Instant Pot Pork Chops
More Instant Pot magic - what doesn’t this thing do? My friend, Pam, calls it a cauldron, and I couldn't agree more. This is 100% witchery and I welcome it.
I was at the market last week (that's what we call it in Seattle, no one says "store"), and decided to buy a whole bunch of boneless pork chops. I usually cook them in a cast iron with a little homemade bourbon apple sauce, and they're delicious. However, pork can be tough and chewy if not cooked correctly, and I didn’t feel like going through the tenderizing/marinating process that I usually do — enter Instant Pot.
And I was not disappointed - I decided to use the stuff I normally marinate the pork in as a sauce, and this pork turned out so flavorful and so tender, and I didn’t have a single pan to wash - just took the instant pot liner out, rinsed it, and threw it in the dishwasher (or rather, my husband did that part). Happy fucking Tuesday night, right? More time for wine!
NOTE: I completely eyed everything that I put into the sauce, so I’m hoping I can get the measurements right - fingers crossed! Let me know in the comments or on Instagram if you think they could be adjusted. PS - if you’re not a pork eater, as I know a lot aren’t, I bet this recipe would be amaze with chicken breasts or thighs. Let me know if you try that, too!
Quick update: scroll to the bottom to see some recipe tweaks that worked out great. The original, below, is still amaze, too. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 6 boneless pork chops
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons of honey
- 2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard (I used a garlic whole grain)
- Salt/black pepper
- Juice from half a lemon
- 1 apple, chopped (I used fuji)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- Fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Olive oil
Directions:
Dry the pork chops with paper towels, and salt and pepper both sides.
In a small bowl add the water, honey, mustard, lemon juice, cinnamon, cloves, garam masala, ginger, and chopped apple, and stir together.
Set the Instant Pot to sauté, and brown the pork chops on all sides. I added a tiny splash of olive oil, but you probably don't have to, because pork fat. Don’t overcrowd the pot with the chops, because they’ll steam and not brown - it’s ok to do this in groups of 2 or 3. The chops might feel like they’re sticking to the pot, but it’s part of the process - when they’re ready to be flipped, they’ll release much easier. Have patience!
When the chops have all been browned, let them rest on a cutting board or a plate while you work on the sauce. Pour in the liquid from the bowl and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to get all the brown, sticky bits incorporated (is that an official cooking term? Sticky bits?). Add a pinch of salt and pepper and the bay leaf.
Turn the pot off, and then nestle the pork chops over the top of the sauce. There will be some overlap, and that’s fine. Add the fresh thyme over the top of the chops; you don’t have to remove it from the stems unless you want to.
Set the Instant Pot to manual/high for 15 minutes (these chops are about 1/2-3/4" thick - when I tried this again with 1 1/2" chops, I pressure cooked for 20 minutes, so use your best judgment here), close the lid, and seal the steam vent.
Go do something else. Pour some wine. Sit down. Go outside with your dogs. Stay off of twitter, for fuck’s sake; it's ok, we all deserve a break from the bullshit.
When the time is up, the Instant Pot automatically switches over to the warming setting — leave it for an additional 10 minutes, and then flip the steam release.
Remove the pork chops from the sauce, and switch the pot back to sauté. Reduce the sauce by 1/3 or so - it’ll get slightly thicker, but it won’t be like gravy or anything.
Serve with whatever side you choose — I steamed some green beans with mine — and pour a little sauce over the top of the chops.
Hope you like them!
Updates! I made these again and made some recipe tweaks that turned out FAB:
- I increased the amount of spices to 1/2 teaspoons for cinnamon and garam masala, and a full 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
- I used 2 apples instead of 1
- Added 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
- When the porkchops were done in the pressure cooker and I started the sauce reduction, I added a cornstarch slurry of 2 tablespoons water to 1 tablespoon cornstarch. I let it simmer for about...five to ten minutes or so before serving. It thickened up the sauce just slightly without adding any wheat for those of us trying to stay gluten free.
