These pork chops are awesome, mainly because they’re so delicious, but also because you only need a handful of ingredients to make them! Follow me…
Caramelized Onions
These are a key ingredient in French onion soup. They also add the body of flavour and texture to this recipe too.
Don’t rush the process!
The aim of the game for caramelizing onions is to fry them fairly low and slow. You want to tickle out the natural sugars and have them caramelize in the pan. If the heat is too high the onions are going to cook too quickly and you’ll just end up with regular fried onions.
Can I make these ahead of time?
Besides the caramelized onions, this recipe is super speedy. As such, to keep things ‘weeknight friendly’ you can definitely make the caramelized onions and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to whip up the rest of the dish. Process shots: add butter and oil to pan (photo 1), stir to melt butter (photo 2), add onions (photo 3), caramelize (photo 4).
Pan-Fried Pork Chops
Once you’ve caramelized the onions, remove them from the pan and get cracking with the pork chops.
What kind of pork chops should I use?
Here I’m just using boneless pork loin steaks. They’re relatively small/thin, so they cook through quickly. You can use thick cut pork chops, or even pork shoulder steaks, you’ll just need to adjust the cooking times slightly. You only want the pork just about cooked, because it’ll cook slightly more when the cheese melts on top.
Pork Fat
Unless the pork chops are lean, there will likely be a thick strip of fat on one side. Depending on how thick it is, you might want to consider scoring it (making small slices in it). This will prevent the chops from curling up in the pan when you fry them. I also like to flip the chops on their side and render down the fat in the pan. This will add a huge amount of flavour to the sauce.
Pork Chop Seasoning
I tend to keep it fairly simple and just liberally season with salt and pepper. You could add some garlic powder as well if you’d like. Process shots: add seasoned pork to pan (photo 1), fry both sides (photo 2), render fat (photo 3), remove (photo 4).
French Onion Pork Chops
For the base of the sauce, all you need is flour and beef stock. A lot of the flavour will come from the caramelized onions, but for added flavour, I love adding Worcestershire sauce alongside the resting juices from the pork chops. Once you’ve made the sauce, add the chops back in the pan, top with some of the onions then plonk on some gruyere. To melt the cheese I typically pop the pan under the grill, but you could add on a lid and let the steam melt the cheese. Process shots: add onions back to pan (photo 1), stir in flour (photo 2), stir in stock, seasoning & Worcestershire sauce and add pork chops on top (photo 3), add cheese (photo 4).
Can I use a different meat?
I have tried this with chicken in the past which works pretty well!
What kind of pan should I use?
The best kind of pan would be non-stick (best for caramelizing onions) and oven-safe (best for melting cheese under the grill). If the pan isn’t oven-safe just add a lid on to melt the cheese. If it’s not non-stick (i.e. cast-iron skillet) just make sure it’s well seasoned.
What can I use instead of Gruyere?
Any sort of melty Swiss-style cheese will do the trick. Grated or sliced!
Serving French Onion Pork Chops
To serve, I recommend finishing with some fresh thyme. Here I’ve served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, but do check out all my Side Dishes for more inspo! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these French onion pork chops shall we?!
How to make French Onion Pork Chops (Full Recipe & Video)
For another French onion inspired recipe check out my French Onion Boulangere Potatoes and French Onion Mac & Cheese! For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Pork Chop Recipes
Honey Garlic Pork Chops Pork Chops & Garlic Sauce Pork Chops with Blue Cheese & Apple Sauce Pork Chops & Peach Salsa Pork Schnitzels Creamy Lemon Thyme Pork Chops Brown Sugar Pork Chops
