Pan-Seared Apple Pork Chops with Garlic Mash
Pan-Seared Apple Pork Chops with Garlic Mash
An easy weeknight dinner that has the appearance of a weekEND dinner. Wow your fam with this delicious comfort dish!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless pork chops
- 1 lb small rainbow potato medley, quartered (skin on)
- A handful of fresh sage leaves, minced
- 1 apple, sliced
- 1 sweet vidallia onion, sliced thinly
- 2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 TBSP unsalted butter
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup buttermilk (see my buttermilk hack below*) or whole milk is fine too
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- Salt and Pepper for seasoning
Directions
- Step 1 Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Season with salt, bring water to a boil and cook the potatoes for 8-10 minutes.
- Step 2 While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the pork chops. Season the chops generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 1 TBSP olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is heated and the oil is shimmering, add the pork. Sear the pork on both sides for 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover with tinfoil to keep warm while you cook the apple and onions.
- Step 3 Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes until softened. Add apple, white wine and half of the minced sage, cooking about 5 minutes more until the apple is softened also. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
- Step 4 Now return to your mashed potatoes. Drain the cooked potatoes (they should be soft enough to pierce easily with a fork) and return them to the pot. Add buttermilk and garlic then mash using a potato masher or a large fork. Season with garlic salt and additional pepper. To plate, divide mashed potatoes between 4 plates. Top with pork chops and apple/onion mixture. Drizzle with any leftover pan sauce. Top with remaining sage. You can also serve with green beans on the side like I did, but it is a complete meal without it. I just like a pop of green!
It’s the middle of the Thanksgiving push and since all of your energy is probably focused on T-day, having some easy family dinners in your toolkit is so necessary. This is one of those recipes. With just a few simple steps and less than half an hour, a complete meal is on the table. And if you have picky eaters like I do, you can sell this dish for the little ones too – the pork can be “chicken” (it worked on my toddler!) and you can mash up the apples into apple sauce.
Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve cooked boneless pork chops in years. In fact, if you search pork on the blog, you’ll probably only find bone-in pork chops. This because I was scarred by the “pork saucers” we used to eat when I was a kid (sorry Mom!). But with some quick searing and then the apple/onion pan sauce, these chops somehow manage to stay so moist. And serving these chops with a buttery garlic mash makes this the ultimate comfort dish. Don’t you love this time of year?!
Since I’m all about kitchen hacks to make my life (and yours!) easier, I wanted to feature my buttermilk hack for this recipe. I like having buttermilk on hand because I cook and bake with it a lot, but you don’t have to run out and get buttermilk just for this recipe. Instead, make your own!
*If you don’t have buttermilk handy here are some substitutions suggestions:
- 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice plus enough milk to measure 1 cup or
- Add 1-3/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar to 1 cup of milk
Let it stand for 5-10 minutes to thicken and curdle. Ta-da, instant buttermilk!
The true test for me whenever I make a dish is if people ask for the recipe and I was thrilled when people asked for this one (looking at you, Mel!). I promise I’m only posting something in the first place if it’s guaranteed to be delicious, but as some of you know, the plating and the photos is the other half of the battle. Sometimes our food is delicious but the photos just flop. Or I can’t get it to look pretty on the plate. But as long as those dishes are good enough to make my rotation, I’ll rework them at a later date and post them when they’re blog-ready.
Thankfully this dish checked all 3 boxes and I was ready to share it with all of you. Comment below and let us know if you agree! And once you’re done cooking this, be sure to check out our Thanksgiving guide for all of our holiday recipes.
