This baked pork chops recipe was a favorite of grandma’s friend Louise. Louise was known for two things… never driving above 29mph in her car, and for making the best damn baked pork chops. She’d come over and they’d spend time bickering about things that old people bicker about, all the while the house would begin to smell wonderful as she made this delicious recipe.
This recipe has been very popular and had many 5 star ratings. It is actually a very easy recipe that will be popular with the whole family.
How to Make Baked Pork Chops – Country Style!
There’s just a few simple ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and chances are most they’re already in the pantry. Salt, pepper, brown sugar and good quality ketchup. The only things you’ll need to buy are some of your favorite pork chops and an onion. The onion was actually my favorite part. They’d get nice and soft on top of the pork chops with that delicious brown sugar cooked right in. My goodness this combination of flavors brings me back to my childhood every time I make it.
Sauce Thickness for Baked Pork Chops
We should also mention that the sauce becomes thin and watery. This makes the pork chops come out very tender and juicy as they cook in the liquid. When you take them out of the tray to serve just allow them to drip off any excess liquid.
Our readers have also commented that cheaper ketchup sauce tends to be more watery. So it’s important to use a good quality ketchup or bbq ketchup is used. Based on this feedback we have adjusted the recipe to no longer include water.
Side Dishes that Will Suit Baked Pork Chops
A lot of our readers have commented that they have served mashed potatoes or tots as a side dish. This is perfect for this recipe as there is some excess liquid after the pork chops are baked. The excess liquid has also been used to make a gravy. Let us know what side dish you made for this recipe in the comments below.
Try out these amazing recipes too:
• Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin Recipe
• Slow Roasted Crockpot Pork Chops
Baked Pork Chops FAQs and Guidelines
This is a very popular recipe which has led to a lot of questions from our readers. We hope to collate some of the more common questions and answers below.
Will Boneless Pork Chops Work?
You can use any pork chops you like but we always used the bone-in chops that were about an inch thick. The bone-in pork chops always seem to have a bit more flavor, but boneless chops work well too. For some extra flavor you could pierce the chops with a fork and let the sauce marinade a bit before cooking (thanks Anne Doerksen for the tip!).
Will These Taste As Good As BBQ Pork Chops?
These baked pork chops come out with a completely different flavour to BBQ pork chops. As they are cooked in sauce, the oven baked chops will come out juicy, tender and delicious! The overall flavor is sweet and juicy thanks to the brown sugar. If you want that smokey BBQ flavour then cook these up on a BBQ.
Will These Chops Come Out Watery?
Depending on the ketchup brand used, the pork chops can come out quite watery. This leads to very tender, juicy chops. Often pork can be dry and you will find this is not the case if you follow this easy baked pork recipe. To reduce the amount of water ensure you use good quality ketchup and leave the tray uncovered more than the recommended amount in the recipe. Some of our very clever readers have suggested using excess juices as a base for a gravy sauce.
FAQs about Baked Pork Chops Recipe
What seasoning to use for pork chops?
You can add salt, paprika, onion powder, pepper, sugar, Worcestershire, vinegar, and garlic for your pork chops. These flavors will make this dish taste grand. Remember not to use balsamic vinegar and stick to white vinegar instead.
For a tangy and sweet hint, you may also add ketchup along with sugar. This produces a much-thickened sauce for the chops.
What temperature should I cook pork chop to?
If you’re using a standard oven, bake the chops to 220C or 430F. However, if you’re using a convection oven, 200C or 390 F is the perfect temperature.
How to serve Southern smothered pork chops recipe?
You can toss in marble potatoes on the baking pan. Sprinkle the potatoes with a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt, then cook it with the chops. The potatoes will appear quite crispy on top. The bottom part will absorb all the sauce and the glaze from the baked pork chop.
Serve the pork chops with steamed broccoli, asparagus, or green beans. You can also whip up a tangy salad using balsamic vinegar or Caesar salad dressing for the side dish.
Alternatively, a dollop of mashed potato with herbs or a serving of rice makes up for a more hearty meal.
How do you know when pork chops are done?
The internal temperature of the baked pork chops should be 145F or 63C. Make sure not to overcook as the chops can turn hard and gummy.
Rating
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
- 4 bone-in pork chops
- ⅓ cup good quality ketchup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 4 large onion slices
- Season each pork chop with salt and pepper.
- in a bowl, combine brown sugar and ketchup and stir it up real well.
- Place pork chops in a large baking dish and cover with them with the mixture. Add onion slices to the top of each pork chop.
- Place pork chops in a large baking dish and cover with them with the mixture. Add onion slices to the top of each pork chop.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees F for 35-50 minutes.
- Baste pork chops halfway through cooking. Cook for remaining time uncovered.
Thanks for this recipe. Pork chops is a family favourite in our house 🙂
This was a quick and delicious recipe. I decided to put the pan on broil for 3 minutes at the end of the cooking time. It evaporated the remainder of the water and made it nice and thick. Yummmm! My husband and children enjoyed it greatly.
Additions to the recipe:
I combined all ingredients and cooked on the stove until bubbling. Then placed in oven and cooked it 30 minutes covered. I turned it over and continued to cook it 15 minutes uncovered. Finally I put the oven on high broil and cooked it until the water evaporated and it became thick.
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your alternative method – Much appreciated 🙂
Made these chops and will be making them again! Really good thanks
How long did you end up cooking? The total cook time on this recipe is a wide gap
I put them on low broil after 50mins in the oven for 15 mins. Came out amazing.
I just made this….delicious! Forgot to take a pic at 1: o’clock am!
This recipe was a huge success. My family loved it!!
I made this and it turned out pretty watery. Not sure what I did wrong. It tasted good though. Mine did not turn out how yours looks either :/
Hi Sam thanks for taking the time to comment. Sorry it turned out watery… It seems some ovens don’t evaporate the water as well as others. We have changed the recipe so now there is only a tablespoon of water rather than 1/4 cup of water based on your helpful feedback 🙂
I just made it but added celery carrots and red potatoes to the dish too
I also added a dinner biscuits too
I’m new to making dinner and this is my first one I love it
Hi there. Did you add your potatoes and other stuff mixed in with the chops and cooking time
I made this tonight and mine turned out very watery ~ maybe there is no need to cover pan with foil I just put them back in the oven in hopes of reducing sauce.
Thanks for the feedback. We have reduced the amount of water in the recipe from 1/2 a cup to a 1/4 cup. It seems that some are turning out watery while others are getting a good result. Please keep providing feedback so we can perfect the recipe!
i made the chops recipe did everything and came out watery
Thanks Judy for the comment. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. We are reducing the water based on yours and other peoples feedback. It seems some ovens evaporate the water better than others.
It could also be differences in altitude. Water evaporates slower at higher altitudes I believe… it could be the other way around though…
I made mine today and it’s watery too. Maybe we don’t need to cover the dish. My family love the taste though. Thanks for the recipe.????
Thanks for your feedback Rebecca. We are going to make another adjustment to the recipe which ways to leave the pork chops uncovered if they are still quite watery half way through the cooking process. It seems some ovens are more effective at evaporating the water than others when the pork chops are being baked. Please keep providing your valued feedback so we can create great recipes.
Add it tonight. Didn’t have any foil so tried with and jus kept on watching it to make sure it didn’t dry out.. jus a little over 45 min. Love love love????
Thanks so much Candace for your feedback. Glad you love it 🙂
This is how I am making them rite now
I came to Pinterest looking for something different for chops that were thawing out for dinner. This recipe solved my problem beautifully. Chops were tender, moist and that sauce is awesome. The one leftover chop was for hubby’s lunchbox., When he heated it up in the microwave at work, he had 3 coworkers ask him if I’d share the recipe!!! Really, really good and yes, I gladly shared!! TY.
Thanks so much Gail for your comment. I love the fact that it was a big hit at your husbands workplace! In fact this pork chop recipe has been a big hit with many people. Your story motivates us to continue sharing and publishing recipes to this site 🙂
We tried this tonight for supper. I removed the foil at30 minutes and it seemed to help thicken the sauce so it wasn’t so watery.
Thanks for the feedback Jennie, We tried this too and it turned out delicious. Out of interest were you using boneless pork chops?
Hi I am going to make this for dinner tonight but I have boneless pork chops. Should the recipe still work with boneless? So glad I found your site. Thank you.
Hi Patty thanks for the positive feedback and yes! This recipe will work with boneless pork chops. Please let us know how you go 🙂
Thanks Briony – I will !!! 🙂
I tried this recipe with the boneless pork chops and it worked fine. The sauce was thick at mid point of cooking so I left the foil on the dish but when it was done and I took the foil off the sauce was runny but the sauce that was actually on the pork chops stayed thick. This was a good recipe. We enjoyed it. Thank you.
Thanks Patti glad to hear to works well with boneless pork chops too!
I’ve got mine in the oven now! Can’t wait!! I love trying new things!
Thanks for sharing Ashley – let us know how it goes 🙂
Trying it out tonight! Was watery after 30 minutes. Poured out the juice and left uncovered. Will see what happens. If anything the house is smelling good!
Thanks Cassandra let us know how it turned out 🙂
I love this recipe. I just omitted the water all together and added a splash of soy sauce and garlic. It was amazing!
Thanks Desi, your version of the recipe sounds tasty!
I made these tonight my family really enjoyed them! I just couldn’t get the sauce thick…but still tasty.
Thanks Denise for the comment. We will reduce the water in the recipe because you and a few others are finding it is coming out watery. We really appreciate the feedback.
great recipe however your choice of font is very difficult to read
Thanks Katneedle. Because of your helpful feedback we have changed the font across our entire site. We want all our visitors to have the best possible experience. We really appreciate the fact you took time to let us know.
Made it tonight on three large Pork chops. Modified it a little.. Added a dash of salt, pepper, rosemary & thyme on sauce. Fried the Pork chop and onion. Burned the onion a little to make it crispy. Hella good
Hi Sonti that sounds YUM! I might try your modification next time we make them
I love it and my kids too.!
Hi Abby Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Glad to hear your family enjoyed it 🙂
Made tonight. I didn’t have an onion so I used onion powder on top. When I took the foil off half through I poured out half the juice. Let the foil off for 10 mins then put it back on for the remaining. I cooked for 50 mins. They turned out great!!
Thanks Debra for sharing – very creative!
I am going to try this recipe tonight and see if my kids love it. It sounds tasty.
Trying this tonight , after reading the reviews I hoping not to watery . I only did 1 tbs of water and at 30 mins I will uncover .
Looking forward to the first time I “bake” pork chops. Hubby ALWAYS BBQ ‘s or smokes.
I have to double the recipe for my family of 6. Can i use a cake pan instead of a glass baking dish?
Made these tonight, they were delicious!!!! Turned out quite watery for me too though.
Sorry guys but this was a FAIL. There must be 3/4″ inch of water in the pan after cooking, even left uncovered to bake as recipe suggests. A big watery, unpalatable disaster.
How thick are the chops??Anxious to make these
A month ago my husband and i decided to start cooking more at home with fresh ingredients. Well its worked out great thanks to this site. Each night i pick a new recipe and have not found one i didn’t like. Im slowly biulding up my pantry as well. Thanks for the grest recipes. We will be trying the pork chops tonight. I’ve told many people about this site as well. Thanks .
Thanks so much Kim for taking the time to comment – this is really encouraging to hear and it’s why we put this site together
Could you make this mixture ahead of time and then marinate the pork chops in it before cooking?
I like making gravy from from the extra juice. It’s good with mash potatoes or to have extra dipping sauce . I know alot of people that has never had barbecue gravy before or heard of having it with bake barbecue pork chops or chicken love it and now they make it every time with mash potatoes. So the extra juice helps everytime. This is the first time that I am making barbecue pork chops with gravy using these ingredients. I can’t wait to find out how it turns out. I hope that I get alot of juice for the gravy. I have a big family so I need alot of gravy. Thanks for the recipe. I have it cooking now. I will let you know how it turns out.
It smells good in the house!
FANTASTIC! I made this recipe last night. I had never been able to cook moist, flavorful pork chops until I tried your recipe. It was magnificent. Thank you for sharing it.
Trying new recipe now, house smells wonderful, I will let you know how it turns out!! Can’t wait
Made these tonight and Very Good. I threw mine under the broiler for a few to caramelize. Can’t wait to try them on the grill. I don’t like bottled BBQ sauce and this was just perfect
I made this yesterday, it was worth making. I left it in the oven for more than 30mins the first 30 mins it was watery, I hope this helps for someone who wants to make this. It’s delicious my family enjoyed it
Very tasty! Would make this again, though would omit the water.
Thanks Gina. Because of your feedback we have now omitted the water from the recipe. Thanks for your contribution.
Going to make these chops tonight, however they’re boneless. How do I adjust the time?
I think the watery problem is from the ketchup and ovens, cheap ketchups are more watery. Use a thick brand name.
Thanks Marie – will add this to the recipe write up.
Has anyone tried this recipe with a crockpot? I probably would just omit the water. But I love using my crock and it makes a busy mom at least a big help and jump ahead on dinner.
I made this recipe tonight for dinner. My family and I loved it. I used boneless pork chops and followed a recommendation from one of the reviews. I mixed all sauce ingredients on stove top until bubbling. Then poured over pork chops. I cooked it at 375 covered for 15 min. Then flipped meat over and basted the chops. Cooked covered for an additional 5 min. Then uncovered cooked for additional 10 min. And then did high broil for 3-4 min to help thicken sauce. It was delish. I will be making it again. I paired with tater tots and vegetables.
Thanks Hannah that sounds delish!
Hi! I saw alot of posts about this turning out watery, i didnt use any water in mine, instead i have an oven safe container on water in the bottom of the oven to keep moisture in. My porkchops turned out amazing !
Hi I’m cooking it tonight for my family 😍😬 I followed all directions and took tips from everyone else! Thanks will let you know how it turns out🤞🏾
Recipe is good but sauce too liquidy. Baked with foil for 30 minutes then basted and baked 10 more with foil and then took off foil for 10 and broiled it for 5 minutes. Flavors were good though
Made this tonight with thin boneless chops and I thought turned out delicious! Was pretty watery in the pan after cooking covered for 30 minutes, but took the foil off and proceeded to bake for another 15ish minutes, then hit it with broil for about 5-10 minutes and it thickened up the sauce on the chops pretty well.
Husband said it reminded him of bbq, which he really isn’t a big fan of, but he still thought this turned out pretty good!!
Wonderful. I would suggest not adding water as it’s already enough liquid. The last 15 minutes take the foil off to cook some of the liquid down.
Thanks Drea we have adjusted the recipe because of your good feedback.
If I was using boneless chops, what would be the cooking time and temperature? Thanks! The recipe looks delicious
This was amazing!! Only thing I changed was I used sugar free brown sugar instead of regular brown sugar…nobody noticed the difference and ate it up!!! Thank you this will be a staple in our house!!!
Those chops were delicious. Thank you for the receipe.
It was very delicious, I cooked this recipe for 34 people and in the brick oven it was just marvelous, everyone loved it I will look for the picture. Thank you for sharing.
I think I am still going to try this recipe tonight, even though I only have boneless chops. Thank you!!
I used to make this in a crockpot years ago and had forgotten about it until I ran across this recipe. Thank you!
The sauce is very tasty on mashed potatoes.
In the crockpot I would place pork chops, the sliced onions and then the brown sugar and ketchup mixture on top. I did not add water. It would cook on low for 4-5 hours depending on the crockpot.
I made this tonight and mine had a lot of juice/ water followed directions. I used a glass dish and cooked for about an hour. Half with foil, it did taste very good but would have liked more of a thicker sauce
I’m going to make this tonight. I think I’m going to season and braise my boneless loin chops before I put them in the oven. Maybe that will cut down on the juice from the meat. I may cook them in my pressure cooker. I’ll put them under the broiler to caramelize if it’s runny.
Thanks for the recipe and all of u that did the leg work for me in the comments. I set cooking time at 45:00 min.@ 23 minutes basting time I added sciracha sauce,chupacabra seasoning ,and garlic powder.i then went to Hi-broil for 18 minutes came out excellent, plates were trembling, thanks to all
For 15 years I have been trying to find a way to find a way for my husband to like pork chops. Tonight I found it. With this recipe. Thank you so so much. I did have issues with it being too watery but I turned on high broil with the foil off for a while then low broil for a while I sucked the juice up on put it on top of the chops twice and it worked out fine. The flavors we awesome and none of us are fans of BBQ sauce Great recipe that I will make about every two or three weeks Again, thank you.
May I sub honey ,for brown sugar
Hi Cherise, yes you can!
Subbed in maple syrup for the brown sugar because I don’t have brown sugar, and I poured the water in the bottom of the baking pan instead of putting it in the sauce (so the sauce would stick better) We are at high elevation, so stuff can dry out before it’s cooked (baked potatoes are impossible. I fake them by boiling first, then drying them out in a frying pan or the oven.) We also like it a touch spicy, so I added Cholula hot sauce and mustard to the mix.
What are you guys serving as a side dish? Can the sauce be turned in to a gravy and served over mashed potatoes? Thanks! I’ll be trying this recipe out tonight!
Hi Brian a lot of people are serving with mashed potatoes to soak up the excess liquid. Using the liquid to make a gravy would work too!
I made it your way one night. Another time, I tried searing the meat in a cast iron pan quickly. Then I prepared the recipe as written only baking a shorter time baking in the cast iron pan.. Came out great!
I do not put water in the ones I make. They are still a little watery but that’s okay! I make extra sauce for dipping. My grandson loves these so I make extra for his school lunch. We have Mac & cheese along with grilling beans and of course mashed potatoes!
you have to add water in the instructions but not in the ingredients…how much did you figure out to add
Hi Linmac, we have now adjusted the instructions to not include water. We originally used water but they came out too watery for many people so it has been removed from the recipe.
I’ve been making this recipe for problem thirty but with no water but an addition of lemon slices. One slice per serving or two. I don’t even measure or mix. I first put some ketchup on each chop, then sprinkle on brown sugar, onion slices next and finally lemon slices. I just put on how much we like of each. Do put a tiny bit off water on bottom of pan so chops don’t dry out and bake with the foil. The ketchup thickens a bit and lemons cook to point of being very edible and not sour. Little bite of lemon with each bite of meat is good. Everything stays on top of meat. Makes for such an easy meal. Tonight we’re having the chops, baked potatoes with sour cream and fresh asparagus!
The term “country-style” caught my attention! It turned out a great one! Yummy xD
How much water should be added to sugar and ketchup mixture. Doesn’t say.
You took water out of the ingredient list but left it in the instructions. A little confusing if someone hasn’t read your notes.
so yummy, love it. cannot wait to try it myself this weekend.
I’m sorry, but how long should I actually cook this? 35-50 minutes is quite the time gap.
Made this recipe on Sunday, 09/11/22. What a yummy dish. My 9 yr. old grandson loved this dish. He said grandmom this is delicious. Cleaned his plate. I loved this recipe myself the potatoes was seasoned well from glaze. I will try this again. Maybe a holiday dish for us.
I’ve tried so many recipes for baked pork chops and this is by far my favorite. Occasionally I will spice it up a little by mixing my favorite spices such as thyme, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt (small amount), red pepper flakes, salt & pepper. Rinse the chops in water and pat dry, rub seasoning on both sides and then proceed with the ketchup/brown sugar sauce & onion slices, it’s amazing and is also just as tasty if you go straight by this recipe!! Love it!!