Pork Chops with Rice, Asparagus, and Tomatoes
This simple recipe is a great way to serve pork chops for a weeknight dinner. The dish consists of pan-seared pork chops, basted with garlic butter, served with sautéed asparagus, blistered tomatoes, and, optionally but highly recommended, pesto.
You can serve the dish over rice, with a lemon wedge. As long as you cook the pork chops, asparagus, and tomatoes at the same time, this is a quick dish to make and should take about 15 minutes.
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make this recipe, you’ll first need the following:
- Pork chops – 2 pork chops (about 8-9 oz each)
- Garlic powder – 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- Paprika – 1/2 tsp paprika
- Salt – 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- Pepper – 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- Oil – 1 tbsp neutral oil (sunflower oil, light olive oil)
- Butter – 1 tbsp butter
- Garlic clove – 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Lemon – 2 lemon wedges to serve
- Rice – 2 cups cooked rice, to serve
- Asparagus – 8 oz asparagus (asparagus stalks pictured on the board). Before cooking, snap off the woody ends.
- Baby tomatoes – 4 oz baby tomatoes
- Pesto (optional, but highly recommended) – 2 tbsp homemade pesto
Note: Asparagus Prep. Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus. Find the natural point by holding an asparagus spear at both ends and gently bending until it snaps. You could also use this method for one asparagus stalk and then use that as a guide to cut the woody ends off the remaining asparagus. You don’t have to do this step if you bought asparagus tips rather than whole stalks/spears.
How to Make the Dish
Step 1. Season the pork chops with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. To a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, add the remaining oil. Once the pan and oil are hot, add the seasoned pork chops and sear for 3 minutes, then flip and sear on the other side for 3 minutes. Lower the heat, add the butter, crushed garlic, and keep cooking the pork chops, basting with the melted garlic butter, until the pork chops are cooked to your preference. Pork chops are cooked when the meat thermometer reaches 145°F. As the pork chops will keep cooking once removed, you could remove them at 135°F-140°F and rest them while the residual heat keeps cooking them and they reach the internal temp of 145°F.
For 1-inch 8-9 oz bone-in pork chops, it would be about 3-4 minutes per side of searing on medium-high heat, and then another 4-5 minutes of basting while cooking on medium, and finally resting until it reaches an internal temp of 145°F. However, it’s safer to use a meat thermometer to be accurate.
Step 2. To a frying pan over medium-high heat, add half the oil. Once the pan is hot, add the asparagus tips to one side and the baby tomatoes to the other side. Season the asparagus and tomatoes with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook them until tender, turning the asparagus and tomatoes from time to time so they don’t burn (about 10 minutes). You can also adjust the heat down to medium if they’re charring too much.
Step 3. Plate up a cup of cooked rice, the pork chop, pan-roasted tomatoes, and the asparagus. Optionally, but highly recommended, add 1 tablespoon of fresh basil pesto to the pork chop, spreading it all over its surface. Add lemon wedges to serve.
You can also serve it with rice and a side salad.
All the ingredients together on the plate make for a beautifully balanced dish. If you make this dish and love it, let me know in a review below.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 pork chops about 8-9 oz each
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp neutral oil sunflower oil, light olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 2 lemon wedges to serve
- 2 cups cooked rice to serve
- 8 oz asparagus
- 4 oz baby tomatoes
- 2 tbsp homemade pesto optional, but highly recommended
Instructions
- Season the pork chops with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. To a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, add the remaining oil. Once the pan and oil are hot, add the seasoned pork chops and sear for 3 minutes, then flip and sear on the other side for 3 minutes. Lower the heat, add the butter, crushed garlic, and keep cooking the pork chops, basting with the melted garlic butter, until the pork chops are cooked to your preference. Pork chops are cooked when the meat thermometer reaches 145°F. As the pork chops will keep cooking once removed, you could remove them at 135°F-140°F and rest them while the residual heat keeps cooking them and they reach the internal temp of 145°F. For 1-inch 8-9 oz bone-in pork chops, it would be about 3-4 minutes per side of searing on medium-high heat, and then another 4-5 minutes of basting while cooking on medium, and finally resting until it reaches an internal temp of 145°F. However, it’s safer to use a meat thermometer to be accurate.
- To a frying pan over medium-high heat, add half the oil. Once the pan is hot, add the asparagus tips to one side and the baby tomatoes to the other side. Season the asparagus and tomatoes with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook them until tender, turning the asparagus and tomatoes from time to time so they don’t burn (about 10 minutes). You can also adjust the heat down to medium if they’re charring too much.
- Plate up a cup of cooked rice, the pork chop, pan-roasted tomatoes, and the asparagus. Optionally, but highly recommended, add 1 tablespoon of fresh basil pesto to the pork chop, spreading it all over its surface. Add lemon wedges to serve.
Notes
Lastly, don’t forget to save this dish to one of your dinner ideas recipe boards.
