A peppery gravy with aromatic herbs adds the finishing touch to succulent Apple Stuffed Pork Chops. Juicy, tender, and family favorite for weeknight dinners!
Don’t forget the side dishes for today’s easy meal. A few of my favorites are homemade dinner rolls, orzo salad, and easy Instant Pot Sweet potatoes.
Stuffed Pork Chops
This is one fantastic meal!
I’ve always loved a good stuffed pork chop. Years ago, my mom cooked stuffed pork chops every year for our Christmas dinner. And we inhaled them.
Guess what? My own kids feel similarly about stuffed pork chops. We all inhaled this apple version too. The peppery, herbed gravy just completely finishes this dinner.
The balance of sweet and savory in this dinner is perfect. With a little kick from the pepper in the herbed gravy, I can’t imagine anything more satisfying than these oven baked pork chops!
- Despite the number of steps in the recipe, you actually only use ONE PAN! By using an oven safe skillet (such as cast iron) you can brown and bake the pork in the same skillet, then remove the pork and make the gravy in there too!
- Like the name suggests, these oven baked pork chops are stuffed with a flavorful blend of apples, onions and herbs before being pan seared then finished in the oven.
- The finishing touch to stuffed pork chops is a heavenly gravy made from the juices left over from browning the meat. Some heavy cream, black pepper and poultry seasoning turn it into a gravy so good, you might be tempted to drink it with a straw.
We made some Roasted Broccoli to round out the meal but these chops go well with just about any side dish! Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes would be a delicious pairing for stuffed pork chops too.
How long to cook stuffed pork chops
These oven baked stuffed pork chops cook in two steps:
- Brown on the stove for 3 minutes per side
- Baked in the oven for 30 minutes covered
- Bake another 30 minutes uncovered
The exact cooking time depends on several factors, including the size of your stuffed pork chops and how accurate your oven reads. Your pork chops are finished cooking when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
If you’ve never had stuffed pork chops before, you’re in for a treat! I like pork chops but I am HEAD OVER HEELS for this stuffed version, especially with a hearty amount of gravy ladled over top.
Ingredient Notes
This recipe comes in three parts: the apple stuffing, the pork and the gravy.
For the Stuffing
- Apples – Peel, core, and chop apples into bite sized pieces.
- Yellow onion – Diced
- Celery – Chopped into bite sized pieces
- Bread cubes – use a stale bread for best results.
- Melted butter
- Poultry seasoning
- Salt and pepper
For the Gravy
- All purpose flour
- Heavy cream
- Water
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Poultry seasoning
- Leftover pork juices (from the cooking pan)
How to make stuffed pork chops
STEP 1. Cut a large pocket in each pork chop by making a horizontal cut through the meat. Press a large spoonful of stuffing into each pocket, really PRESS it in there until all stuffing and pork chops are done.
STEP 2. In a large oven safe skillet, heat oil. Brown the pork chops on both sides for 3 minutes per side. Cover skillet with foil and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until internal temperature of the meat is 160 degrees.
STEP 3. Remove the pork chops from the oven and transfer to a large serving platter. Tent the baked pork chops with foil while you prepare the herbed gravy.
Aimee’s Pro Tip
Use the same pan you used for the pork chops to make the gravy.
STEP 4. Heat the skillet over medium with the juices remaining. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper and stir for one minutes.
STEP 5. Slowly pour in water and poultry seasoning, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.
STEP 6. Add cream slowly and heat until thickened. You may want to season with more salt and pepper to taste. When thickened, remove from heat.
Serve the gravy with pork chops. You can either serve the pork chops plated with gravy poured on top, or keep the gravy in a serving dish so everyone can add as much as they like to their meat.
Keep Pork Chops from Drying Out
- Sear the Meat- don’t skip this step before putting the chops in the oven!
- Let it Rest- Allowing pork chops to rest for about 5-10 minutes helps to redistrubute the juices, keeping the moisture in!
Serving Suggestions
Serve up this delicious stuffed pork chop recipe with a side of creamy baked mashed potatoes. The gravy is perfect for the potatoes.
Or go lighter and whip up a copycat Olive Garden Salad.
Of course in my family pistachio salad and jello cake are perfect sides and desserts.
Family Friendly Dinner Recipes
See all Main Dish recipes
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Apple Stuffed Pork Chops
Ingredients
For the Pork Chops:
- 6 large boneless pork chops 1 1/2-2 inch thick
- ½ small yellow onion diced
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 2 apples chopped, no need to peel
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 3 cups soft bread cubes
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
For the Gravy:
- 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine bread cubes with melted butter, apples, onion, celery, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Cut a large pocket in each pork chop by making a horizontal cut through the meat. Press a large spoonful of stuffing into each pocket, really PRESS it in there until all stuffing and pork chops are done.
- In a large oven safe skillet, heat oil. Brown the pork chops on both sides for 3 minutes per side. Cover skillet with foil and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until internal temperature of the meat is 160 degrees.
- Remove pork chops from skillet and place on large serving platter. Tent with foil.
- With remaining juices in skillet, heat over medium heat. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper and stir for one minutes. Slowly pour in water and poultry seasoning, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add cream slowly and heat until thickened. You may want to season with more salt and pepper to taste. When thickened, remove from heat. Serve with pork chops. ENJOY!
Notes
- The exact cooking time depends on several factors, including the size of your stuffed pork chops and how accurate your oven reads. Your pork chops are finished cooking when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
- Let it Rest- Allowing pork chops to rest for about 5-10 minutes helps to redistrubute the juices, keeping the moisture in!
- Sear the Meat- don’t skip this step before putting the chops in the oven!
- Store Leftovers- Place leftovers in airtight container and put in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in oven at 350 degrees until warmed through.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks.
Nutrition
Whether you serve them for a special occasion or an everyday family meal Apple Stuffed Pork Chops with savory herbed gravy will be the star of your dinner table!
Can I sear chops and wait till later to finish in oven?
I made these last night. Overall, they were fantastic, lots of flavor! My pork chops were dry though (the reason I don’t usually make them), so next time I will cook them a little less than an hour. They were def 1-1/2″ thick too. But yes, there will be a next time because they were just so good. The gravy is fantastic as well!
Glad you enjoyed them, I’m actually making this again and going to play around with cooking times…:)
Tried it today, and glad I did! I was so skeptical of the raw onions and celery in the stuffing, but they turned out great 🙂 I accidentally bought the wrong chops, bone in, so I couldn’t even brown them. I cooked 5 chops in a large oven casserole dish for 45 mins, they turned out brown and delish! Thanks for the recipe!
Yeah! So glad you liked it! thanks for letting me know 🙂
Do you cook the celery and onions before putting them in the stuffing?
Hi Evelyn, I do not cook them before hand. They soften during the baking process (and just a slight crunch is left). However, if you prefer VERY soft, no crunch, feel free to saute them for a few minutes in a skillet with some butter or olive oil)!
Apple stuffing has always been my choice in the most of the recipes…I just find another tasty looking recipe here…I will try it very soon..thanks
What a fabulous recipe. I love fruit with pork.
I sent this recipe to my mom Aimee! She and my dad love pork chops! At thanksgiving time, my mom makes this unbelievable pork stuffing with apples and spices. this dish reminds me of it!
This looks delicious. I cannot wait to try this recipe out! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Love the look of this dish!! Looks pretty easy (especially if you use the Crunchpak apples!) – YUM!
I have to admit something…I have never had a stuffed pork chop. Now I really really want to try one, with lots of stuffing and extra gravy:-) It sounds really, really, really good!!!
You are my hero! I’m a baker not a dinner maker. This will be such a treat for the family and such a change up from the boring grilled or baked pork chops I usually serve. I’ll have to double the gravy, my hubby likes his food soaked in gravy! Pinned.
My hubby’s fave thing to have for dinner is pork chops–I’ve made ’em with apples before, but never stuffed! Totally pinning this to make for him later. This looks great!
It’s so good. DON’T skip the gravy 🙂
I’ll have to save that one!
http://www.shilohstaste.com
I used to make a similar dish with pie filling and stuffing, but this version looks MUCH more refined than my throw-everything-in-a-pan dish. Love the fact these are stuffed!
Hey don’t knock the one pan dinners…I’ve had that too and it’s quite delish!
I will be making these bad boys soon!!! They sound soooo good!
Oh my God. Incredible.
Sues
Mmmmm this looks really good Aimee!
Yum! I love apples and pork together! What a great combination and a wonderful recipe!!
Apple+ pork.. that’s really yummy!