Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains

Baked pork chops

Name: Baked pork chops
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 22 min
Total time: 32 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 thick chops pork chop; 1 tsp salt; 3/4 tsp black pepper; 2 tsp paprika; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tbsp canola oil; 2 tbsp butter; 3 cloves garlic, smashed; 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Thick chops seared then finished in the oven with garlic butter — the method that stops pork from going dry. Thirty minutes, one pan, and a thermometer if you have one.

Time: 32 min (10 prep + 22 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 439 kcal
Protein: 48 g

Ingredients

4 thick chops pork chop700 g
1 tsp salt6 g
3/4 tsp black pepper2 g
2 tsp paprika4 g
1 tsp garlic powder3 g
1 tbsp canola oil15 g
2 tbsp butter30 g
3 cloves garlic, smashed10 g
1/2 tsp dried thyme1 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Season the chops all over with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder, and let them sit 15 minutes at room temperature.
Sear in a hot oven-safe pan in the oil, 3 minutes a side, to a real crust.
Add the butter, smashed garlic and thyme, then move the pan to a 200°C oven for 8–12 minutes, until the middle reads 63°C.
Rest 5 minutes before cutting — this is where dry pork is saved or lost. Spoon the pan butter over.

Isn't pork supposed to be cooked through?

Not to 71°C, not since 2011 — USDA lowered whole-cut pork to 63°C plus a 3-minute rest. At 63°C it's faintly pink and juicy; at 71°C it's the grey chop that gave pork its reputation.

Why this score

solidly filling

Protein does the heavy lifting.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

44% of kcal

55% water

2 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1756 kcal goes into the pot, 771 g of ingredients comes out as ~700 g of food → 251 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 251
Protein: (44%); 27 g
Fat: (54%); 15 g
Carbohydrates: (2%); 1 g
of which sugar: <1 g
Fiber: <1 g
Sodium: 712 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.