Lemon Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Name: Lemon Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Chops
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 serving
Ingredients: 3 garlic cloves; 1 tbsp dried oregano; Zest of 1 lemon; 1/3 cup (85 ml) lemon juice; 1/4 cup (65 ml) olive oil; 3/4 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp black pepper; 4 pork chops bone in; oil

User Reviews

5.0

102 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
15 mins
Servings
4
Calories
449 kcal
Course
Main Course

Lemon Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Kai Walton

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Recipe VIDEO above. Nothing infuses pork chops with flavour like a good marinade! This one is ideal for grilling so the high heat sears the crust beautifully. But the pork chops can of course be cooked on the stove, or even bake them! Also use this marinade for the proteins - see notes.

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Ingredients

Servings

Marinade:

3 garlic cloves , minced
1 tbsp dried oregano (or other herbs, Note 1)
Zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup (85 ml) lemon juice (1 large or 2 medium lemons)
1/4 cup (65 ml) olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Pork:

4 pork chops bone in , 2cm / 4/5" thick about 280g/9 oz each (Note 2)
oil , for cooking

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Instructions

Whisk Marinade ingredients in a bowl (or ziplock bag). Add pork. Marinade for 1 hr minimum, 3 hours ideal, 12 hours max (Note 3).
Take the pork out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking.
Shake excess marinade off (but don't wipe dry) and cook using preferred method. Pictured in post served with Minted Yoghurt - see notes!

BBQ:

Brush grills / plate with oil and heat on high until smoking.
Place pork on grills and cook the first side for 4 minutes until it is nicely charred. Turn and cook the other side for 3 minutes. Turn the porks on their side to briefly sear the fat side (see video). Transfer to plate, rest for 3 - 5 minutes then serve.

Stove:

Heat skillet with about 1 tbsp oil over high heat. Add pork and cook for 1 minute, then turn DOWN slightly to medium high. Cook for another 3 minutes, then turn and cook the other side for 3 minutes. Turn the porks on their side to briefly sear the fat side (see video).
Transfer to plate, rest for 3 - 5 minutes then serve.

Oven:

Preheat oven to 200C / 390F (fan forced / convection) or 220C / 430F (standard oven).
Place oven shelf in top 1/3 of oven.
Place pork on tray. Bake for 15 minutes, then flick to grill/broiler and grill on high for 5 minutes until the surface is nicely browned.
Transfer to plate, rest for 3 - 5 minutes then serve.

Notes

Herbs: I love the combination of oregano and lemon and loads of garlic, very Greek. Feel free to swap this with other herbs - I'd reduce to 2 tsp for thyme, 1 tsp for rosemary, tarragon, sage, but keep the same amount for mild dried herbs like parsley, basil, chives.
Chops - For thinner chops, cook on high heat for less time and wait until the pan is smoking hot. You want to get a nice crust on the chops!
CHICKEN - this is such a great marinade for chicken too! Use either boneless thigh or cut breast in half horizontally to create 2 thin steaks, then marinade for just 30 minutes, no longer than 1 hour otherwise the lemon will start cooking the chicken. Maximum 2 - 3 hours!!
The marinading time for this recipe is less than the usual because it has lemon juice in it which can "cook" proteins and cause them to go beyond tenderised to either a weird too-soft texture / toughen up. 3 hours is ideal. 24 hours is the absolute max.
See Note 2 above for chicken marinade times. I don't recommend using this marinade for fish (it will cook it, turning it into ceviche!). Prawns / shrimp would be 5 - 10 minutes max. Lamb - probably same as pork. Beef can probably handle a bit longer but I'd still do the same time as pork.
Minted Yoghurt - optional (because the chops are juicy juicy as they are!!). Yoghurt + finely chopped mint + minced garlic + squeeze of lemon juice + salt and pepper + drizzle of olive oil. Mix, set aside for 20 minutes!
Nutrition: Hard to do because all oil and salt in the marinade doesn't get absorbed. So I've done the nutrition using 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, using boneless chops (ie the bone is excluded from the Servings weight shown below), assuming this is cooked on the BBQ.