The best recipe for oven-baked crusted pork chops with a crispy panko breading. Always tender, never dry — this easy pork recipe will be your family’s new dinnertime favorite!
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If you were a 90’s child, surely you remember the Shake’N Bake craze. Mom’s everywhere were going nuts over the stuff, and breaded and baked pork chops were slang’n left and right all over American dinner tables. As a 90’s child myself, I totally can vouch for the fact that while one side of the pork chop would remain nice and crispy, the bottom side left a whole lot more to be desired. Also, it might have been nice if they weren’t bone dry. Yeah. That would have been better for sure.
Breaded pork chops, crispy on both sides and not dried out, were like the mystical dinnertime unicorns moms just couldn’t seem to find. Such a pity. Especially when you consider there’s absolutely no denying the scrumptiousness of a perfectly cooked, crusted pork chop. Don’t get me wrong: The good ones existed…they just came out of a frying pan.
As much as we all love fried food, don’tcha feel better when you don’t eat it? Ugh. Me too. Such a bummer. So I set off on a mission. A mission to find a perfectly cooked, oven-baked, crusted pork chop back. And guess what? Turns out, they’re a real thing after all.
HOW TO BAKE CRUSTED PORK CHOPS IN THE OVEN THAT WON’T DRY OUT
HOW TO COOK BONELESS PORK CHOPS IN THE OVEN
SEASON THE PORK CHOPS
In my humble opinion, one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to breaded meats is in the seasoning. Rather than focusing solely on the crust, give the pork itself a little love too. Seasoning the pork directly ensures flavor in every bite.
To do this, pat the pork chop dry using paper towels and sprinkle it with your favorite seasoning blend. I use my TAK House Seasoning, and the flavor is absolutely out of this world. Next up, the breading.
PREPARE THE BREADING TRAYS
For breading trays, you can use whatever shallow, rimmed dishes you have on hand, and that is perfectly sufficient for this recipe. However, in my kitchen, I use these interlocking breading trays from Amazon.com. They’re easy to store and because they join together, there is far less mess when it comes to the dredging process. I’ll have more of that, please.
These pork chops come well-equipped with a thick and crispy breading. To do this, the chops take a double dunk in both the flour and egg mixture, and it’s not until the very end that they go into the Panko.
Panko breadcrumbs are easy to find and they are usually located right next to the regular breadcrumbs in the baking aisle of your grocery store. The Panko crust is partially what makes these pork chops addictively crunchy and crispy, but we can’t go and give it all the credit. How you bake them is of equal significance.
So, up to this point, the pork chops have been seasoned and breaded, and you are well on your way to the best pork chop you’ve ever laid taste buds on. All that’s left is to bake them to total and utter perfection.
BEST TEMPERATURE AND BAKING TIME FOR BREADED PORK CHOPS
375° is the perfect temperature to bake crusted, boneless pork chops at, and 26 minutes is all it takes. It’s a high enough temperature to ensure the pork chop breading gets nice and crispy, and a short enough stint in the oven to prevent them from getting dried out.
The secret to crispy breading on each side is all in the flip. About halfway through the cooking process, the pork chops should be turned, allowing each side to brown up nicely. Drizzling the pork chops generously with olive oil on both sides prior to baking also promotes a perfectly crunchy crust.
And, there you have it: A perfectly baked pork chop with an all-around crunchy Panko crust. The unicorn of baked pork chop discovered at last. Please, enjoy.
The best recipe for oven-baked crusted pork chops with a crispy panko breading.
- 4 boneless pork center loin chops about a 1/2" thick
- 1 1/2 teaspoon TAK House Seasoning or your favorite spice blend
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3 dashes hot sauce
- 1 1/2 cup plain Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup olive oil
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Preheat the oven 375° and have ready a rimmed sheet pan lined with nonstick aluminum foil. Also, have ready a breading station consisting of three shallow trays or pie plates.
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Pat the pork chop dry with a paper towel and sprinkle the seasoning blend evenly over both sides. Rub to adhere. Set aside while you prepare the breading trays.
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Add 1 cup of flour to the first tray. Add eggs, milk, and hot sauce to the second tray and whisk to combine. In the last tray, stir together panko bread crumbs, Kosher salt, and pepper.
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Dredge the seasoned pork chop in the flour tray, shaking off any excess, then dip it in the egg mixture (allowing excess to drip off), and back into the flour mixture.
Then, back into the egg mixture once more, and lastly coat thoroughly in the Panko breadcrumbs.
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Transfer pork chops to the baking sheet and drizzle evenly with half of the olive oil. Turn the pork chops over, and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
Bake for 13 minutes. Flip the pork chops over, and bake for 13 minutes more. Allow to cool slightly, serve, and enjoy.
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