Spicy, tart and sweet fresh cranberry roasted pork chops that easily come in a single pan under 30 min and want to be on your Holiday table!
Cause cranberries are not just for cranberry sauce!
Minimal ingredients and effort make this festive dish perfect for entertaining or easy, weeknight meals! Recipe from Half Baked Harvest.
Why this Recipe Works
- That brown sugar mixture! Coating the chops helps hold their moisture resulting in perfectly tender and juicy meat.
- All the flavors! Tart cranberries, toasty and warming cinnamon, sweet caramel like brown sugar, earthy thyme, woodsy rosemary, spicy cayenne... let's do this!
- Searing before roasting! Builds up complex flavors to make the chops taste even meatier and creates a creates a deep, dark, crisp crust to contrast a moist juicy interior. YUM!
- Quick & Easy! The dish comes together under 30 min all in 1 single pan, making for minimal clean up.
Cooking Pork Chops 101
Go Bone-in EVERY SINGLE TIME!
It’s the bone that keeps the pork chops moist and imparts flavor. Cause we don’t want no dry chops around here!
Choose Thicker Cut Pork Chops (1-11/2 inch thick) to prevent overcooking.
Let Chops Come to Room Temp before Cooking! For juicier, more evenly cooked meat.
Season! Covered by our brown sugar mixture; at a minimum use kosher salt and pepper.
Let Thy Chops Rest! Post oven for just 2-3 minutes ensures each bite is as juicy as possible!
How to Make this Recipe
Coat those chops in the brown sugar spice mixture, let come to room temp and sear.
Make fresh cranberry sauce in the same pan; put chops back in and transfer to oven.
Let thy oven do the rest of the work and 10-15 min later the chops are all done!
Cooks Tips
- Choose bone-in, thick cut chops (1-1/2 inch)! The bone keeps the chops moist and imparts flavor and cutting it thick practically ensures a juicy results and prevents overcooking.
- Let thy chops come to room temp before searing! For juicier, more evenly cooked meat.
- Sear thy chops pre-roasting! To caramelize the chops natural sugars and create a rich brown crust that’s an essential step for the most flavorful results!
- If you’re booze free, simply replace the wine with more of the cranberry/pomegranate juice.
Stoked on Cranberries? I got ya! Cause these sweet tart berries can be used in all sorts of delectably sweet and savory ways! Check out:
- Fresh Cranberry Braised Brisket
- Fresh Cranberry Roasted Chicken
- Fresh Cranberry, White Chocolate & Oatmeal Stuffed Cookies
- Cranberry Gingersnap Pie
- Candied Macadamia, Caramel & Cranberry Tart
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with @DanielaGerson. You can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let's make waves in the kitchen!
Fresh Cranberry & Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- kosher salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 4 pork chops bone-in
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 1/2 cup cranberry juice or pomegranate
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F degrees.
- In a small bowl, stir together 3 tablespoons brown sugar, cayenne, cinnamon, and a large pinch of both salt and pepper. Place the pork chops on a cutting board and rub them all over with the brown sugar mixture.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the pork chops and sear for 2 - 4 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove the pork chops from the skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet, slowly pour in the wine and pomegranate juice. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar, the butter, cranberries, thyme, and rosemary. Season with salt. Bring the sauce to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and slide the pork chops into the sauce, cook for a minute longer and remove from heat.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 10-15 minutesor until the chops are lightly charred and the sauce thickened. Serve the chops with the pan sauce spooned over top.
Notes
- Choose bone-in, thick cut chops (1-1/2 inch)! The bone keeps the chops moist and imparts flavor and cutting it thick practically ensures a juicy results and prevents overcooking.
- Let thy chops come to room temp before searing! For juicier, more evenly cooked meat.
- Sear thy chops pre-roasting! To caramelize the chops natural sugars and create a rich brown crust that’s an essential step for the most flavorful results!
- If you’re booze free, simply replace the wine with more of the cranberry/pomegranate juice.
YUM - looks delicious!!!!!! iIwant to try this!!!
So stoked to hear that!!! Thank ya! And please let me know how it goes :).
Making this today! Saw it on the @staubusa Instagram. 🙂 Wish me luck!
Good luck! Saw the lovely pic of it! Did ya like it :)?
Looks amazing! Do you think I could sub coconut sugar for the brown sugar?
Yes absolutely that will def work Natalie! So stoked to hear you're making these :).
Seasonal perfection! The house still smells amazing. Don’t cheap out on your bone-in chops, be sure to get a beautiful cut and go all in for this sweet and savory deliciousness. Not to mention it is visually stunning! Thanks for the gorgeous recipe, my parents and I enjoyed immensely.
Thank you so much for the sweet feedback Natalie! Am so super stoked to hear that + really appreciate it! And absolutely positively agreed on the bone-in chops :).
I've made this recipe a few times but with pork steak instead of chops. Very tasty and moist. I plan to try with fruit stuffed pork chops next time. It should be wonderful.
Nice I'm sure it pairs beautifully with pork steak too! Thanks so much for sharing and hope it is indeed wonderful next time :)!