Name: Sweet, Hot, and Sour Pork Chops
Total time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1/4 cup cider vinegar; 1/4 cup sugar; 2 tablespoons pineapple juice; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 4 bone-in rib or center-cut pork chops, 3/4 to 1 inch thick; Salt and pepper; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Why This Recipe Works

Pork chops recipes often produce dry, tough, and flavorless chops. In our Sweet, Hot, and Sour Pork Chops recipe, we kept our chops juicy and tender with a quick pan-fry, and brought out the flavor with bold ingredients like pineapple juice and red pepper. Patting the chops dry before frying ensured they browned properly. We chose bone-in rib or center-cut pork chops roughly 3/4 to 1 inch thick for this pork chop recipe. The bone helped keep the meat moist.

Before You Begin

Serve these chops with egg noodles or rice.

Instructions

Whisk vinegar, sugar, pineapple juice, tomato paste, and pepper flakes in bowl until sugar dissolves.

Pat chops dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chops and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Add vinegar mixture to pan and simmer, turning chops once or twice to coat, until meat registers 145 degrees and sauce is very thick, about 5 minutes. Serve.