Grilled Thin Pork Chops, Quick Brinerated
Thin pork chops are an idea I learned from from John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger in Gourmet magazine. They suggest you think thin, crispy and flavorful, instead of the usual thick and juicy. For a quick weeknight meal on the grill, thin is good – it cooks quickly, and gets dinner on the table that much faster.
Brinerating the chops
Even though we’re going for thin and crispy, be careful to not overcook lean pork loin, or it will dry out. The brinerade gives us a little cushion, but the real trick is to only cook the chops on one side. The pork chops are thin enough to cook through, and they’ll be nicely browned on the one side that’s always facing the grill.
After 4 minutes, the chops are cooked through – even though they’ve never been flipped.
Recipe: Grilled Thin Pork Chops, Quick Brinerated
Inspired by: “Doc” Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger: Grill It!
Equipment
- Grill (I use a Weber Summit.)
Grilled Thin Pork Chops, Quick Brinerated
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Prep Time: 20 minutes - Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Total Time: 24 minutes
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Yield: 4-6 servings -
Category: Grilling -
Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Grilled Thin Pork Chops, Quick Brinerated. My recipe for thin-cut pork chops, grilled quickly on only one side.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds thin cut pork chops (1/4″ to 1/2″ thick, preferably rib chops)
Brinerade
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- 1. Brinerate the pork chops: Whisk the brinerade ingredients in a small bowl until well combined.
- Put the pork chops in a large bowl or a baking dish, reserve 2 tablespoons of the brinerade for later, and pour the rest of the brinerade over the chops. Flip the pork chops a few times to evenly cover with the marinade, then let them rest while the grill preheats. (Or, put the chops in the refrigerator and brinerate for up to 4 hours, turning occasionally to coat with the brinerade.)
- 2. Set the grill for direct medium heat: Preheat the grill, then set it for grilling on direct medium heat. For my Weber Summit, I preheat with all burners on high for 10 minutes, brush the grill gratees clean, then turn the burners down to medium.
- 3. Cook the chops: Flip the chops one more time in the baking dish to coat with the brinerade, then put them on the grill over direct medium heat. (Keep the lid closed as much as possible while cooking.) Grill the chops until they have good grill marks on the bottom, about 2 minutes, then rotate them 90 degreees (don’t flip the chops – just rotate them) and grill until they have a good crosshatch of grill marks on the bottom, about 2 more minutes. At this point, the chops should be cooked through – they’ll have gone from pink to white on the side that’s been facing up the whole time. Remove them from the grill. (If you have thicker chops, and the top is not cooked through, flip them over and cook them for another minute.)
- 4. Glaze and serve: Remove the chops to a platter and pour the reserved brinerade over the chops. Let rest for five minutes, then serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1-2 pork chops
Ready to serve
Variations:
- Asian style: the soy sauce is already giving them a little bit of an asian flavor; you can play this up by replacing the balsamic vinegar with seasoned asian rice vinegar, and the olive oil with peanut or sesame oil.
- Barbecued pork chops: When done, brush the chops with barbecue sauce instead of the reserved brinerade.
- Don’t forget to gnaw on the bones…it’s my favorite part!
What do you think?
Questions? Comments? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
This recipe is part of Quick Grilling Week
Grilled Boneless Pork Loin Chops, Brined and Honey Glazed recipe
Grilled Corn recipe
My other Grilling Recipes
Inspired by:
“Doc” Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger: Grill It!
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great tips on the cooking technique and a really great recipe
Best tender, thin-chops-on-the-grill recipe ever!! Much obliged…
You’re welcome!
Comment
@A Year on the Grill: Thank you!
nice site. just found it while looking for a rotisserie pineapple site.
great job, i think i’ll be vising your blog quite often for recipes
@Bruce – Thank you! I’m glad you’ll be back. I can always use regular readers.
I think this can be done on a stove top grill as well for those that do not have access to an outdoor grill all year round.
Just wanted to say i made my own marinade from ketchup,honey,steak seasoning,oregano,garlic,A1,and apple cider vinegar and used your grilling method.I used pork loin that i sliced this and soaked in the marinade overnight.They turned out to be the best chops Ive ever grilled:))
I’m glad it worked for you…enjoy!
Came across this recipe searching on google. Last time I grilled thin chops they were over cooked. Tried this recipe tonight and the wife and I loved them! A little charred on the one side and plenty of juice inside. Great taste and so simple. Thank you. New subscriber.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it!
First off I am such an amateur griller its not even funny… I wanted to surprise the hubby with dinner and came across this recipe…. All I can say is my husband is more then happy to share the grill now! Thank you!!
Great! I love it when I get a new grill convert.
I’ll try your one-sided grilling technique tonight. The major difference is that I’ll be using a charcoal-fired Weber grill and marinading the boneless chops in an Italian salad dressing for about 90 minutes. This has worked well for thicker chops, not it’s time to try it on the thinner, boneless chops.
I come back to your post every time I grill thin chops. Thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome!
Planning to try this tonight, but couldn’t fit the chops in my 2-cup pyrex measuring cup, perhaps you meant 2-quart?
You’re right – I did mean two quart. Try a medium bowl instead?
Awesome recipe
Great quick recipe. I did it on my kettle grill (a Coleman, not a Weber, sorry) and it turned out fantastic.
Thanks for all your tips, tricks and recipes. This is the only website I recommend to friends.
You’re welcome!
This is an excellent plan for grilling this thin cut of meat. And you are 100% right! Modern pork does mean it has almost no fat. I always prefer thin cut pork chops when I cook; the thick ones tend to come out tasting dry. I love the idea of not grilling on both sides. Never would’ve thought of that, so thank you Mike!
Could I use this recipe on a pork loin? We made the chops last night and my family LOVED it so much. Pork loins were on sale this week so I wanted to try it? Thoughts?
Looks good licking my lips going to try it tonight thank you
Would this work with boneless chops also?
Yes, it will work – but they’ll cook even quicker.
Just made these, found it in a google search. Amazing! Thank you for this! Thanks to two tired and fussy toddlers it sat in the brine for almost 2 hours so I was a bit worried how they would turn out, still tastes great!
Great! I’m glad it worked so well for you.
This recipe saved the day. I already had the chops and company was coming. The short “brinerating” time was perfect for me and everyone loved them.
Thanks! Glad it worked for you.
Shocked! These were incredible. Moist and tasty even when cooked one minute longer than suggested.
Absolutely loved this recipe! It was so simple and very tasty! I agree with someone else that said the brine smelled good enough to drink. I also added salt, pepper, and about 1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic to the brine. The family loved it and so did I, thank you!
I did this last night on the grill and my husband and daughter complimented me on how tender the meat was. That’s a very good trick to remember — not turning the thin pork chops. Mahalo!
★★★★★
This is a great use of thin chops. As my son said “These are the best pork chops I’ve ever had.” I will use this every time I have grilled thin chops. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
Perfect recipe for perfect, perfect, perfect thin grilled chops!!! I use this recipe over and over. Thank you Mike!
You’re welcome!
WINNER WINNER Pork Chop Dinner! I cooked up a batch of these bad boys last night and was truly BLOWN AWAY by how good they turned out. We followed your original recipe to the letter, let them brinerade in the fridge for about 5 hours, flipping them every hour and a half or so. This little masterpiece will be saved to my arsenal of cooking goodness! Thank you sir for sharing it!
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
These were delicious!!! Thank you for the instructions, they came out perfect! 🙂