This easy pork chop recipe is one of my favourites! The peppercorn sauce is plate-licking good and is perfect when you’re craving a restaurant-quality pork chop with a classic peppercorn gravy at home. Enjoy this delicious sauce with bone-in or boneless pork chops.
This delicious creamy peppercorn sauce is also very adaptable, by switching up the wine (or omitting it altogether, if you prefer) and adding as much or as little pepper as you’re comfortable with.
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Pork Chops – nice, thick, bone-in pork chops are the perfect choice for this peppercorn sauce. That said, this sauce will work nicely with any pork chop, bone-in or boneless. Only the cooking time will change.
Peppercorns – you can use black peppercorns, or a mixture of red, green and black if you happen to have that on hand. Starting with whole peppercorns allows for larger bits of pepper. Do be sure to crush the peppercorns though. You can use a mortar and pestle if you have one or if not, put the peppercorns in a little zipper bag and whack them with a rolling pin. Don’t whack too much though. You don’t want powdered pepper. You really just want them not to be whole. Large pieces are fine. Adjust the amount of pepper in the sauce to your taste.
Wine – As mentioned above, you can vary the wine depending on what you have on hand. White or red is fine, or even some nice dry Marsala wine works well. Same with the broth choice. I prefer chicken broth with white wine, myself, but beef broth (especially with red wine) is also nice.
If you prefer to cook without wine, simply replace the wine with additional broth.
Cream – Dairy free? This sauce is still lovely without the cream at the end, so if you’re avoiding dairy (or just don’t have cream on hand), just skip it!
How to brine pork chops
When it comes to pork chops, I quickly learned that the secret to a great pork chop is to brine them. Here’s how to do it!
1/4 cup kosher salt (or 2 Tablespoons of fine table salt)
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
2 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water
Dissolve the salt and brown sugar with 2 cups of boiling water, then add 2 cups of cold water to the mixture, which will cool it. Check the temperature of the brine and be sure your brine is not too warm when adding your meat. Allow to cool a bit more if necessary.
Add brine to a container deep enough to hold all the brine and allow you to submerge your pork chops. You may need to put a weight on top to keep them down in the brining liquid. Cover with plastic or foil wrap and always refrigerate while brining. Ideally, brine for 8 hours for every inch of thickness of pork, so a 1-inch thick pork chop brines for 8 hours or a 1/2-inch pork chop for 4 hours. That said, even a short brining of 30 minutes is beneficial.
Once your pork chops have brined, rinse several times to remove any surface salt and dry well.
Recipe tips!
- While I’m sold on the benefits of brining my pork chops, it is an optional step. As noted above, though, if you can squeeze in even a short brining time (even 30-45 minutes), it’s worth it.
- If you own a cast iron skillet, it should definitely be your cooking pan of choice for this dish :)
- Don’t forget to salt your sauce at the end. While pepper is the star here, the sauce needs a good salting to really round out the flavours.
- These pork chops are lovely served with mashed potatoes or a baked potato and a green vegetable such as broccoli or green beans.
- This peppercorn sauce is also great with steak!
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Get the Recipe: Pork Chops with Peppercorn Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 bone-in centre cut pork chops, one-inch thick and brined if you like *See Note 1 below
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons (20 g) butter
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 Tablespoons (15 g) all-purpose flour
Creamy Peppercorn Sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon (14 g) butter
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) shallots or onion, very finely chopped
- 2 – 3 teaspoons crushed peppercorns, from whole black peppercorns
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup (60-75 ml) red or white wine, or dry Marsala wine
- 1 cup (240 ml) chicken or beef broth
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 – 3 thyme sprigs, or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy whipping cream (35% b.f.), or lighter cream and add more thickener (can omit for dairy-free)
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
To thicken gravy (add only as much as needed):
- 2 Tablespoons (15 g) cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) cold water
Instructions
- Tip! Brining pork chops is a great way to improve the finished texture of your chops. See the complete instructions for brining pork chops above this Recipe Card. Recipe timing does not include the time for the optional brining.
- Preheat oven to 400F. (non-convection/not fan assisted)
- Heat the olive oil and butter in an oven-proof or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the pork chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Scatter flour on a plate and dredge the pork chops lightly on both sides. Sear chops in a hot skillet until lightly golden on both sides. Pop the skillet with pork chops into the preheated oven and cook until pork reaches 135F, about 10-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops. (Note that this is a little less than the typically recommended 145F internal temperature for pork because it will cook a bit further on the stove-top and as it rests, it will get to the recommended 145F in the end.)
- Remove the skillet from the oven and place it over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Quickly brown the chops on the stove-top, then remove to a plate to rest.
- In the hot skillet, melt the 1 Tablespoon of butter, then add the onions and peppercorns. Cook, stirring, until onions are golden, about 1 minute. Add the wine and cook, stirring until mostly evaporated, about 1 minute. Add the broth, Dijon mustard and thyme sprigs. Reduce the heat to medium heat and allow the sauce to simmer/reduce for a few minutes. Add the cream and stir in. Taste the sauce and add salt, as needed.
- To thicken the gravy, make a cornstarch slurry by stirring together the cornstarch and water in a small bowl until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture to the simmering gravy a bit at a time, stirring between additions, until the desired thickness is achieved.
- Spoon the hot peppercorn sauce over pork chops to serve. Finish with a generous grind of freshly ground black pepper.
Notes
More pork chop recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Can this dish be made 1 day ahead?
Can this dish be made 1 day before and warmed up?
Hi Lucy, I think you could. Undercook the pork slightly and don’t slice it. Make the sauce. Store the sauce and pork separately. Re-warm the sauce in a suacepan. Rewarm the pork wrapped in foil in a 350F oven until warmed through. Slice pork and spoon sauce over-top. All that said, I’m thinking that the time it will take to re-warm it may be equal to just making it fresh :)
I’m making these tonight. Can I just brown them in a skillet then add them to an oven safe dish and add the sauce to it instead of in and out of the pan twice? I’m afraid to overcook
Hi Rose, you will develop the best flavour by making the sauce last, but that said, if you want to try it, omit the thickener (cornstarch and water) and do that last on the stove-top (it only take a minute to do that part).
Can you make the sauce without the heavy cream?
Hi Stefani and yes, you absolutely can (and I sometimes do :)
Can you make the sauce w/o cream?
Omg these were divine! I ended up making six chops and was planning on doubling the gravy but decided against it at the last minute. I thought I made a huge mistake but it turned out just fine! I will be making these again and again! 👍😋
So glad to hear, Marianne :) Thanks!
I’m going to need to make 4 chops. Will it be necessary to double the gravy? I’m planning this for next week. I’ve never made pork chops before and it looks amazing. Can’t wait!
Hi Marianne, I would double the gravy. I think it’s always better to have too much gravy, than not enough :)
Ok thanks!
Thank you Jennifer for posting such a fabulous recipe! My husband and I absolutely loved this dish. He told me five times how much he really loved the sauce. :) Keep the great recipes coming!
So glad to hear, Donna :) Thanks so much!
Made this tonight for didn’t have time to brine the chops. These chops were a 10. They were exceptionally wonderful. I was even able to make adjustments for my weight watchers points program. This will become a staple in our house. Thank you sooo much for this recipe.
So happy to hear, Mary! Thanks so much :)
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Did not need to thicken sauce.
Maybe add a note about when to add the Dijon mustard
Thanks for sharing
So glad you enjoyed it, Claire and thanks for the heads up re the Dijon. I have fixed that in the recipe card :) Thanks!
I had company in for dinner tonight and served this dish, with baby potatoes, glazed carrots, asparagus and green beans. I used chicken broth only and added chopped mushrooms, it was a big success. Everyone loved it. The sauce was so very tasty. I marinated it for about 7 hrs. It’s certainly a keeper.
So glad you enjoyed it, Valerie! Thanks so much :)
My hubby and I both loved this recipe! I used thick center cut boneless chops, brined as recommended! I doubled the recipe, except the cooking wine (I used cooking sherry). I used a dash of ground thyme and regular mustard, because that’s what I had on hand. I wouldn’t sprinkle extra salt next time, the brine adds plenty. I served with mashed red skin potatoes and green beans. We will definitely add this to the regular rotation! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it, Amanda :) Thanks so much!
This was a hit for my family. So delicious, I could drink the sauce! Will definitely make again and again.
So glad to hear, Heather! I could drink it, too :) Thanks!
Can this dish be made 1 day before and warmed up?
Absolute perfection, made your recipe tonight for dinner. My husband gave it a keeper status, which is saying alot. The brine is the key. Left out the thyme, but that was all (didn’t have) thank you for sharing.
So glad you both enjoyed it :) Thanks so much!
Made this last night for a dinner party of six . Excellent, I have shared the recipe to two of the dinner guests so far today. I cut up a pork loin and set it in the brine for about seven hours, they were thick. End result was perfectly tender and very tasty. Thank You for sharing.
Glad to hear, Rick! Thanks :)
Made this tonight and used tenderloin instead of chops. Fantastic flavor profile and not too challenging for an intermediate (at best) chef. Thanks for sharing!
Sounds great, Megan. So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks :)