Our Favorite Pork Loin/Chop Recipe

We love pork loins (Right now, we get them from Costco, but we have also bought them at other stores – we used to get them at Sam’s Club, but have also bought them at local grocery stores when they’re on sale…I often shop & meal plan based on sales!).

Last week at Costco, the pork loins were $5 off. They’re already a pretty good value at $2.29/lb., but when I bought these (avg 7 lb) loins for $5 off, that brings it down to about $1.57/lb! (Tips: when buying packages of meat that are $5 or whatever price off per package, buy the smallest package, b/c it gives you the best price! Doesn’t work the same when it’s a percentage off! If you’re Costco members, look for bright yellow ads above meat for these sales that pop up occasionally! I see the pork loins specifically on sale 2-3 times a year, randomly…and have seen similar sales on Italian sausage, brisket & other meats.)

We typically slice the pork loins about 3/4″-1″ thick. Consistency is the most important, whatever size you cut them, make them similar & then cook them accordingly! (I won’t get into details as there are many charts available, which i often look up anytime I’m cooking meat, but with pork, it cooksMUCH faster than you’d think! Depending on what the oven is set at, it can be done in 15-25 min for 3/4″ chops!)

We’ve most often cooked the pork chops in the oven, which only takes about 20 minutes, but today it was hot & I didn’t want to run the oven. So, I found a recipe for my instant pot.

My go-to recipe/marinade for pork chops is:

*olive oil (drizzle over)

*balsamic vinegar (enough to coat the meat, stir them around every so often so all pieces get marinated)

*sprinkling of salt/pepper

*onions & garlic – I very thinly slice 1 large onion for a pork loin this size & roughly chop/mince about 1 head of garlic

*A sprinkle of sugar (not necessary, but it does help offset the acidity & you can tell a difference)

We like to brine meat, at least for a couple hours…so I cut up the pork loin, brined it in a bowl with cold water & salt for about 2 hours (at least 30 min…depending on the meat, it can hold a brine for up to 24 hours. Pork doesn’t hold up as well to longer brine times, which can be nice also). We don’t always, but this time, we pierced the pork chops with a fork…it helps tenderize & allows the marinade to soak in better. Great job for kids to do!

Then I drained the water & added the oil, basalmic vinegar, onions, garlic, salt, pepper & sugar. We stirred the bowl every 15 min or so for 1-2 hours.

If cooking in the oven, do not use the marinating liquid, just lay them on a foil covered cookie sheet & cook in the oven. However, since I cooked them in the instant pot this time, you have to have AT LEAST 1 Cup (or 1.5 Cups in the 8 QT), so I dumped the whole bowl into the instant pot with the steamer insert in it. The recipe I found online said to cook it at high pressure for 10 minutes & let it naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. I followed the timing exactly & the meat was SO tender, you could cut it with a fork! And it wasn’t dry! We were very pleasantly surprised! I might even try it a couple minutes less next time for this size chops…

It’s SO easy & delicious & we’ll definitely be hanging on to this recipe! 😀