Brown Sugar Brined Pork Chops with Spiced Apple
Our Brown Sugar Brined Pork Chops with Spiced Apple are so delicious and so belly-warming. The cumin, coriander and cardamom bring that fall spice vibe that so many of us start craving when the weather gets colder. And the brown sugar brine caramelizes the pork to perfection, marrying sweet and savory in every bite. Speaking of marriage, read on below to hear why this recipe is extra special to our blended family.
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💍 This Recipe is Sentimental
My brown sugar brined pork chops have inadvertently become very special to our family. If you don’t like sappy stories, skip this! On a normal Tuesday night last month, I had just finished making this new pork recipe for dinner, aiming to test it out on the family. The four kids were back from their after-school activities and herding around the table. My partner, Alex, and I joined with our plates too. Then the youngest kiddo, smiling, handed me a piece of paper. It was a letter addressed to me, sweetly talking about how much she loved me and our blended family. And after I finished reading it, she handed me a ring she had made with a rainbow loom kit, and asked me to marry her! Following that, each of the other kids did the same exact thing, and I was definitely overcome with emotion.
The grand finale was Alex turning to me with his own letter in hand and a ‘real’ ring. It was the sweetest proposal ever. Can you tell he’s a fan of The Office (re. Michael’s proposal to Holly), lol?! For the rest of the dinner, we ate pork and cried and laughed. Two of the kids sang us a song they made up, and they all flooded us with wedding ideas galore. So, all this is to say…this recipe is our special engagement pork recipe! I can’t promise you’ll have the kind of dinner I did that night, but, from the heart, it’s very meaningful to share it with you! ❤️
❤️ Why We Love These Brined Pork Chops
Aside from the sentimental value we have attached to these apple pork chops, we love them because…
- Kids love them! – Magically….somehow….every kid in our house was a fan! Even the pickiest of eaters. Statistically, this bodes well for your families. Haha
- So seasonal! – If you love fall, these pork chops are your jam…belly-warming comfort food with spiced apple vibes and quintessential fall flavors.
- Fast but feels fancy! – These pork chops’ flavor profile is impressive and seems like it took hours to make, but only took like 25 minutes. Deceptively uncomplicated 👍
By the way, these pork chops go great with pumpkin rice on the side. I’d also recommend Lemon Garlic Pasta, a fresh green salad, or Parmesan Roasted Asparagus.
🧂 What is Brining, Anyway?
Brining is basically the process of immersing your meat/fish in a salt mixture prior to cooking, and letting the meat/fish rest in that brine for a while (from a half hour to over a day). Brining makes your meat/fish juicier, more tender and more flavorful. The salt breaks down the meat fibers, thereby naturally tenderizing the meat and locking in moisture.
There are two kinds of brining: (1) Wet brining is soaking your meat/fish in a mixture of water and salt. (2) Dry brining is rubbing your meat/fish with a salt mixture. A brine is almost always more than just salt, often including herbs and spices. Wet brines often include beer, bourbon, or other condiments.
We use a dry brine for this recipe, a mixture of coarse Kosher salt and brown sugar. And we only brined the pork for 10-15 minutes because, honestly, life is hectic and I’m not organized enough to brine ahead!
🛒 Ingredients
Notes on key ingredients are provided below. Please see the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities.
- Brine – make a brine from coarse Kosher salt & brown sugar (light or dark is fine). You can play with the ratio of salt : sugar. Note – you might not use the whole brine, depending on the size of your pork chops.
- Pork chops – we used thick, bone-in pork loin chops.
- Olive oil – almost any cooking oil is fine, with avocado oil and vegetable oil being my runners-up.
- Produce – feel free to change the amount of onion, apple and garlic (it’s hard to go wrong here). I liked using more apple than onion and just two cloves of garlic.
- Seasonings – I find this cumin/coriander/cardamom combo to be perfect. Like the alliteration there?! 😉 It could be worth throwing in some rosemary, sage or thyme, as well.
- Butter – this is for the glaze; go with salted.
- Apple cider vinegar – this is also for the glaze, and you only need a little.
- Lemon – a squirt of lemon juice at the end (per plate) is optional, but I think it really rounds out the dish.
🧑🍳 Cooking Instructions
Step 1: Make a brine, combining Kosher salt & brown sugar in a bowl. Rub pork chops with brine, and set aside.
Step 2: Heat oil in pan, and cook apples, onion & garlic. Add seasonings and cook longer. Remove from pan.
Step 3: In same pan, add oil and cook pork chops – 3 minutes on each side. Add apple/onion mix back into pan, and cook all together briefly. Then transfer pork and apple/onion mix to a casserole dish.
Step 4: Use same pan to make brown butter glaze. Melt butter until brown and nutty-smelling. Then add apple cider vinegar and brown sugar. Let the glaze simmer, and then drizzle over casserole dish.
And dinner is ready! This looks amazing, right?!
Plate your brown sugar brined pork chops with a squirt of lemon juice and a side of your choice!
Kid Steps & Kid Tools:
- While you brine the pork chops (step 1), your kiddo can easily cut up the apples, using this great beginner’s chef knife. We have a great, easy video on how to slice an apple. You just may have to slice them thinner afterwards 😉
- Your kiddo can be an official timekeeper for the stovetop cooking steps (steps 2-4). We use this adorable cat-shaped kitchen timer a lot because it’s super cute, easy to use and is the perfect size for little hands (even though it isn’t a ‘kid’ tool).
- Stirring is also a great kid task! It’ll help a bit if your kiddo can stir the spiced apples and onions (step 2), freeing you up to prepare for the rest of the steps. Thermoworks‘ mini spatula is great for small hands!
✏️ How to Customize
There are only a few adjustments you can make to this recipe because TBH, it’s pretty awesome as is. But here are some options for you:
- Increase or decrease the onion, apple and garlic, as you like! Just adjust your cooking time accordingly.
- If you’re looking to add more seasonings, you could try adding in rosemary, sage or thyme.
- This dish is still really damn good without the brown butter glaze. Skip the glaze (step 4) it if you’re wanting to lighten up the dish or simply have less time to cook.
✔️ Expert Tips and Tricks
- This recipe is technically for 4 adults, if each adult ate a whole pork chop and a lot of the fixings. But for our family (2 adults and 4 kids), this meal stretched out to 2-3 meals.
- Don’t skip the brine. It’s a key element in the flavor profile of this dish.
- If you increase onion or apple quantity, cook them a minute or two longer with the seasonings.
- The thicker the porkchop, the longer it takes to cook.
- Pork chops are fully cooked at a minimum of 145° F. This meat thermometer from Thermoworks takes a super accurate read.
- For the brown butter glaze – My pan was so hot that I only needed 1 minute (instead of 3 minutes) for the butter to get nutty-smelling. Really pay attention to your pan when making the glaze because it can burn so quickly.
👧 Tips for Picky Eaters
I swear, I’m not lying here – all 4 of our kids loved this pork…even the one who’s so picky that she thinks iceberg lettuce is spicy! I think the pork itself is pretty multi-palate-friendly, and apples tend to be popular with kids, in general. But I can think of a two small tips: (1) Dish up the onions and apples on the side or make them optional. (2) Serve one of your kids’ favorite sides with the pork. Mine can never turn down rice, and they love this pumpkin rice!
❓FAQs
Pork chops are a cut of meat from the loin of the pig (which runs along the back of the pig, between the legs and shoulders) across the spine. For reference, here is a great infographic on different cuts of meat. There are several different kinds of pork chops, but for this recipe we used bone in pork loin chops, which are fairly lean, easy to find at the store, and more flavorful (with the bone).
No, you don’t have to brine pork chops BUT your pork chops will be way juicier and more flavorful if you do, I promise!
Brining can take anywhere from a couple minutes to several days. It depends on the recipe. For this recipe we did a Kosher salt–brown sugar dry brine, and the pork brined for a quick 10-15 minutes. A few tips: the thicker the meat, the more effective a longer brine will be. And if you plan on a long brine, decrease the salt. But note that if you brine for too long, the meat can get mushy and super salty.
You can definitely brine the pork chops ahead, refrigerated, probably no more than 4 hours (any longer and you should decrease the salt in the brine). I would cook the dish itself, though, when you’re ready to eat.
🥗 Sides for Pork Chops
Brown sugar brined pork chops pair very nicely with a simple starchy side, like pumpkin rice or our Lemon Garlic Pasta. You could also balance the richness of the pork chops with a veggie-focused side, like a fresh green salad or our Parmesan Roasted Asparagus.
🐽 DIY Piggy Bank Craft
If you’re looking for a craft your kids can do while you cook, check out this adorable DIY Piggy Bank Craft. All you need is a tissue box and a few other supplies you probably have at home already!
🍽️ More Pork Recipes to Try!
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🍎 Brown Sugar Brined Pork Chops with Spiced Apple
Equipment
- medium bowl
- medium/large pan
- casserole dish
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar (divided)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Kosher salt
- 4 bone-in pork loin chops
- 2 Tbsp olive oil (divided)
- 2 apples, sliced, skin on
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp coriander
- 1/8 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
- squirt of lemon juice at end
Instructions
- Mix together 2 Tbsp of the brown sugar and Kosher salt in a medium bowl to create a brine. Rub both sides of each pork chop with the brine, and place pork chops on a plate together. Set aside on counter.
- Heat a large skillet/pan on low-medium heat. Once pan is heated, add 1 Tbsp of the oil, onions, apples, and garlic. Cook for roughly 3 minutes (stirring occasionally) and then add seasonings. Stir together and cook for 3 minutes more. Remove contents from pan.
- For the same pan, increase heat to medium-high. Add remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil and then pork chops. Cook the pork chops 3 minutes on each side. Once pork chops are fully cooked, add back in the apple/onion mix and cook for 1 more minute all together. Then transfer pork and apple/onion mix to a casserole dish, leaving any juices and food bits in the pan.
- Decrease the pan's heat a little. Add salted butter and stir on and off for 3 minutes or so, until it browns and smells a little nutty, but not burnt. At this point stir in the apple cider vinegar and remaining 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar. Bring heat to low and let the brown butter glaze simmer until it's the thickness you like. Remove from heat and drizzle the glaze over the casserole dish. Plate each pork chop with a squirt of lemon juice.
Notes
-
- This recipe is technically for 4 adults, if each adult ate a whole pork chop and a lot of the fixings. But for our family (2 adults and 4 kids), this meal stretched out to 2-3 meals.
-
- Don’t skip the brine. It’s a key element in the flavor profile of this dish.
-
- If you increase onion or apple quantity, cook them a minute or two longer with the seasonings.
-
- The thicker the porkchop, the longer it takes to cook.
-
- Pork chops are fully cooked at a minimum of 145° F. This meat thermometer from Thermoworks takes a super accurate read.
-
- For the brown butter glaze – My pan was so hot that I only needed 1 minute (instead of 3 minutes) for the butter to get nutty-smelling. Really pay attention to your pan when making the glaze because it can burn so quickly.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
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