Creating restaurant-style dishes like my Stuffed Pork Chops isn’t difficult, it’s just about planning and the ingredients. So plan to make your family happy with my easy-to-make recipe!
Have you ever wished you could create delicious dishes restaurant-style dishes in your own home? With the holiday season in full swing, it means sitting down to dinner with your family and friends and my restaurant-style dishes are a delicious way to show them you care.
The truth is, that most restaurant-style dishes are not difficult to make. It’s just a matter of having the right ingredients and knowing how to put them together. It’s also important to remember that recipes are simply guidelines. It’s okay to think outside the box and craft recipes that are more aligned with your taste preferences. In other words, don’t be afraid to make changes to the ingredients.
Let’s start by gathering our ingredients for my Stuffed Pork Chop. In Chef Speak we call that the Mise en Place or everything in its place. Starting your cooking adventures this way helps speed up the cooking process as well as ensures you have everything on hand to make the dish.
What Can I Stuff Pork Chops With?
- You can make stuffing pretty much any way you like. Use gluten-free bread, cornbread or no bread.
- Add a different type of cheese or leave out the cheese altogether.
- If you don’t like peppers or onions, it’s your dinner, leave them out.
- Use mushrooms, broccoli rabe, your favorite bitter green, or any combination of vegetables that you like.
- Try a simple meat stuffing with some aromatics, onion, garlic, herbs, citrus zest.
The whole idea is to craft a dinner that you will enjoy. Recipes should be guidelines.
The first step in my recipe is sauteing the onions, peppers, sausage meat and spinach. Start with the onions and sausage, then add the rest after they’ve partially cooked.
Now it’s just a matter of adding everything to the bread cubes that will make the base of our stuffing. I love potato bread and find the extra flavor enhances my stuffings.
I also love blue cheese, but you have a lot of choices for the stuffing. Goat cheese, swiss, or any of your favorites that will blend into the stuffing. I also like roasted red peppers. Honestly, they’re in the stuffing for the color, but they do add another flavor to the mixture.
The first step in preparing the pork chops is to trim away any fat that is on the outside of the chop where you will split the meat.
Then it’s a careful slice through the meat without cutting completely through the chop. Season both the outside and inside with sea salt and black pepper.
Can I stuff boneless pork chops?
Yes, you can, I simply prefer bone-in chops. They make a nicer presentation and the bone adds some flavor to the meat.
I decided to take my stuffed pork chops on a different journey which included a little time on the grill to add some beautiful grill marks to the chops.
**Grill the presentation side only so you don’t overcook the chops.
Do I Have to Grill Stuffed Pork Chops?
No, you don’t. I wanted to enhance my presentation of the dish so I chose to let them spend a little time on the grill.
That being said they can be sauteed or cooked in the oven (which is where I finished my chops after stuffing).
You can also bread these chops and saute them. I used to do that type of chop in my restaurant on occasion, it made a very nice presentation and a change of pace.
After adding your stuffing to the chops, close them back up and place them in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.
**Or until an instant-read thermometer reads 165 degrees in the stuffing.
While the stuffed pork chops are in the oven, start your marsala sauce.
Can I make the Pork Chops ahead of time?
Stuffed Pork Chops are one of my favorite party dishes. They can be assembled hours before you need them and finished when your guests arrive for dinner. Assemble the chops, grill them or not. Then place them on a pan, covered in the refrigerator until needed.
*Bring the chops to room temperature before cooking them if you choose this method.
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Stuffed Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 12 oz pork chops 2 rib chops – trimmed and split
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 4 oz sausage meat
- 1 tablespoon roasted red peppers diced
- 1 tablespoon onions diced
- 2 cups baby spinach washed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil brush chops before grilling
- 2 cups potato bread cut into cubes
- ½ cup chicken stock add more if stuffing is dry
- 2 tablespoon blue cheese crumbles (optional)
Marsala Mushroom Sauce
- 6 oz mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup marsala wine
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon butter slightly soft
- 1 tablespoon flour
Instructions
- Prep pork chop by trimming the fat from around the outside edge.
- Carefully slice through the middle of the pork chop cutting it in half to form a flap. Do Not Cut all the way through!
- Season chops inside and out with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside until stuffing is complete.
Stuffing Mix
- Saute onions and sausage meat until sausage is almost fully cooked.
- Add spinach and roasted red peppers. Continue cooking until spinach is cooked then remove from heat.
- In a mixing bowl place the cubed bread and add the sausage meat mixture. Mix together.
- Add enough chicken stock to make the stuffing moist without being soggy.
- Add crumbled blue cheese and gently mix together. The stuffing is now done.
Assembly and Cooking
- Take half of the stuffing mixture (or as much as you want) and place it in the middle of each pork chop. Then fold the flap back over.
- Refrigerate stuffed chops for 15-20 minutes to allow the stuffing to firm up.
- Brush the outside of the chops with olive oil and place on a preheated grill. Cook chops on one side only. Turn chops to make # grill marks on one side.*You can skip the grill and cook the chops completely in the oven.
- Place the grill-marked chops into a preheated 350-degree oven for 20 minutes or until the stuffing has reached an internal temp of 165 degrees.
Marsala Mushroom Sauce
- Saute mushrooms in a little olive oil until they are cooked.
- Add Marsala wine and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Add chicken stock, reduce heat and all to simmer and the sauce to reduce by half.
- Roll the butter in flour to make a Beurre manie, then add to the simmering stock to help thicken the sauce.
- When the sauce has thickened sufficiently add another splash of Marsala wine to boost the flavor. Remove from heat and serve over the finished stuffed pork chops.
Nutrition
Arialdi says
I make this pork chops last night,so good very delicious tank you chef dennis
Vincent D’Angelo says
I made stuffed pork chops on Sunday. I wish I had read your recipe first.
Iris Crain says
So, I went in search for inspiration for stuffed pork chops that wasn’t based on *stuffing* as I’m a bariatric patient and I was looking for something with more veggies/cheese and less bread. I fell in love with you when you said recipes are more like guidelines! I even heard it in Mr. Gibbs’ voice from Pirates of the Caribbean! But it’s something my husband says to people all the time about me!! (I’m known for NEVER following a recipe to the letter.) I’m in my 50’s, I’ve got enough experience to tinker with things and enough maturity to own up to failures. In fact my grandchildren say there’s only ONE thing I’ve ever made they don’t like and that’s when I tried to make carrot soup. They’re right, it was AWFUL. Now I just make carrot cake and they of course think that’s a much better use for carrots!
I personally love yellow curry powder on my pork chops, so I’m thinking of trying to stuff one with some chopped apple, raisin, and either parmesan or mozzarella. Dust a light dusting of curry powder, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders and see where it goes! I’ve done mushroom, asparagus and mozzarella and it was good but I baked them and they really would have benefited from grilling or pan searing on the outside for more flavor. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your recipes, you’re my kind of person 😁
Chef Dennis Littley says
I always let people know that recipes can be adjusted to taste preferences. Some use recipes verbatim, and others use them as guidelines and since its your dinner that decision is entirely up to you. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and I hope you find more delicious recipes on my website to try.