The Secret to Quick and Easy Pork Chops

Welcome to Ready. Set. Cookbook!, a column where we share the cookbook recipes we earmark and turn to again and again on the busiest weeknights. These highly craveable recipes will help you get dinner on the table in under an hour.

Here’s a controversial food opinion: Thin pork chops are better than thick ones... at least for when you want dinner on the table quickly. I love a juicy, thick-cut, bone-in pork chop, but on busy weeknights, I prefer making 1/2-inch-thick chops that cook in a flash and are always juicy.

My love for thin cuts of pork came from frequenting Vietnamese restaurant Saiguette on the Upper West Side of New York City. I lived a few blocks away and got grilled lemongrass pork with bún (thin noodles), rice bowls, or tucked into a bánh mì almost every week. It was so tasty.

I didn’t try to make this dish at home until years later when I bought Andrea Nguyen’s Vietnamese Food Any Day.

Andrea says in the recipe for grilled pork chops, "Vietnamese cooks love thin pork chops because the chops pick up seasonings quickly, cook fast, and taste great—perfect for a weeknight meal. Sold at many supermarkets, the skinny chops have either a curved rib bone or T-shaped bone. An edge of fat and marbling signal good flavor."

As you will see in Andrea's recipe below, thin pork chops are easy and quick to make. Because they're so thin, the pork absorbs the marinate fast, and they cook in just five to seven minutes.

I've cooked them on an indoor grill pan, outdoor grill, and even a nonstick skillet at my parents’ house because it was too cold to grill outdoors. All came out great, just one with a lack of grill marks. They are juicy, tender, delightfully chewy in fattier parts, and packed with aromatic savoriness that leaves you wanting more bite after bite.

I double this recipe often, as leftovers reheat well. You can chop up the pork and make summer rolls or lettuce wraps, or top a salad with Andrea's excellent nuoc cham dressing. In fact, this is making me so hungry that I’m going to buy lemongrass and thin-cut pork chops and make these right now…and you should, too!

How To Make Andrea Nguyen's Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped shallot, or 3 tablespoons roughly chopped yellow onion
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh lemongrass (from 2 medium stalks)
• 2 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
• Rounded 1/4 teaspoon recently ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce 
• 1 1/4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon molasses, dark amber honey
• 4 thin-cut bone-in pork chops (about 6 ounces each), about 1/2 inch thick

1. Make the marinade: In a small food processor, combine the garlic, shallot, lemongrass, brown sugar, and pepper and whirl to a fine texture. Add the canola oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, and molasses and process until relatively smooth, like a wet paste. Transfer to a medium bowl.

2. Marinate the pork: Use paper towels to blot excess moisture from the pork. Add the pork to the marinade, turning to coat well, then cover and set aside to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Or, refrigerate for up to 24 hours; let the meat sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.

3. Grill the pork and serve: Warm a cast-iron stove-top grill pan over medium-high heat, prepare a medium-hot charcoal fire, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high (you can hold your hand 6 inches above the grill for 3 to 4 seconds). Grill the pork chops for 5 to 7 minutes, turning frequently, until firm and cooked through. Pierce with the sharp point of a knife to test (it’s okay if the center is faintly pink).

Transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve the chops warm, passing the dipping sauce at the table, if desired.

Reprinted with permission from Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors by Andrea Nguyen, copyright © 2019. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.