Instant Pot Pork Chops
Perfectly cooked pork chops in a creamy mushroom sauce, cooked in the pressure cooker to speed things up while reducing messes. This is the kind of recipe that becomes a weeknight go to because it is easy, and tastes gourmet.
Serve with buttermilk biscuits and a side of roasted carrots for the ultimate meal.
These amazing pork loin center chops are made simple with the instant pot pressure cooker. You can sear them, make a great sauce for them, all in the instant pot with just a few minutes of hands on time. This is a real dinner winner!
Tender, delicious pork, tons of flavor, a delicious sauce. It feels gourmet!
What You Need to Make Pressure Cooker Pork Chops
Do not let the ingredient list scare you on these. Most of the items are think you probably already have, as they are herbs and spices that give these pork chops flavor. And you can substitute things to make it even simpler. I will show you how:
Pork Chops
The cut you get is very important for this recipe. You want a pork loin center chop with the following attributes:
- Bone-in
- Well-marbled (fat = flavor)
- 1.25 inch -1.5 inch thickness
Spice Rub
The spice rub adds flavor to your pork chops, and is made up of pantry staple spices. However, if you want to make things easier or faster, you can use a pre-made pork rub, just look for one that does not have added sugar, as this is a savory recipe, not a sweet BBQ recipe, and you don’t want a bunch of brown sugar.
- Smoked paprika
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Oregano
- Salt
Gravy
The gravy is absolutely delicious and makes this recipe really stand out, so this is not something you want to skip. And all of the ingredients for it are going to add to the flavor, and should be easy to come by.
Vegetables:
- Mushrooms
- Onion: adds flavor
- Garlic: adds flavor
Spices:
- Dried thyme
- Dried rosemary
Liquids:
- Chicken stock: You could use water, but this is going to give it way more flavor.
- Soy sauce: Adds a depth of flavor
- Worcestershire sauce: Adds a smokey flavor
Thickener
- All purpose flour: helps you get to the gravy consistency
Make it Creamy
- Heavy cream: which you can sub for milk or half and half if needed.
How to Make Pork Chops in the Instant Pot
The recipe card below contains detailed instructions for how to navigate each step of making these tasty pork chips and the fantastic creamy gravy that goes over them. But
- Mix Spice Rub and Season Chops
- Brown Pork Chops in Instant Pots.
- Start the Gravy.
- Pressure Cook Everything.
- Thicken Gravy.
- Enjoy!
How Long Does it Take?
Making pork chops in the instant pot is relatively quick and easy. The whole process is under an hour, but the active cooking time required by you is far less:
- Prepping and searing takes about 10-15 minutes.
- 1 minute of active cook time.
- 1o minutes to heat the Instant Pot.
- 10-15 minutes natural release time.
- Then 3-5 minutes to thicken the gravy.
This means it takes about 40 minutes total, but 25 of those minutes are inactive cooking time, which means you don’t have to do anything or be there for any of it. So really, it is about 15-20 minutes of your time to make this amazing dish!
How to Thicken The Gravy
Make A Slurry
Make a slurry using COLD heavy cream and flour. The typical steps for making a slurry are as follows:
- Select your starch. In this case we are using flour, but you could use corn starch, or another starch like potato flour if you want.
- Measure your starch into a separate bowl. Do not put it directly into the pot.
- Whisk in equal parts cold liquid. We are using cold cream, but you can use milk, or water as well.
- Whisk the slurry into your sauce. So you will remove the chops from the sauce, and turn the pot to saute, and then whisk in your slurry.
- Bring to a simmer. Heat, and it will thicken as it heats.
If you let it sit for a few minutes, it will continue to thicken as it heats.
What to Serve with Pork Chops
Pork chops are the perfect protein to serve with potatoes, roasted veggies, and salads. Here are a few of our favorite sides to pair with pork chops.
- Best Ever Roasted Broccoli
- Roasted Asparagus Oven Baked
- Herb Butter Mashed Potatoes
- Smashed Potatoes
- Twice Baked Potatoes
- Hashbrown Casserole
Storing Leftovers
Leftover Instant Pot pork chops will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days. They will keep for one month in the freezer.
To reheat, simply heat in microwave, or place in an oven for 10 minutes at 300 degrees F. It may dry them out some to reheat, so be sure to slather in plenty of gravy.
Can You Make Ahead?
Yes, but honestly, if you want to speed things up the day you want this, you are better off prepping the individual ingredients rather than making this ahead, as it tastes better fresh. You could mix the spice rub ahead, and chop your mushrooms ahead, rather than cook ahead. It won’t save much time, but the overall flavor will be far superior.
Or, another option is to undercook the chops, and finish cooking the day of.
Other Great Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 4 Pork loin center chops 2lbs total. Look for bone-in well-marbled about 1.25 inches thick
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Spice Rub
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Gravy
- 4 ounces baby bella mushrooms sliced
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 yellow onion medium sized, sliced
- 1 Tablespoon garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Mix Spice Rub:
- Combine all the spice rub ingredients in a small bowl, and mix together, then set aside.
Prep Pork Chops:
- Take your 1.25 inch thick pork chops and use a meat tenderizer and pound them a little to tenderize.
- Take a paper towel, and pat the pork chops dry.
- Season both sides of the pork chop with the spice rub.
Brown Pork Chops in Instant Pot:
- Using a 6 qt or 8 qt Instant Pot, press "Saute" and let the Instant Pot heat up. It will take 5-8 minutes, and will read “Hot”
- Add the 2 tbsp butter to the Instant Pot. And use a wooden spoon to spread it around. Make sure to coat the whole bottom of the pot with butter.
- Place 2 of the seasoned pork chops into the hot pot, and let them cook for 2-3 minutes, to brown. Do not move them, let that nice brown crust form. Then flip and repeat with the other side.
- Remove from the pot, and repeat the steps to brown the other 2 chops.
Start Gravy:
- Once chops are removed from the pot, add the mushrooms in.
- Saute mushrooms for 6-8 minutes, until the moisture is gone, and the edges are crispy and slightly browned.
- Add in one tablespoon of butter, then add in sliced yellow onions, minced garlic, thyme, and rosemary. And then saute everything for 2-3 minutes until onions are fragrant and tender.
- Deglaze the pan by pouring chicken stock into the pan, and using your wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot and mix it all together. This is very important so you do not receive a “Burn” notice from your pot. But also the brown bits add so much flavor to your sauce. Add Soy Sauce and Worcestershire Sauce, and stir.
Pressure Cook:
- Add your browned pork chops back into the Instant Pot, pressing them down into the cooking liquid.
- Place the lid onto the Instant Pot, and lock the lid into place. Turn the valve to the “sealing” position.
- Pressure Cook for 1 minute on high. (yep you read that right)
- After 1 minute cook time is up, let the pressure naturally release for 10-15 minutes.
- After the 10-15 minutes, turn the valve to release pressure, and carefully open the lid (away from you).
- Remove pork chops from the pot, and set aside.
- Turn pot back on to “Saute” and bring the mushroom gravy in the pot to a simmer.
- While the Instant Pot is naturally releasing pressure, whisk flour and cold heavy cream together.
- Remove chops from the pot. Then stir the heavy cream mixture into the mushroom sauce in the Instant Pot
- Taste the gravy, and season with salt and pepper to your preferred taste. Cook down if needed to achieve desired thickness.
- Serve pork chops with the mushroom gravy spooned over top.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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