Honey garlic pork chops
Pork chops glazed in a sticky honey, garlic and soy sauce that you’ll want to spoon over every grain of rice.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.19 a serving
- 640 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups jasmine rice
- 3 tbsp honey
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 boneless pork chops, boneless, about ¾ inch thick
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced (optional)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 2½ cups water, divided
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 640 calories, 42 g protein, 69 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $2.19 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No honey? Maple syrup works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice and bring it with 2¼ cups of the water in a .
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook 15 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Start the rice first. It cooks by itself while you make the chops.Stir the honey, soy sauce, vinegar and the last ¼ cup of water together in a small bowl, and the garlic.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
the chops dry and both sides with the salt and pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high until it , then the chops 3 to 4 minutes without moving them, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Flip the chops and cook 2 minutes more.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Turn the heat to medium, drop the butter and garlic in around the chops, and stir the garlic in the butter for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Garlic burns fast in a hot pan. Keep it moving, and pour in the sauce as soon as it smells good.Pour in the honey sauce and let it bubble 3 to 4 minutes, turning the chops a few times, until the sauce is sticky and the middle of a chop reads 145°F.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: When the sauce coats a spoon like syrup, take the pan off the heat. Honey goes from glossy to burnt quickly.Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Fluff the rice and serve the chops over it with the sauce spooned on top, and scatter the green onions and sesame seeds over.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
