The Best Baked Garlic Pork Chops Recipe

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The Best Baked Garlic Pork Chops Recipe Ever is the best oven baked pork chop recipe ever – perfect rich, tender, juicy garlic baked pork chops that are incredibly easy and restaurant quality good!

With tons of tips for juicy baked pork chops, how to bake pork without drying it out, and how long to bake pork chops for perfectly tender pork!

Pork chops are one of my favorite easy, quick, and delicious no-fail weeknight dinners.

The best baked garlic pork chops recipe I’ve ever found is this simple, delicious, and crazy easy dinner that always gets RAVE reviews from friends and family – like my favorite brown sugar garlic baked pork chops, or my easy baked pork chops!

These easy baked pork chops are the best and easiest way for home cooks of any level to make perfect, delicious, and never-dry pork chops.

They are quick seared to lock in the flavor and have a lovely browned crust – and these pork chops are finally then baked to perfection, so you have perfect, juicy and delicious garlic pork that your whole family will flip over!

Just like my favorite crock pot pork steaks and my baked garlic pork tenderloin, these easy baked pork chops are perfectly tender and juicy – not dry and tough like pork gets a bad reputation for!

This easy pork chop recipe will be your new favorite oven baked pork recipe ever – bursting with lemon garlic butter pork flavor that is just like you’d get at your favorite restaurant – I hope you love it as much as I do!

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What to Serve With Lemon Garlic Butter Pork Chops

These deliciously decadent lemon garlic butter baked pork chops are fabulous for a weeknight dinner on the go, a delicious dinner party, or even a holiday feast!

Garlic pork chops in oven are a perfect dinner – and go perfectly with simple, delicious, and easy sides!

We personally love it with our easy sauteed zucchini and squash, rice pilaf, Easy Oven Roasted Asparagus, or Brown Butter Bacon Baked Brussels Sprouts !

Other Easy One Pot Pork Recipes

If you love this delicious and easy baked garlic pork, please be sure to check out some of my other favorite pork recipes!

These are all bursting with delicious flavor, take only one pot, and are guaranteed to make you fall in love with the rich and buttery pork flavor – you’ll want to make oven baked garlic pork chops every night.

Tips To Cook Tender Juicy Pork Chops

The number one tool you will need for any type of pork is a quick meat thermometer so you don’t overcook pork.

Overcooked pork is the #1 reason people complain about the flavor or texture of pork since going over 145 degrees can dry pork out in an instant.

Sear Before Baking

I know you’re thinking – wait – this is a recipe for BAKED, not fried pork chops – but giving your pork a quick sear is essential for flavor.

Browning pork chops on the stove before baking helps seal in the juices from the tenderloin and brings a rich, caramelized flavor that makes the pork chops irresistible!

Seared pork also just looks better – it has a lovely golden brown, instead of they grey color baked pork can often take on.

Keep the pork in the same pan, and toss the whole thing in the oven to finish your pork chop dinner!

a pork chop in a pan

What Temperature To Cook Pork To

Pork chops should stay in the oven until they have reached 145 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature when measured with a meat thermometer.

Baked pork chops cook time can vary so much depending on the thickness of the pork chop, the moisture in the chop, the temperature of your house, the size of the pork chop, your oven, altitude, and so much more.

Please don’t pop it in the oven, set your timer, and walk away thinking you’ll have delicious and perfect pork chops.

Check your pork chops every ten minutes or so until you’re close to 145 degrees internal temperature when measuring the thickest part of the largest chop (insert the meat thermometer into the middle of the pork chop, making sure you don’t touch or are close to the bottom of the pan), and pull the pork when it is.

Pick Thicker Pork Chops When Baking

Thicker pork chops are harder to dry out – thin cut pork chops cook so fast, they should absolutely not be baked in the oven if you sear them first – they will likely be cooked completely just from searing.

If you want to make this recipe with thin cut pork chops, skip the oven and cook entirely on the stovetop, adding the garlic and lemon juice to the pan to soften and caramelize after you flip your pork the first time and ladle the butter, juice, and garlic over pork chops as they cook to prevent the garlic from burning.

Know Your Chop 

For this recipe, I am using boneless chops – but you can also use a center-cut pork chop, a bone-in pork loin chop, or a bone-in rib chop.

Using a bone-in pork chop for this baked pork chop recipe will add cook time to the dish – about another 10-15 minutes for this oven baked pork chop (again, this varies wildly, so use your thermometer to check the baked pork chop temperature as it cooks!!)

Marinate

Pork chops have such a light flavor, and easy to mess up texture – they benefit from marinating more than almost any other meat.

Marinating is an easy way to increase flavor and keep your baked pork chops tender and juicy.

I like to marinate pork chops for even just 30 minutes – you can make a simple marinade from olive oil and lemon juice – that can help a ton in keeping flavor and moisture in your pork chops.

Please be sure to read my ultimate guide to pork chops if you have any questions on types of pork chops, best cooking ideas, etc!

Recipe FAQ’s

Can I bake a thick pork chop?

If you’re making these pork chops with a loin chop, rib chop, or thick cut boneless chop, add 5-15 minutes cooktime, depending on the size of the chop.

What temperature do I bake pork chops to?

Pork is done at 145 degrees – which does leave a bit of pink.
Cook pork chops to 140 degrees, and let them carry over cook to 145 while the rest.

The Best Baked Garlic Pork Chops Recipe Ever

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Chicken breasts cooked with lemon and parsley.
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The Best Baked Garlic Pork Chops Recipe

The Best Baked Garlic Pork Chops Recipe Ever is the best oven baked pork chop recipe ever – perfect rich, tender, juicy garlic baked pork chops that are incredibly easy and restaurant quality.
With tons of tips for juicy baked pork chops, how to bake pork without drying it out, and how long to bake pork chops for perfectly tender pork!
Course Pork Chops
Cuisine American
Keyword baked pork chops, cheap recipes, easy pork chops, easy pork recipes, garlic, garlic lemon baked pork chops, lemon, pork chops
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Additional Time 5 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 559kcal
Author Courtney ODell

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice divided
  • 4 pork chops 1/2″ thick boneless chops – see instructions for extra thick or super thin baking time differences
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
  • 3 tbsp butter or olive oil
  • ½ lemon sliced into thin rounds
  • 10 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tbsp parsley fresh cut, to garnish

Instructions

  • Add 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, pork chops, salt, and pepper to a ziploc bag and marinate for at least 3 hours, and up to overnight. 
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
  • Pat pork chops with paper towel to completely dry from any moisture from marinade. 
  • Season generously with salt and pepper. 
  • Heat a heavy cast iron pan (or oven-safe heavy pan) on medium high until very hot.
  • Add butter or olive oil until melted and foamy or light and shimmery. 
  • Add in pork chops, without crowding the pan.
  • Cook until browned on one side – about 3 minutes. 
  • Add garlic, lemon slices, remaining 2 tbsp lemon juice to pan as you sear the other side. 
  • As pork chops brown on the other side, stir garlic slightly and ladle the butter/oil, lemon juice, and garlic from pan over the pork. 
  • When chops are browned on both sides, transfer to oven and cook until internal temperature reaches 145-150 degrees, about 15 minutes for a thick pork chop. For thin pork chops, only 5-10 minutes in oven might be needed. Use thermometer to gauge how close your pork is to being fully cooked since chops can vary so much! 
  • If you go by the older guidelines, it used to be 160 degrees, but the USDA now says 145 is good. Note that pork can still sometimes look a touch pink even when fully cooked, so go by the temperature.
  • Let rest 5 minutes before serving. 

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 559kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 21g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 168mg | Sodium: 757mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g

About Courtney

Courtney loves to share great wine, good food, and loves to explore far flung places- all while masting an everyday elegant and easy style at lifestyle blog Sweet C’s Designs. Sweet C's devoted to finding the best food and drinks you'll want to make or find, around the world!

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52 Comments

  1. If I could send you a pic or offer a taste, you would want my address. These were spectacular w/roasted potatoes and a nice salad. Took the pan drippings and seatings and made a pan sauce with the lemon-garlic mix…a little white wine and whammy! Heavenly!

  2. Thank you so much! This was a great recipe. My family loved it! I used bone in loin chop that was 1 1/2″ thick. Took only 15 min in the oven. Great tips also.

  3. I thought I could print the recipe? I don’t see the option. It would be nice to have a print version in the kitchen as I cook rather than constantly checking the computer in another room.
    Maybe the suggestions made by others should be incorporated? My 1/2″ chops are marinating right now with a double dose of lemon juice. Oh well, they’ll work out I’m sure. I would have expected the marinade to be a little more fluid?

    1. Hi Judy – there is a print button, but it is hard to see. I am working with my designer to make it a lot easier to see, sorry about that!

    2. There is a print option, but it’s very light. It’s under the small photo where the 5 star review icon is located.

  4. made this for lunch just now, perfect timing + temp for the chop, it came out so juicy. I had it with brussels sprouts and potatoes, cause it’s what I had. Also, I added some gochugaru, a Korean spice, to give the meat a little kick. Thanks for the post and recipe!

    1. What might seem useless to you might be very important to a new cook in the kitchen. I have a lot of beginner cooks on my site looking for lots of information so they can learn about the process – and I try to help answer their questions in the posts. Sorry that offends you.

      1. Yes, but there needs to be a quick way to find the actual recipe without reading all of it, don’t you agree?

        1. Yep, it’s called scrolling. And the jump to recipe button in the top left corner that I placed to make it easier for people who would prefer not scroll.

          1. Beth,

            This recipe is long because I get a LOT of questions on posts about how to make a recipe. Not everyone is comfortable in the kitchen, and sharing more information to help make a recipe great only helps others. It takes hours to write up recipes this way (this website is my fulltime job, those ads literally feed my children) but I do it because it’s brought a lot of others joy in their homes again.

            I do understand there are a lot of ads and a lot of information I put into the post which some won’t want to wade through – so I put a button at the top of the page to skip to the recipe.

          2. Hi Courtney. You’re not rude! If people with poor computer skills/reading comprehension can’t find the “skip to recipe” or read the table of contents, that’s not your fault.

            Could the site be more streamlined? Yes. Is it difficult to navigate? Absolutely not. You have no more ads/pre-recipe chatter than any other cooking blog out there. You are not rude for directing these commenters to the features that would allow them to skip to the recipe. They would’ve found them easily like the rest of us if they weren’t so quick to anger.

            Rant aside, I’ll be cooking these chops tonight and I’m sure they’ll be delicious.

    2. I completely agree with “Frustrated”. I’ve never seen such wasted babble and ads to get to a simple recipe.

      1. I don’t understand why people are complaining. There is a very easy to find “Skip to recipe” button at the top of the page. When you hit it you bypass all of the ads. Bloggers only get paid if they have ads on the page. These awesome recipe bloggers provide us with great recipes that they have tested. In the past you would have to buy a cookbook and hope for the best instead of benefitting from all of the user reviews and ratings. Just try to be kinder folks. You may not realize it but this is a job to many people

      2. Oh my. It’s just pork chops. Personally, I am grateful for the guidance so I’ll overlook the ads. If you don’t like the ads just ‘X’ out. That’s your choice. Seems self explanatory, really.

      3. How rude. Can’t you just hit the “skip to recipe” button & move on with your day? I’m sorry if you were criticized relentlessly, growing up, but you have the power to stop passing it on. No one likes critical trolls.