Moist, tender, saucy, delicious – that sums up this recipe very well. Baked Pork Loin Chops are a set it and forget about it meal changer. No fuss, no mess, no pretentious ingredients. All taste, all flavour, all gone!
This recipe is one that I was introduced to about 15 years ago. And it was introduced to me by means of chicken, not pork. My ex wife and her mom used to make this dish all the time. They would mostly use chicken thighs or legs. This recipe lends itself well to cheaper cuts of chicken.
When the recipe popped back into my mind a few weeks ago, I typed out a Facebook message to my ex mother-in-law asking her for the recipe. At the time, she was out of town visiting with her sister, but it just so happened that her sister had the recipe written down, so a quick picture was taken and sent back to me.
After reading the recipe, I questioned my ex mother-in-law whether or not she thought the sauce would work well with the pork loin. Her response was simple and just what I needed to hear to get started – “I can’t see why not!”
So, with a nice pork loin ready to go, I sliced it into 4 thick chops – about an inch thick. I whisked up the sauce, poured it over, and threw it in the oven. Then, I sat back and worked on my crochet projects until my kitchen cooking timer scared the hell out of me.
The result, as you can see, was beautiful. The pork loin chops keep their shape very well. The sauce thickened and adhered to the chops. The colour was a beautiful, bright red – that sauce is perfectly fine on it’s own, to be completely honest. I could seriously just soak that sauce up into some good crusty bread and make a very satisfying meal!
Once the dish came out of the oven, I quickly took a picture and sent it to my ex mother-in-law. She gave her two thumbs up and I knew I had a winner.
The worst thing was waiting to taste it. Ha! Being a food blogger, sometimes, I get to experiment with recipes that I’ve never made before. So, before I dig in to the recipe, I need to set up a table setting and take some photos. I can’t necessarily try to take pictures of the pork loin chops after I’ve eaten them.
I’ve had it happen where I’ll try a new recipe, set everything up, drag out my camera and tripod, blah, blah, blah – only to have the recipe taste horrible. The pictures get erased. The food is disposed of. And, I get to start all over again. In this case though, starting over wasn’t needed.
I had taken the time to follow the recipe exactly as it was sent to me. The only thing I did differently was to switch out the chicken for the pork loin chops. So, there you go, Dear Reader, a little inside scoop on how my recipe/blogger life sometimes works. And, you get to reap the rewards of beautiful, inexpensive, easy recipes such as Baked Pork Loin Chops. And, I get to eat all of this pork, because in our home, pork never goes to waste; like, ever!
Baked Pork Loin Chops
Ingredients
- 4 pork loin chops, about one inch thick
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- parsley, finely chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, lemon juice, brown sugar, ketchup, water, onion flakes, salt, and black pepper. Set aside.
- Lay the pork loin chops in a deep baking dish. (A 9 x 13" Pyrex works very well.)
- Pour the sauce mixture over the chops.
- Cover pan with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and continue to bake for 30 minutes.
- Garnish and serve immediately.

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Rebecca says
What a wonderful recipe! I made this tonight for dinner for my sometimes picky husband and we loved it. I like a sweet and sour flavor and this hit right on the mark. I cut the pork loin chops a bit thicker at closer to two inches…it came out moist and delicious. We had a simple sauerkraut and mashed potatoes with it. The sweet tangy “sauce” was wonderful on the potatoes and pork. After taking the pork from the oven I put the chops on a serving platter and covered it loosely with the foil and put the sauce/juice from the baking dish into a small sauce pan. I simmered it and added a bit of cornstarch and water slurry to thicken and it was amazing. This is a new recipe to add to our list of favorites.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Rebecca. I’ll have to try your slurry idea and make a thick sauce too. Sounds great!
Athena in Portland says
This recipe was a hit with my picky husband. I added 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika. I had all the ingredients already and liked not cutting anything and the minimal prep required. My pork loin chops were 3/4 inch thick and think thicker cut would be better next time. We had baked potatoes on the side and salad. I agree with other review, the sauce/juice should be thickened before serving. Looking forward to using chicken next time.
Lemmonee says
These were so easy and came out moist and juicy. I love a recipe that comes together quickly and then a no fuss bake. I used some left over creamy tomato soup I had on hand, worked out great. Question, what side is that in your photos of the pork chops? Farro? I have some farro grain left from a soup recipe. Can you share?
Brianne Schade says
I followed the recipe exactly and was quite surprised that they came out of the oven, after the first hour, at 180 degrees. I used a little thicker of a chop, so I was going to temp them after the first hour, and adjust the final cooking time to reach 150 degrees. I definitely won’t cook as long next time, as they are extremely chewy and overdone. The flavor is good though.
KGray says
My chops were around an inch thick, and I baked them in the toaster oven. They didn’t look quite as lovely as yours, unfortunately, and, likely from being in such a small space, they were both topping 175 by the time the hour was up. I did pour the sauce into a small high-sided skillet and left it on a low flame for a while…forgot while watching a movie. Came back to a delicious goopy sauce I look forward to using. Lol