Apple Sauce Pork Chops

Serve these sweet and savory pork chops atop a salad of steamed veggies and roasted potatoes for a well rounded dinner.

Make sure to use a cooking apple in this dish. Cooking apples are ones that don’t lose their flavor when they are heated. For this reason you should never cook with gala or red delicious. If you like tart apples try a granny smith or pink lady. If you prefer sweet apples, use a golden delicious or Braeburn.

Makes: 2 servings

Preparation time: 20m
Cooking time: 20m
Total time: 35m

Ingredients:

  • 2 pork chops
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (e.g. kosher salt)
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup plain applesauce (you can use cinnamon flavored, but make sure it's not sweetened)
  • 1 apple (granny smith, pink lady, golden delicious or Braeburn)
  • 2 cups hearty greens (optional)
  • 2 cups steamed veggies (optional)
  • 1 cup roasted potatoes (optional)
  • 1 cup apple cider or water

Equipment: large non-stick frying pan with a lid

Instructions:

  1. Remove the pork chops from the refrigerator 20 minutes before you want to cook them so they have time to come to room temperature. You can season them right away or just before you start cooking.
  2. Sprinkle salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg evenly on both sides of the pork chops.
  3. Heat a non-stick frying pan (without oil) over medium-high heat.
  4. Sear the pork in the pan for 1-2 mins, then flip and sear on the other side for 1 minute.
  5. Add the cider and applesauce to the pan and turn down the heat to medium low. Cover and cook covered for 5 mins. Make sure the heat is high enough so the liquid is gently simmering, but not boiling.
  6. Chop up the apple into bite-sized pieces and add it to the pan, cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
  7. Remove the pork from the pan and set aside to rest for 5 minutes while you thicken the sauce. If the sauce is already at the desired thickness, then you are done! If you would like it a bit thicker just turn up the heat and boil it down for a few minutes but keep an eye on it so it doesn’t reduce too much and burn to the pan.
  8. Serve on top of a bed of fresh spinach, steamed veggies and INLINE-LINK-START title="Roasted Mini Potatoes" href="../roasted-mini-potatoes" target="_blank">roasted potatoes INLINE-LINK-END.