Some home cooks who turn out great steaks tend to avoid pork chops because they’re afraid of making them dry and tough. Starting with a thicker cut can prevent this issue, but learning to brine pork chops goes even further to add flavor and juiciness. With an overnight brine, every kind of pork chop will turn out better no matter how you’re cooking it. Even fried chops benefit from brining and then a short break on a rack to help them dry off. Become a master of brining for pork chops and other meats with this easy guide.
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What is Brining?
Brining is simply the practice of soaking meat or other foods in a mix of water and salt. Sugar and other flavoring ingredients are often added to create a more complex flavor and encourage browning during cooking. A brine is different from a marinade because it doesn’t include oil or any acidic ingredients. It’s a good choice for thinner cuts of meats that are tender enough and that might become gummy or too soft with an acidic marinade.
Why You Should Brine Pork Chops
Pork chops benefit from brining rather than marinating because they tend to dry out during cooking. Brining with salt and sugar helps trap more moisture in the center of the meat rather than allowing it to rise to the surface during cooking.
The result is a juicier and more flavorful finished chop no matter how you plan to cook the pork. Many types of pork chops suffer from a lack of juiciness when pan-fried or grilled. Braising the pork in liquid helps, but it leaves you limited with your options for dinner. Brining the meat adds juiciness without requiring you to cook the chops in liquid.
How to Brine
Brining with a liquid mixture helps the salt penetrate to the center without making the flavor too salty once you’re done cooking. The trick is to stick to salt-free rubs and seasoning mixes when coating the surface before frying or grilling. If you’re going to bread the pork chops for frying, dry the surface with a paper towel and use a breading mix that doesn’t have too much salt. The act of brining is as simple as mixing up the brine, filling a sealed container with it, and adding the pork chops. Resting the meat overnight in the brine in your refrigerator does all the work.
Tips for Success
- Use Kosher salt to ensure you’re getting accurate measurements. Each type of salt fits differently into a measuring spoon due to grain size. Kosher salt is used as a standard because it’s easy to find and won’t cause any off-flavors due to iodide content.
- Don’t brine the meat for too long. Soaks as short as 4 hours still make a big difference, but you don’t want to go over 24 hours. Meat can become rubbery and harder to cook when it’s brined for too long.
- Discard the brine after removing the pork chops and don’t attempt to reuse it.
Best Brine for Pork Chops
The best brine for pork chops also works great for many other types of meat. It’s particularly helpful for adding flavor to lamb chops or making tender cuts of steak a little more juicy.
Start with plain water, bottled or filtered if possible. Add 3 tablespoons of Kosher salt per 2 cups of water. If you want to brine pork chops in bulk for a party, just make sure you keep this scale of salinity the same for good flavor and texture results. If you decide to use brown sugar or another sweetener for browning and better depth of flavor, aim for around 2 tablespoons of your chosen sugar per 2 cups of water.
Variations
Aside from mixing up a basic brine with salt and sugar, you can play around with different variations to see how the flavors change. Cutting up a yellow or white onion and adding quarters of it to the brine can infuse a sweet and savory flavor. Sliced or crushed garlic cloves also work well in a brine.
Many South American cooks enjoy adding sliced limes and oranges to their brine for pork chops and other meats. Don’t forget about bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, and dried chiles to spice things up.
Pork Chop Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups of water, filtered or bottled
- 6 tablespoons of Kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons of light brown sugar, honey, molasses, or maple syrup
- A sprig of rosemary
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar or red wine (optional)
Instructions
1. Heat up two cups of the water in a small stock pot. Add in the salt and sugar/other sweetener. Mix over low heat until the salt and sugar are fully dissolved.
2. Take off of the heat and set aside. Add in the peppercorns and rosemary, along with the vinegar or red wine if you want to soften the meat a little. Add in the other two cups of water cold to cool off the mixture so it doesn’t partially cook the pork chops.
3. Fill a plastic zip-top gallon-sized bag or glass container with a lid with the brine. Place up to 2 lbs of pork chops in the mixture in a single layer, ensuring there’s enough liquid to cover the meat. Add a little extra water and salt if necessary to raise the level.
4. Place the container in the refrigerator and give it up to 24 hours to soak. Remove the pork chops from the brine and discard it. Let the chops come to room temperature before cooking, using only salt-free or low-salt seasonings since the brine contributes plenty of sodium.
Conclusion
Give a simple brine a try and you just might fall in love with pork chops again. There’s no need for a lot of prep work when you want to create a flavorful and juicy weeknight meal.
Pork Chop Brine
Ingredients
- 4 cups water, filtered or bottled
- 6 tbsp Kosher salt
- 4 tbsp light brown sugar, honey, molasses, or maple syrup
- sprig rosemary
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or red wine (optional)
Instructions
- Heat up two cups of the water in a small stock pot. Add in the salt and sugar/other sweetener. Mix over low heat until the salt and sugar are fully dissolved.
- Take off of the heat and set aside. Add in the peppercorns and rosemary, along with the vinegar or red wine if you want to soften the meat a little. Add in the other two cups of water (cold) to cool off the mixture so it doesn’t partially cook the pork chops.
- Fill a plastic zip-top gallon-sized bag or glass container with a lid with the brine. Place up to 2 lbs of pork chops in the mixture in a single layer, ensuring there’s enough liquid to cover the meat. Add a little extra water and salt if necessary to raise the level.
- Place the container in the refrigerator and give it up to 24 hours to soak. Remove the pork chops from the brine and discard it. Let the chops come to room temperature before cooking, using only salt-free or low-salt seasonings since the brine contributes plenty of sodium.