OKAY…. now THIS was a stretch for me. And to be honest, I was actually quite nervous about making these pork chops. We don’t eat a lot of meat around our home- occasionally chicken and turkey, sometimes fish, but rarely do we eat any sort of pork or red meat. So, because of that, I really have little to no experience cooking these types of dishes.
But, this year I set out to challenge myself. To improve my cooking skills so that I felt comfortable making any sort of dish (in reality, I just wanted to simply stop setting off the fire alarm every time I cooked). And as much as I hate to come to this realization…. 2017 is quickly coming to an end.
These pork chops were my first step in the direction of TRULY challenging myself. And to be honest, this was one of the easiest meals I’ve made so far! It was almost like cooking in a crock pot- I just dumped everything in the dutch oven on the stove, let it cook for about an hour and dinner was ready!
This is a protein-packed, healthy, gluten free meal that tastes almost even better the next day. Though I may have over-cooked the pork just a tad (I tend to do that with all meat), Hubby still approved and ate left overs the following day. That’s a win in my book
Check out the recipe below and let me know what you think!
ONE POT BBQ CHERRY PORK CHOPS WITH QUINOA
INGREDIENTS:
- 2-3 pork chops (we used thin cut)
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup organic chicken broth
- 1 cup pure TART cherry juice
- 1/2 cup gluten free BBQ sauce (I thought this would be difficult to find, it’s surprisingly easy if you’re shopping in a store like Publix which easily labels gluten free products on the shelves).
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs basalmic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp BBQ rub (gluten free)
- Sea salt & pepper to taste
PREPARATION:
- Rinse quinoa. Clean and trim pork chops if needed
- Combine stock and quinoa in a stock pot or dutch oven
- Mix, then place your pork chops on top of quinoa
- Add cherry juice evenly around pot, then add your BBQ sauce, oil, vinegar, and spices.
- Cook on medium-low. If using thinly sliced pork chops, check at about 30 minutes. Thinly sliced will cook faster. Otherwise, flip your pork chops half way through and cook for a total of 70-90 minutes if using thick cut.
- Add BBQ sauce and other seasonings on top afterwards if preferred.
matteahiggins 