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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!
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
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.
- The Best Baked Garlic Pork Tenderloin
- Easy Slow Cooker Pork Steaks Recipe
- One Pot Lemon Garlic Pork Chops and Asparagus Skillet
- Alsace Choucroute Garnie (Braised Pork Meat Pot)
- Tuscan Pork Chops
- Garlic Herb Butter Baked Pork Loin and Potatoes
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!
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
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.
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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The Best Baked Garlic Pork Chops Recipe
Equipment
- EDGING CASTING Large 17 Inch Cast Iron Skillet, Pre-seasoned Dual Handle Cast Iron Baking, Pizza Pan, Outdoor Camping Skillet Seasoned Frying Pan?Use for Grill, Stovetop, Induction, Oven Safe Cookware
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’ve always been intimidated by cooking pork chops perfectly. This recipe was delicious! Another wonderful dish to add to my rotation
Thank you!!
If i only have about 30 minutes to marinate the chops will this still be okay?
That’s fine Mikayla! They are more flavorful longer but 30 minutes is great.
Going to try this tonight. I’ve used other recipes of yours, hoping this one turns out as good as others. Thank you for the great recipes!
I made these tonight! They were a family hit! Thanks for sharing! ?
Beautiful dish!! It was fantastic. Thank you so much! First time that I didn’t overcook my chops. Very tender and juicy.
delicious so glad i subscribed happy holidays courtney
Omg. These look delish. Pork chops are my fave so I’ll have to try these.