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Pork chops are marinated in a simple brine made with salt, brown sugar, bay leaf, rosemary, salt, and pepper for tasty, tenderized, flavor-infused chops.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Salty, a little sweet, and full of fresh herbs and warm spices.
- Skill Level: Whisk, simmer, and brine. It’s that easy!
- Recommended Tools: A meat thermometer is the perfect tool for gauging how cooked your meat is. Pork should register at 145°F when inserted into the thickest part of the pork chop. Be careful not to touch the bone as it will skew your reading.
Ingredient Tips for Pork Chop Brine
- Brine: Water, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, a bay leaf, and some fresh rosemary tenderize and season the chops.
- Pork: Pork chops vary in thickness from ½-inch to 1 ½-inches. Look for chops of the same size so they cook evenly. Use bone-in or boneless chops that aren’t previously soaked in brine.
Make It Your Own!
- Apple juice, apple cider, vegetable stock, or white wine are great additions to the water.
- Use your favorite brown sugar substitute if desired.
- Experiment with seasoning blends like Italian or a simple seasoned salt to match the menu.
How to Brine Pork Chops
- Simmer the brine ingredients until the sugar and salt are dissolved (full recipe below).
- Refrigerate brine until fully chilled.
- Add chops and brine to a zippered bag and marinate up to 2 hours.
- Rinse and pat the pork chops dry before cooking on the stove or the grill.
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover cooked pork chops in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Enjoy them cold, sliced on a simple green salad, or reheat them in the microwave. Leftovers can be added to a pork stir-fry or some quick and easy pork fajitas.
Freeze chops in a zippered bag for up to one month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Delicious Pork Chop Recipes
Have you tried this Pork Chop Brine? Leave a rating and comment below.
Pork Chop Brine
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- ¼ cup kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 4 pork chops
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan, add water, kosher salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaf, and rosemary.
- Bring to a simmer over high heat. You do not need the water to rapidly boil but you need to make sure the salt and sugar have dissolved in the water.
- Remove the pot from the heat and cool completely.
- Once the brine is cool add the pork chops to a large ziptop bag and pour in the brine.
- Let the pork brine in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours.
- Rinse and pat dry before cooking.
Notes
- Purchase pork that has not been pre-brined. A lot of pork in grocery stores has a saline solution, so using brine on that will make it too salty.
- Ensure sugar and salt are completely dissolved in the brine.
- Brine must be completely cool before adding the pork.
- Don’t brine them too long (up to 2 hours is enough).
- To season pork before cooking, use herbs and spices without salt.
- Do not store ‘used’ brine. Once your pork has been brined, discard the remaining brine.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Entree, Main Course
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Do you recommend roasting or grilling the chops?
Either is great but I love the flavor of grilled.
Is great, but I usually brine for 3-4 hours as the shorter time doesn’t impart as much flavor as I like.
Perfect. Makes me want to cook pork chops now instead of avoiding it. The brine makes them so juicy. No more dry pork chops here!
Such an easy recipe and it makes a huge difference! The pork gets so tender and flavorful. It’s my go to recipe any time we have chops. Thanks!
Perfect
does it have to be brown sugar or can it be regular granulated sugar?
Brown sugar should be used in this recipe because it has that molasses flavor. You can use white sugar, but keep in mind that the flavor and/or texture will be slightly different. I hope that helps, Melissa!
Turned out perfect, tender, juicy, and flavorful
Hi,
Could you maybe do weight for the recipe vs “4 pork chops”?
I like the sound of this but have a lot of thin pork steaks. Not sure how to do it from here.
An average pork chop weighs about 6 ounces. So for this recipe we brine about 24 ounces of pork chops.
WHile the pork is in the bag brining away, do you put the bag back in the frig or leave out on counter?
In step 5 we let the pork brine in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours.
Oh wow.
I’ve never heated up the water, sugar and salt before and it still came out moist and tasty!
Not sure if that step is necessary lol.
However, I shall try it one day when time permits to see if it’s worthwhile…
I’m using 1 3/4 inch chops. Should I poke holes in them with a fork to allow the brine to get in and do it’s thing. Have used this with thinner chops and they were great! Thank you!
I would not poke holes in them before brining. You could however cut the pork chop in half lengthwise to have two 3/4 inch pork chops!
I can answer that for you. You never want to poke holes in your chop (or steak for that matter). That would allow surface bacteria to enter inside the meat. Defeats the purpose of cooking to a lower internal temp.
No, you don’t poke holes to get the brine “into” the meat.