Tasty Tuesday: French Onion Smothered Pork Chops

Dear readers and eaters!

Hope you’re hungry, because you are going to want to sample some of this…French onion smothered pork chops. As my mom and her mom before her would say, this recipe is larapin! Found this little gem on Pinterest during a search for Weight Watchers pork chop recipes. Trying to make as many WW meals as I can to satisfy my Wellness goals and 2018 Winter Bucket List activity.

When I totaled up the points for this dish, it isn’t especially WW-friendly. So I cut back a little on the cheese and cut our pork chops in half. Making them choplets instead of full-grown chops. Like that, the WW Freestyle point value is about 10 points.

But French onion smothered pork chops are worth the splurge. Recipe calls for a cast iron skillet (adding to my Amazon cart as I type). So grab yours, or any other frying pan, and meet me in the kitchen.

Let’s Get Cooking: French Onion Smothered Pork Chops

I have pinned the original recipe from The Chunky Chef, here.

The Ingredients

2 yellow onions peeled, sliced into half-moon shaped slices (remember PC’s sensitive stomach, yeah, cut this down to 1/2 an onion)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup plus 4 tablespoons beef stock
*Added about a 1/4 cup cooking Sherry
4 boneless pork chops about 1 – 1 ½ inches thick (wish ours had been a little thinner)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 ½ tablespoons all purpose flour
4 slices provolone cheese
1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese or Swiss (used 2 ounces of each)
Fresh thyme sprigs for adding to pan (sounds pretty but I didn’t do this)

The Directions

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
Melt butter and olive oil in a large cast iron (note to self, buy cast iron skillet) or other oven safe skillet over medium-high heat.
Add sliced onions and saute 3-5 minutes, until soft.

Add 4 tablespoons beef stock and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes, until onions are extremely tender and golden brown.
*This is where I added about a 1/4 cup cooking Sherry.

As onions are sautéing, season both sides of pork chops with salt, black pepper, thyme and garlic powder.

Transfer onions to a plate, but without cleaning skillet.
Reduce heat to medium, add a little olive oil to the skillet if needed, and cook pork chops, about 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown (I also zapped mine for about 2 minutes in the microwave because they were so thick).

Transfer pork chops to plate.
Return cooked onions to pan and sprinkle with flour.
Stir to coat and cook about a minute.
Add remaining 1 cup beef stock and stir often until mixture comes to a boil (forgot to take a picture of this step, but the sauce was about the consistency of a thin gravy).
Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Replace pork chops back in the pan (I used a 9″ x 11″ baking dish rather than a skillet from here), spooning some of the beef stock over the tops of the chops.
Top with a slices of provolone cheese, and a mound of the shredded Gruyere and/or Swiss.

Add a few sprigs of fresh thyme (sounds pretty but didn’t happen) and add skillet (or baking dish) to oven and bake 8-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and gooey.
Before serving, spoon some of the beef stock/onion mixture over the top of the cheese, and garnish with some additional black pepper if desired.

I love French onion soup…French onion dip…French onion anything!! And these French onion smothered pork chops are no exception. Moist, flavorful and very filling. I wound up cutting the pork chops in two and only eating a half. The gravy or sauce was amazing. Amazing, girls. PC and I split a baked potato and had a mini-ear of corn a piece.

I was so anxious to try this that I didn’t create a very pretty plate for picture-taking. Forgive me. PC liked this meal a lot. He is easy to cook for, but we do eat a lot of soups, sandwiches, and crock pot meals. About once a week, though, I treat him to meat…steak, a piece of chicken, or…a pork chop! We will be having this again. Tomorrow night as leftovers, in fact!

Your Turn

Do you like French onion flavors and dishes? If so, hope you will give this recipe a try. The gravy would be delicious on rice or mashed potatoes or pasta. Or just on a spoon in my mouth! And this crock pot French onion beef recipe, is scrumptious, too.

Have been doing so well on following the blogging schedule I’ve penciled into my agenda. But got off track with this very post. Should have been a “Tasty Tuesday” post and if I don’t hurry it’s going to be Wednesday. Oh, well! Life goes on.

Thank you for joining me, whatever day it is! Bon appetit!

Hugs and kisses,