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Pork chops are one of my favorite proteins and these smothered pork chops are one of the best recipes I’ve made recently. Covered in a rich garlic and onion sauce, it’s a simple and delicious meal your family will love. This is a classic Southern-style smothered pork chop recipe with buttermilk – and that tang of buttermilk makes all the difference in this recipe!
Smothered Pork Chops
This recipe came about when I was searching for a new way to prepare some nice, thick pork chops I’d recently purchased. One of my most requested dinners at home is my Mushroom Soup Baked Pork Chops and Rice, so I decided to see if I could come up with something that had a similar type of sauce but a different kind of flavor. This recipe is the result of that experiment and I’m confident that you will love it just as much as Mr. Magpie and I did!
Pat your Pork Chops Dry First!
Something most people tend to forget when preparing meats before cooking is to pat them dry. This removes any excess moisture from either the defrosting process or simply from storing in the fridge. With this recipe, specifically, it’s an important step as we will be coating the pork chops and we don’t want the ingredients to “gum up”, which they tend to do when there’s extra moisture on the outside of the meat. Therefore, simply take some paper towels and pat everything dry on both sides (dry off the plate as well) before preparing.
Types of Pork Chops to Use
I personally always look for a thicker cut. Thicker cuts are often juicier in the end as thin ones will dry out (even when coated in sauces) so when choosing your cuts, err in thickness if you want something better tasting in the end!
Preparing the Smothered Pork Chops
This recipe has an overall cook time of about 40 minutes with 15 minutes of prep so it’s a fairly easy one to put together. Here’s how to get things started.
- Pat the pork chops dry, as mentioned above, to ensure no excess moisture is on the meat.
- Coat the pork chops in flour by placing some flour in a shallow bowl and then placing the pork chops in and coating each side.
- Melt the butter in a pan and fry the pork chops on both sides until browned, then remove and place on a plate (keeping them warm).
- Cook the garlic and poultry seasoning together in the pan until fragrant.
- Pour in the chicken broth and deglaze the pan per the instructions in the recipe card below.
- Simmer and cook for another 5 minutes then whisk in the buttermilk and continue cooking.
- Place the pork chops in the pan and spoon the sauce over them, covering them completely.
- Simmer until the pork is cooked properly, then season with salt and pepper and serve.
What to Serve This Over
This is a delicious dish that can easily be served over one of my other recipes such as my Buttery Mushroom Rice or with my Egg Noodles.
Classic smothered pork chops are going to be your family’s next favorite meal! Juicy, thick pork chops are cooked to perfection and then covered in a buttermilk onion sauce.
Other Delicious Pork Chop Recipes
I hope you enjoy this new take on pork chops as much as my family did!
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Classic Smothered Pork Chops
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 40 minutes
- Course
- Main Course
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 484
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 3-4 pork chops 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
- salt and pepper
- ½ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ cup butter
Gravy
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups thinly sliced yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Pat the pork chops with paper towels to dry the exterior. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Whisk together the flour, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Dredge each chop in the flour making sure to lightly shake off any excess flour. Remove two tablespoons of the leftover flour and place in a small bowl for the gravy later.
- Place the butter in a large lidded skillet over medium heat. Heat the butter, then sauté the pork chops in a single layer. Cook the first side for 7-8 minutes or until well browned then flip. Cook for another 5 minutes until the other side is well browned then remove and place on a plate and keep warm. This cooking time is for thick pork chops, you want less time for thin pork chops that might overcook.
- Melt the next two tablespoons of butter in the same pan. Add in the 2 cups of onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes.
- Add the garlic and poultry seasoning then cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle the two tablespoons of flour onto the onion butter mixture and cook, stirring, until the flour has been absorbed, around 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth, de-glazing the pan by scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Bring to a low simmer and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Slowly whisk in the buttermilk until the mixture is thick and creamy.
- Place the pork chops back into the pan. Spoon the sauce over top of the pork chops to cover them.
- Bring to a low simmer, place the lid on top of the skillet, and cook until the pork chops have reached an internal temperature of 145°F. Turn the pork chops occasionally and stir the sauce to prevent any burning on the bottom of the pan.
- Serve hot.
Recipe Notes
- Feel free to add more onions to this recipe if you are an onion lover, the onions cook down a lot in this recipe.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Jane Thibault says
This recipe calls for 1/2 cup onion powder, is this an error, should it read 1/2 tsp. Onion powder instead?
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
Correct, Fixed. Thanks.
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
correct, fixed.