Hello again! Back at it again with yet another review of a pork chop recipe. A few weeks ago I made pork chops with the bone in. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favorite recipe that I tried. Don’t remember? Check it out right–> here.

Now, I’m not a quitter and I know that pork chops have the potential to be SUPER yummy, so I found another recipe that worked out much better. Well, with a few adjustments. This time around we went with Mustard Balsamic Pork Chops with Rosemary. Yes, these were baked, too.

This recipe is courtesy of Jo Cooks and can be found right —> here.

I’ve looked through many recipes for pork chops that required baking and it still baffled me just a little bit that NONE of these recipes were instructing us to SEAR the meat first before sticking it in the oven. I generally follow the recipe exactly when making it for the first time, but I really wanted us to enjoy our meal without me sitting across the table with a sour expression.

The key to keeping the meat moist (I used that word in my vocabulary WAY too much over the weekend) is to cook it for a short period of time on high heat, to close the pores and keep the moisture in. Then, you can pop it in the oven for a short period of time to finish cooking before you can serve it with confidence. That’s exactly what I did.

Regardless of this change, the recipe itself is VERY easy to make. You can prepare the pork chops even the night before. The recipe recommends for them to chill with the marinade for at least 2 hours. The ingredients worked very well together to ended up tasting AWESOME. When a recipe calls for grainy mustard, I know it’s going to be a fun time.

While I haven’t attempted this recipe by following 100% of the instructions, I feel that with a meat thermometer we could have helped achieved a good bake, too. My concern is under-cooking, but also over-cooking. You can finish cooking one, but not the latter. Once you’re overcooked…you’re toast. However, I still find that searing the meat always guarantees that you can keep all the juiciness in rather than taking your chance with baking.

Overall, I really wanted to make another dish with pork chops.

Was I satisfied this time?

Yup!

So, where does this recipe stand for our fun criteria for a busy life?

Grey’s Grade 4.5/5

As mentioned above–the flavors brought together by the seasoning and marinade were fantastic. The only reason this recipe didn’t get the full 5 was really because of the cooking instructions. I can’t say for certain that they would have been dry or at least, not as juicy, but I’m happy with the decision I made. Plus, it came together super easily, which is always what I aim for.

Aside from the pork chops, I roasted some red potatoes and threw together a salad that came prepackaged at Whole Foods. All I had to do was add the dressing, haha. When you’re sweating over cooking pork chops well…you go with the Whole Foods salad. It’s definitely a recipe I would repeat, so I’m keeping this on my list.

If you do end up making it, I hope you enjoy it! Curious to know if you’ll follow the recipe EXACTLY or end up searing it first!

As always…happy nomming!

-Grey