The Easiest Smoked Pork Chops Recipe for a Busy Weeknight (2024)

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The great thing about smoked meats—besides the wonderful flavor—is that they come fully cooked, requiring a simple warm-up on the stove, grill, or oven. For our recipe, you'll need fully cooked smoked pork chops, and just a few minutes in a frying pan, under the broiler, or on the grill. These chops are the perfect main course for a busy weeknight, but also a beautiful main for more formal dinners. The key to making perfect smoked pork chops is not to overcook them, as they require a minimum amount of cooking time; if overcooked they dry out, becoming rubbery and tough. Your only indication should be a safe internal temperature of 125 F if your store-bought chops are fully cooked. If your chops aren't fully cooked, check the label—the safe inner temperature should go up to 145 F.

With not much preparation or cooking involved, this is a great recipe for people who've never cooked smoked chops. We provide the instructions for either pan-frying, grilling, and oven roasting the chops. You need less than 15 minutes to present these juicy chops on the table. For easy sides, we recommend braised cabbage, stir fry of vegetables, steamed green beans, baked potatoes, apple chutney, or apple sauce. Although you don't want to mask the delicious smokey flavor of the pork chops, there are ways to add other ingredients without overwhelming the dish: by placing a few slices of grilled pineapple on top or baking them on top of potatoes and onions.

When you have a taste for ham but don't want to mess with a butt or shank portion or even a ham slice, these smoked pork chops are the perfect stand-in. Treat them like ham by serving with sweet potatoes, potato salad, and pineapple chutney.