These Smothered Pork Chops are DA BOMB!
I replaced one whole onion with 3 cups of sliced baby portobello mushrooms, and I was short on cream, so I substituted half with buttermilk.
It was so good, we are all laying around the living room, moaning now!
Made this at my husband’s request and we both loved it ! So good and so easy !
love it!
Made these chops exactly to the recipe and they were delicious!
awesome!
Comfort food at its best. These chops were amazing, easy to prepare and so tasty. I served them with homemade mashed potatoes and sautéed French cut green beans. Delicious!
many thanks!
This is tonight’s dinner! Can’t wait to make it!
Another one of your great easy to prepare dinners that my family loves!
I have made this recipe numerous times and it it always a big hit with my family. We also found that I could use leftover gravy with my meatloaf and it worked perfectly!
Great recipe. I will try it with tenderloin also.
You rock, Billy!
We made this for dinner this evening, tasted great. We had some leftover mushrooms, so we sautéed them and added them in with the onions and garlic.
Definately worth it~~~we loved this one~~
Tried this last night and everyone raved about it. I did add mushrooms to it but other than that, followed it to a tee.
Hands down THE best gravy I’ve ever made! Used half beef half chicken My husband loved it! Last time we had smothered pork chops was at Sylvia’s in Harlem These were right up there!
love it!
Best, most tender chops I’ve ever had! Easy to make, too? 👍 Chef Billy!!!!!
excellent!
Am wonder ing if a way to reconstitute dried herbs as fresh are not in my budget Thanks
Reconstitution just happens when liquid is applied.
I made for dinner and turned out fabulous. I tend to use thinner chops only because I experience them as too porky or tough, but think I will go for the thicker ones and will be fixing this again!
love it!
Very good recipe. Pork chop was tender and juicy. Great gravy
excellent!
Outstanding! I the cook time on the pork chop is spot on. And the flavor is my type of comfort food.
perfect!!
easy, and DELISH !
excellent!
I made this exactly by the recipe it was easy and so fun..the dish was delicious..we had friends over and everyone loved it..thank
excellent!
I had some pork steaks that I needed to use. We usually bbq pork steaks but thought I would try them smothered. And ohmigosh Billy, they were unbelievably good. That gravy and the tender meat was a huge hit. Can’t wait to try with other cuts of pork. Thank you so much!
Awesome!
I made this last night and it was delicious. However I recommend cooking the onions for longer as they don’t soften in 5-7 minutes. I cooked them uncovered for at least that length of time for browning and then another 10 minutes covered. Definitely a keeper of a recipe.
Love this recipe. It’s now a family favorite. I’ve learned so many cooking techniques from watching your videos. Thanks for sharing your talents with us.
Amazing!
There are no words to describe how awesome these pork chops turned out. My husband kept complimenting how they tasted. I even had green beans and mashed potatoes as sides like u suggested. Yum Thank you so much.
My pleasure!
This was a definite hit with the guys in our family!
I have made these several times! Just made them tonight! They never disappoint! And never any leftovers. Sooo good!
many thanks
I never make pork chops any other way since I first tried this recipe. I used extra thick chops and they were so tender. I thought the onions would be over powering but they added the best flavor to the gravy. Wow!!!
It’s a good one!
This is to die for. Thank you for making is so easy to follow…. Can’t wait to make smothered pork chops with gravy again.
so good!!
Great recipe!! Thanks Chef!
my pleasure!
Great recipe!!!
thank you so kindly!!
I’ve made this quite a few times. Love it.
thanks for giving it a shot!!
Delicious recipe.
thank you so kindly!!
Just made this in my paella pan on the bbq and it turned out perfect. It was so good. Thank you chef.
Awesome!
This was fabulous! I followed recipe exactly like Chef and it was delicious! Thank you Chef!
My pleasure!
My father loves pork chops and gravy. He loved this dish and asked for seconds. I have made the Smothered Pork Chops three times. Great recipe for tender pork chops.
Wow!
OMG! If we had added fresh herbs I don’t know-just amazing! We had pork tenderloin cut into medalions and we both wanted seconds. You hit the mark with this one, chef! We could have added more mushrooms and onion due to the extra meat. Maybe tomorrow for the leftovers. You’re our new favorite chef!
Thanks for giving it a shot!!
Fantastic recipe & super easy to make, just follow Chef’s instructions & you will have a great meal!
Amazing!
Loved this way of doing pork chops. Thanks, after all these years of cooking it’s great to have a new way of cooking things
so good!!
Best pork chops I have ever cooked!
Thank you for the lesson.
Great recipe. Loved it!
Turned out great! Thanks
Absolutely the best pork chops!
Oh my yum! If you haven’t made this yet, what are you waiting for!?!
Definitely comfort food! We loved it and I had no idea that 1”+ thick pork chops could be made so quickly. Cannot wait to try more of Billy’s recipes.
Incredible! The chop are tender, the flavor of the gravy is on point! Make sure you make some mashed potatoes so you don’t miss a drop! I coupled this with baked apples with cinnamon brown sugar and raisins (and of course butter) mashed potatoes and collards. Don’t wait to make this one!
PERFECTION! enough said
Hi Chef. Made these pork chops for lunch today and we loved it. Will definitely repeat it again.
Thank you.
Mahesh Amin,
Lusaka, Zambia
I made this last night and it was delicious! My 8 year old gave it a big thumbs up!
My brother is the pickiest eater I have ever known…and he HATES onions. I made this on his last visit. I was careful to remove every speck of cooked onion and placed them on the side to be self-served. He LOVED this dish and even asked for the recipe!
Just made these for the first time tonight and they were delicious!
Delish! the pork chops and gravy went perfectly with garlic mashed and roasted vegetables. the house smells soooo good.
Made this today for New year’s day lunch and it turned out delicious! I love mushrooms, so couldn’t help adding some. 🙂 Thanks for another fantastic recipe.
You’re my hero!
Never before could I cook pork chops!
What can I do with so much left over gravy???
Definitely freeze it or you can use it in a beef stew or soup?
Recipe sounds delicious, but I only like breaded pork chops. Can these pork chops be made by dipping in flour, egg and bread crumbs!
that will not work.
Another fabulous, classic recipe! I followed your instructions exactly. Adding the herbs (thyme, rosemarey) and fresh pepper is the kicker (and can be done at serving by the individuals to taste). Most satisfying I’ve had pork chop in a long time… I served with brown rice and steamed broccoli.
You are an amazing chef and I enjoy your recipes so much. I have made your shrimp scampi, which Was to die for! I am from Southeast Louisiana, near New
Orleans, and cook lots of creole shrimp
dishes.
Your Scampi is right on, my friend!!
I already have my beautiful thick pork chops and onions for next dish.
I really enjoyed this! I ate my whole pork chop tonight and I don’t typically. Thank you! One sub I made was I used better than bullion instead of the bullion cubes. It was fantastic!!!
👍