We’ve been in a bit of a food rut lately. I’ve loaded up on pork loin with BOGO deals the last few months, they are such an easy meat but I don’t want to burn out on them. Mark has discovered he likes green beans so I’m striking while the iron is hot and making them often but again, I don’t want him to burn out on them. I still made them last night though and he devoured them. So far so good.
I wanted pork but didn’t want to make an entire pork loin just for the two of us, but I wanted pork. Pork chops popped into my head. When we cook chops, we like thin cut bone in ones. You get all the great flavor of a boned piece of meat and the thinner cut cooks fast enough for a weeknight meal.
I wanted something more than just seasoned chops so I searched online for some ideas and came across this. I had to keep Mark from eating all the mushrooms while they were simmering in the skillet. That, my friends, is a sign of a great dish.
Total time, start to finish is twenty minutes. To save prep time, I splurged and bought already sliced mushrooms. This night we paired it with garlic green beans, I’m going to make them as long as he’ll eat them. We steamed those in the Instant Pot and only missed perfect timing by two minutes then tossed them into the skillet. Not too shabby.
We started by seasoning the chops with salt and pepper while the olive oil heated up in the cast iron skillet.
Carefully put chops in the skillet and sear them for 3-4 minutes on each side. They sure look good with their nice sear marks. Move the chops to a plate.
Place two tablespoons of butter in the skillet. After it’s melted add garlic and mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Saute, stirring often. Add water (or chicken stock) to skillet and scrape all of the yummy pork browned bits from the pan, stirring them in with the mushrooms.
Add the last two tablespoons of butter to the mushrooms. Stir a bit to help it melt then add the pork chops, nestling them among the mushrooms. Simmer it all together for two-three minutes. Practice your gentle hand-slapping of anyone wanting to grab some mushrooms early.
We are working on lowering our overall carb intake so this night we paired the chops with green beans and a salad. The butter ups the calories in the dish, next time I might try a slurry as a lower calorie thickener. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Garlic Mushroom Pork Chops
Recipe Credit: Crunchy Creamy Sweet
- 2 bone-in pork chops
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided in two
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided in two
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 4 Tablespoons butter (divided to 2 Tablespoons)
- 5 medium Baby Bella mushrooms (or 1 packaged pre-sliced)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup water or chicken stock
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet on medium to medium-high heat.
Season chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Sear chops for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Check internal temperature, should be 145 degrees. Remove chops to a plate and set aside.
Add two tablespoons butter to skillet, melt. Add mushrooms and garlic and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Saute. Add water or chicken stock and scrape browned bits from pan and stir into the mushrooms.
Add remaining butter to skillet and stir to melt. Return chops to skillet and simmer everything together for two to three minutes. Enjoy!