Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops

Made a surprisingly quick and easy dinner the other night.  Brown Sugar-Glazed Pork Chops. This goes down as one of my top ten favorite recipes for the simplicity and taste factor!

I was inspired after watching Sunny Anderson make Sweet Glazed Butterflied Chicken on her show, “Cooking for Real”.  I didn’t have allspice, apple cider vinegar, or chicken on-hand so with some quick-thinking and risk-taking, I morphed the recipe into Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops. 

Don’t let the ingredient list or steps fool you. Timing is everything and if you follow my instructions step-by-step, these delicious bad boys will be out on your table in no time! Serve with mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetable.

Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops

What you will need for 6 pork chops:

• 6 thin-sliced pork chops
• 2 Tbsp grated onion
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1/16 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/16 of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp of brown mustard
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 2 tsp of applesauce
• 1/4 tsp of vinegar
• 3 tsp of butter
• hot sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper
• Scallion for decoration, optional

Hardware:

• Large frying pan
• Small pot
• 2 small plates for breading the pork chops
• Microplane or grater
• 1 meat tenderizer
• whisk or fork 
• Plastic wrap, optional

Directions:

Prep the ingredients for the sauce:

• Using either a microplane or the smallest slots of a cheese grater, grate about 2 teaspoons of an onion and a clove of garlic.

• Measure out 1/16 of teaspoon cinnamon and 1/16 of a teaspoon of nutmeg. Set to the side.

• Mix 2 teaspoons of applesauce with 1/4 of a teaspoon of vinegar.

• Measure out 1/4 cup of the brown sugar.

• Measure 1/4 of a teaspoon of brown mustard.

Prepare the pork chops:

• Wash the pork chops and dry them off.

• Line the pork chops on a cutting board and cover them with plastic wrap.

• Pound both sides of the pork chops with the meat tenderizer to flatten and tenderize them.

• Remove the plastic wrap and season each side of the pork chops with salt and pepper.

• Heat up a large frying pan on medium-high heat.

• Beat an egg on one plate and pour a cup of breadcrumbs on another plate.

• Dip both sides of the pork chops with egg and coat with breadcrumbs.

• Fry pork chops on each side for 2-5 minutes depending on the thickness and cover when done.

Start the sauce:

• Melt butter in a small pot. Add the onion, garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg.

• Lightly sauté the onions and garlic. Don’t let it brown. I had to remake the sauce because the onions burned. The pork chops were not ready in time so I kept the sauce on a low heat which was not a good idea. The ingredients separated and the onions turned black so it is important to glaze the pork chops with the sauce right away.

• Pour in the sugar, mustard and desired amount of hot sauce

• Stir to combine all the ingredients and cook on low heat for a couple minutes.

• Glaze the pork chops with sauce. Top with a few scallions for decoration, if desired.

I am currently in New York and New Jersey. I had hoped to post a fun April Fool's idea this week but due to timing constraints, I will save it for next week. Stay tuned!