How Long To Bake Thin Pork Chops (And Why)?

Exact Answer: 7 Minutes Per Half Inch Of Thickness

Baked pork chops are one of the finest dishes to have with friends and family. They are tender, soft and succulent. It is a lip-smacking dish that can be made with a minimum of effort. One just needs to rub a few spices over the slices, pack them in the oven and it will be ready in fifteen minutes.

The baked pork chops prepared for three to four servings may contain 262 kcal of calories. As would be expected, these chops are rich in carbohydrates and protein with their proportions being 6 g and 29 g respectively. It also contains sodium, calcium, iron and vitamin A in significant quantities.

How Long To Bake Thin Pork Chops?

The preparation of baked thin pork chops can be divided into three stages of preparation. The first stage is getting the chops ready for baking, the second being the actual baking process and the third being the plating and garnishing process.

In this first stage, the thin pork chops are smeared with spices like onion powder, salt, paprika and thyme. Finely cut pork slices ay be bought from markets or cut at home. This stage may take five to ten minutes to make the chops ready for baking.

There are options to make boneless pork chops or bone-in pork chops. Although boneless pork chops would take up to seven minutes to cook per half-inch of thickness, bone-in pork chops require a minute more at eight minutes per half-inch of thickness. However, boneless chops are more preferred owing to their continued softness.

The third stage in the procedure to cook pork chops is plating and garnishing the dish. After the pork chops get cooked, the cook should let that cool for five minutes. The chef can garnish the dish with coriander leaves and other accompaniments

Thus, in total, it may take up to half an hour and more, depending on the number of pork chops baked.

Why To Bake Thin Pork Chops For That Long?

Baked thin pork chops are a tasty delight. The delight of eating them multiplies if they are cooked properly. Not only pork chops, but proper cooking is a prerequisite for every good dish. Not to mention, perfect cooking requires patience and time.

The time taken by these thin pork chops to cook depends on a variety of factors. A few important ones are the presence of bone in the chops, the thickness of pork chops and the degree of oven used to bake pork.

The presence of bone in the pork slices is a significant factor in determining the time required to bake those chops of meat. If the slices are boneless, it would take seven minutes per slice while the same would increase for a minute when the bone-in pork chops are concerned.

The thickness of the slices of pork is also an important influencing factor in this direction. The time required to bake the pork slices would nearly double if the thickness is doubled. Thus, the thickness of pork chops is directly proportional to the time required to bake them.

However, the time length is not a sure determiner of whether the pork is cooked or not. To check whether the pork chops are ready, the chef should measure the internal temperature of the meat using an instant read meat thermometer. The pork slices should reach a temperature of about 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Conclusion

Baking thin pork chops may take approximately an hour. It would take about five to ten minutes in pre-cooking preparation, fifteen in baking and a couple of minutes for plating and garnishing the pork chops.

The time required to bake pork chops mostly depends on the thickness of slices and whether the chops are boneless or bone-in. Bone-in and thick pork slices take more time than their boneless and thin counterparts. Whichever way is chosen, baked pork chops are a great dish to savour.

Conclusion

1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1744-7976.2006.00067.x
2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1243848