How to Cook Pork Chops Coated in Crushed Pretzels

Finding less common ways to prepare standard dishes like pork chops helps keep your meals interesting. For an interesting and different presentation and pork chops with appealing textural variation, encrust them with crushed pretzels. It's an easy twist on breaded pork chops, and it supports an array of complementary flavors, so there's plenty of room to experiment with recipes. Results are always better with fully defrosted pork chops, so move them into the refrigerator the day before you're cooking them if they're frozen.

Things You'll Need

Paper towels
Food processor
Salt and pepper
All-purpose flour
2 plates
Egg or mustard

Large oven-safe pan
Cooking oil
Unsalted butter
Spatula or tongs
Serving platter

Instructions

Take your pork chops out of the refrigerator about 45 minutes ahead of time so they can rise to room temperature. Cold meat tends to cook unevenly and toughen up a bit when exposed to a sudden, drastic temperature change. Rinse the pork chops off and blot them dry with paper towels when you take them out. Use the last 20 minutes or so of this time to preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pulse pretzels into a coarse ground in a food processor. Spread the crushed pretzel evenly over a plate.
Mix some salt and pepper in with enough all-purpose flour to coat the pork chops. Spread it on a plate and press both sides of the pork chops in it.
Coat the pork chops with something to help the crushed pretzel stick to the meat. For example, dip them in a beaten egg or spread on a little Dijon or honey mustard. The mustard is a good way to add another dimension of flavor to the meal.
Press the pork chops into the pretzel crumbs, coating both sides. If you want, you can coat only one side of the meat with pretzels. In this case, only apply the egg or mustard to the side you're encrusting.
Place a large oven-safe pan over high heat for about two minutes. Add a splash of cooking oil and roll it around to coat the pan. Toss in a pat or two of unsalted butter and wait for it to melt.
Put the pork chops in the pan. If you only coated one side, place that side down. Sear it for about three minutes, until the bottom is nicely browned. Turn the pork chops over with a spatula or tongs and move the pan into the center of the oven.
Bake the pretzel-encrusted pork chops for about 15 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 140 F as measured by a meat thermometer. Insert it horizontally into the meat to the center, as pork chops are too thin to read with a vertical insertion.
Transfer the pork chops to a serving platter and let them rest for five to 10 minutes. Their internal temperature rises to the requisite 145 F during this time, and the meat fibers will reabsorb the juices so they don't run out upon cutting.

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