Herb and Dijon crusted pork chops

An easy, scrumptious air-fried or oven-baked meal!

Do you have a favourite protein to cook on a grill? For decades, mine has been pork chops. But a recent bout of terrible weather kept us from grilling for a few days so I decided to switch things up and cook thick pork chops in the air fryer. Let me tell you – it’s a game changer! So easy and the meat came out perfectly cooked and extremely juicy. The secret is a quick-read digital thermometer – if you don’t have one, treat yourself. You won’t regret it.

Ingredients

• 2 boneless pork rib chops
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) Dijonnaise (I used Maille)*
• 3/4 cup (40 g) panko (or gluten-free dry breadcrumbs)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbs (I used Spyce Girlz Herbalicious blend but you could also use a combo of thyme, basil, oregano)
• 2-3 teaspoons (10-15 mL) olive oil, for spraying or sprinkling

*you can substitute a mixture of 4 teaspoons mayonnaise and 2 teaspoons Dijon

Method

• Put Dijonnaise in a small bowl (to avoid contaminating the contents of the jar) and set aside. Put panko in a broad shallow bowl; sprinkle herbs over top and stir to blend well. Set aside.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on a clean plate just large enough to hold the chops once they have been coated. Set aside.
• With a silicone brush or the back of a spoon, coat one pork chop evenly with half of the Dijonnaise.
• Carefully press one side of the chop into the panko mixture; flip and press other side as well as the the edges of the chop into the panko so that the pork chop is completely coated all the way around.
• Place the coated chop on the parchment line plate and repeat the process with the second chop. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
• When ready to cook, spray a small amount of olive oil on both sides of the chops, flipping them carefully with your fingers. Spray oil around the edges as well if you are able. If you don’t have an oil sprayer, you can sprinkle the oil on with a small spoon.
• Carefully transfer to the air fryer and cook at 390F for approximately 17 – 20 minutes or until internal temperature reads 145F. The chops can also be oven-baked on a parchment-lined tray at 400F for about 20 – 25 minutes, flipping once after 10 minutes of cooking. Using a digital thermometer to accurately measure the temperature is essential to ensure that you do not overcook the meat. Thinner chops will obviously cook in a shorter amount of time so it’s good to start checking the temperature after about 10 minutes.
• Serve hot with your favourite sides.

Serves two; recipe can easily be multiplied.