The first real chill shows up in the Carolinas right about now, and this is the pan you want on the stove when it does. Bone-in chops go in dry and come out with a deep brown crust, then finish in bubbling apple cider with soft onions and apple wedges that turn jammy at the edges.
Zilch. Nada. None. is our organic salt-free all-purpose blend, and it does all the seasoning work here. That matters more than usual in this recipe: the cider boils down hard at the end, and anything salty in the skillet concentrates right along with it. Season the sauce at the table instead and it lands exactly where you want it.
Everything else is what is coming in from the field this week. Henderson County apples are at their peak and the cider presses are running, yellow onions are in, and the thyme is still going. Honeycrisp holds its shape; Granny Smith goes softer and tarter. One of each is never a mistake.
Four chops, one skillet, and fifty minutes from cold pan to platter. It is a weeknight dinner that eats like a Sunday one.
Cider-Braised Pork Chops with Apples
Bone-in pork chops seared hard and braised in apple cider with onions and apples, seasoned with salt-free organic Zilch. Nada. None. One skillet.
Ingredients
For the chops
- 4 bone-in pork loin chops, about 1 inch thick (2½ to 3 lb total)
- 1 Tbsp Zilch. Nada. None. organic salt-free all-purpose seasoning
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
For the skillet
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced thin
- 2 firm apples (Honeycrisp, Granny Smith or a NC Pink Lady), cored and cut into ½-inch wedges
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
For the pan sauce
- 1½ cups apple cider (unfiltered sweet cider, not vinegar)
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- Kosher or flaky sea salt, to taste
- Crushed red pepper, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Pat the chops completely dry with paper towels — a wet chop steams instead of searing. Season both sides evenly with the full tablespoon of Zilch. Nada. None., pressing it into the meat, and leave them on the counter for 15 minutes. That rest is not idle time: it takes the chill off so the centers cook through before the crust goes too far.
- Heat the olive oil in a large cast iron or other heavy skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the chops in without crowding them — two batches if your pan is small — and do not touch them for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and give the second side the same. You want a deep brown crust, not a pale tan one. Move them to a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium and drop in the butter. Add the sliced onion and cook 5 minutes, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan as the onion gives up its moisture.
- Add the apple wedges and the thyme and cook 3 minutes more, just until the apples take a little color at the edges. Any longer and they go to sauce before the chops go back in.
- Pour in the cider, the broth, the cider vinegar and the Dijon. Stir, scrape the pan bottom clean, and bring it to a gentle simmer. Let it bubble 4 to 5 minutes to reduce a little.
- Nestle the chops back in along with every drop of juice from the plate, and spoon some of the liquid over the top. Cover and simmer over medium-low for 8 to 10 minutes, until the thickest part of a chop reads 145°F on an instant-read thermometer.
- Lift the chops onto a serving platter and tent loosely with foil. Raise the heat under the skillet to medium-high and boil the liquid hard for 3 to 4 minutes, until it turns syrupy and coats the back of a spoon. Fish out the thyme stems.
- Taste the sauce and add salt only if it wants it. Spoon the apples, onions and sauce over the chops, rest 5 minutes, and carry the whole platter to the table.
Pull them at 145°F and not a degree more
Pork loin has very little fat to protect it, so the window between juicy and dry is narrow. An instant-read thermometer in the thickest part, away from the bone, is the whole trick. At 145°F the center is faintly pink and tender; by 155°F it is chalky. The five-minute rest carries it the rest of the way.
Bone-in, and an inch thick
A thin boneless chop cooks through before the crust ever forms, which is why so many pork chops come out gray and tough. Ask the butcher for bone-in loin chops cut a full inch. The bone slows the cooking right where the meat is thickest, and it gives the braise something to flavor the sauce with.
Sweet cider, not vinegar, and not juice
You want unfiltered apple cider — the cloudy kind sold cold this time of year. Clear apple juice is sweeter and thinner and makes a flat sauce. Apple cider vinegar is a different thing entirely; one tablespoon of it goes in on purpose, to keep the finished sauce from being one-note sweet.
You hold the salt shaker
Zilch. Nada. None. is our salt-free organic all-purpose blend, so the seasoning does its work without bringing any salt of its own into the pan. That matters here more than in most recipes: as the cider boils down at the end, anything salty in the skillet concentrates right along with it. Season the sauce at the table instead, where a pinch of flaky salt lands exactly where you want it. A dash of crushed red pepper lets everyone set their own heat.
What is good right now
This is a first-week-of-October skillet. Henderson County apples are at their peak and the cider presses are running, yellow onions are in, and thyme is still going in the garden. Honeycrisp holds its shape and stays sweet; Granny Smith goes softer and tarter. Use one of each if you cannot decide. Later in the season, swap in a handful of halved Brussels sprouts with the onion.
One skillet, and what goes beside it
This is a whole dinner in one pan, but it is very happy next to The OG Mashed Potatoes with the sauce spooned over, or a pile of roasted Brussels sprouts. If you are cooking for a crowd, the Harvest Sheet Pan Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Apples uses the same fall apples on a sheet pan and feeds more people at once.
Make it again in July
The same seasoning on a grill instead of in a skillet is our Salt-Free Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Peach Salsa — different cut, different season, same pouch in the cabinet.