Pork Chops on sale? Pears on sale? Let’s make this fusion pork chop in the Instant Pot and make the pear dill sauce in a high powered blender like the Vitamix. Fusion because it has Southeast Asian flavours mixed with herbs (dill) and ketchup. This Instant Pot Pork Chop uses a sirloin pork chop cut, which means you do not have to pound it with a tenderizer. If your pork chop is of a thicker cut, definitely use some arm muscles and pound that pork, baby! 4 pieces of sirloin pork chops for $4.68. Now, that’s a steal. The nice thing about using the Instant Pot is that it turns cheap cuts of meat into a wonderful meal.
Instant Pot Pork Chops Boneless with Pear Dill Sauce for a weeknight meal
Since this was actually created on a weeknight, it had to be fast. I left the pear peels on. I didn’t want chunky pears. I had figure the best way to make the pear sauce was to puree it into a barbecue sauce that does not have vinegar in it. Since pears have natural acid, I did not think that it required any vinegar for the sauce. No pears? Use apples! There was also no fancy camera used — just the cell phone. I am an internal auditor by day; food blogger in my spare time. Two hungry children. Can this meal be done around half an hour or under 40 minutes?
How long does the Instant Pork Chops Recipe take?
The sauce took two minutes from prep to finish. I marinated the pork chops for two to 5 minutes while cleaning up the kitchen. The pork chops probably could have benefited from a longer marinating time; so with advanced planning, you can marinate the pork chops the night before. Make sure you reserve the pear sauce to put on afterwards. Do not add the rest of the sauce to pressure cook in the Instant Pot without thinning it down with a liquid. (I have tried that with pasta sauce from scratch by adding tomato paste and let’s just say that it was a mess to clean up when it started ‘exploding’.) The 6 quart Instant Pot fits two sirloin pork chops when sauteing. It takes about 3 minutes to brown each side. So, that is 12 minutes of browning time. The amount of time to cook pork chop is 8 minutes with a 10 minute wait before instant pressure release. So, it takes about 40 minutes in total, which isn’t bad. It is enough time for you to prepare salads, rice or any other canned vegetables as sides. I always call it a success when you don’t resort to ordering out when pressed for time on a weeknight. For another weeknight recipe, check out: Instant Pot Braised Chicken.
What herbs do I add to pork chops?
Dill is a great flavour enhancer to pork chops. If you don’t have fresh or dried dill, use parsley, rosemary, savory, thyme or fennel. Possibilities are endless!
If you are looking for a pureed food for babies with dill, this is a great recipe: ground beef puree with apple sauce.
- 2 pears cored and chopped
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp chilli prawn Tean's
- 2 tsp tamarind paste
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp dill weed
- 3/4 cup Water
- Slice the pear into four pieces and remove the core/seeds. (Save the core bits for the compost) Add to the Vitamix or a high powered blender.
- After adding the pears, add brown sugar, chili prawn flakes (or chili flakes), tamarind paste, granulated garlic (or you can use garlic powder), ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, dill weed to blend. Start at speed 1 for about 30 seconds before increasing the speed to 4 or 6 to puree the sauce.
- Pour half of the pear barbecue sauce onto the pork chop to marinate for up to 5 minutes. (Or if you are preparing in advance, marinade in the fridge overnight)
- Hit Saute function on the Instant Pot. Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil as soon as it shows HOT on the display.
- Place up to two pork chops in the Instant Pot. Cook for 3 minutes per side or until each side is browned. Set aside when all pork chops are browned. Turn Saute function off.
- Add the 3/4 cup of water to the pot. Return the pork chops to the Instant Pot. Set manual pressure to 8 minutes and place the lid on to seal, with the venting lid closed off. You can use this time to prepare side dishes of your choice.
- Once the Instant Pot beeps when the time is up, let it sit for 10 minutes before releasing the pressure.
- Plate the Instant Pot pork chops and serve the reserved pear sauce on top.
- Enjoy!
I have SO much dried dill, lol. My mom’s garden is full of it in the summer and she dries it to give to us in our Christmas stockings.
I never though to add it to a pear sauce…or cook pork chops in the Instant Pot. Such a handy kitchen appliance!
looks delicious ?
Usually, I think of apple sauce with pork, but why not pear sauce? What a great idea. Thanks for the inspiration!
The pear sauce sound devine!! Must look out for an Instant Pot…have been meaning to get one for awhile now!! Any brand recommendations? Thanks
If you are feeding 4 people or less, the 6 quart 9-in-1 (with Sous Vide) model is amazing. If you are feeding more, definitely get the 8 quart. If you aren’t in a rush, wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Hah, I love recipes that happen when you see sales at the grocery store. It’s a fun way to get out of a rut and challenge yourself in the kitchen a bit, and you’ve done a lovely job with this! I’m a big fan of pairing fruit with pork, and pear is a fantastic idea. And hooray for easy Instant Pot goodness! Cheers, and thanks for sharing!
One of my favorite meals is a center cut bone in pork chop with fried apples. This pear chutney looks good too. Will have to try it.
Ooh, yum. Fried apples would go very well with bone in pork chop.
Very unique combination- I love both pears and dill so totally see how this could work! I love that it’s fast for s weeknight and I can substitute apple if I’m pearless ?