This recipe for the Best Damn Air Fryer Pork Chops is so juicy, tender and delicious, it’s sure to quickly become a favorite air fryer recipe. With a few simple ingredients, and only 12 minutes cook time, these air fryer pork chops are perfect for a tasty dinner any day of the week.
Let me start my saying how much i’m loving my air fryer. I’ve owned a lot of kitchen gadgets over the years and my two favorites are my air fryer and my Instant Pot. And honestly, not far behind is my George Foreman Grill – but that’s a discussion for another day. The thing about an air fryer, is that, well, you’re not really frying in the traditional sense. It’s honestly more like a rapid cook oven/broiler. And there’s plenty of times I don’t want to heat up the house by turning on the regular oven. Besides, for this pork chop recipe I get the best results in the air fryer anyways!
What are the best pork chops for the air fryer?
I’ve found that the very best pork chops for the air fryer are thick, center cut, bone-in chops. I try to get them as thick as possible – somewhere between 1 ½ inches to 2 inches thick. The reason I like the thick chops the best is that with the cooking time required, it’s gives the pork chops a beautiful char on all sides. Thin pork chops will cook too quickly and never get that nice char on them. Thick pork chops require a cooking time of about 12 minutes. And with our rub from this recipe, we get that beautiful char on them that’s delicious!
Make a rub for air fryer pork chops
For this recipe for air fryer pork chops, we will not be breading the pork chops. Rather, we will be making a rub seasoning mix which we are going to very liberally apply to the meat. The rub is very simple too. We’ll use brown sugar, paprika, ground mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. We mix it together and rub it all in to pork chops that have been rinsed, dried, and coated with a little olive oil. Rinsing the pork chops and patting them dry with a paper towel is important so don’t skip that step.
Cooking
Preheating your air fryer is an important step! You’ll want to preheat at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then, when it’s ready, cook the pork chops in the air fryer for 12 minutes, flipping them over after 6 minutes. Check for doneness with an instant-read food thermometer. We’re aiming for an internal temp of 140°F. If your pork chops are very thick, they may require an additional few minutes.
When the pork chops are done, remove them from the air fryer and place them on a plate and let them rest for a couple of minutes. Then you’re ready to serve and enjoy! There will be a nice juice that will form from the seasonings and the natural juices of the pork. Slice the pork chops in thin slices, and get some of the seasoned juice on each bite. You’re gonna love it!
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Best Damn Air Fryer Coffee Crusted Pork Chops: These are unbelievable! We use boneless pork chops and a simple coffee-based seasoning rub for a flavor that’s rich, savory and so delicious!
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PrintRecipe
Best Damn Air Fryer Pork Chops
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 2
Description
Juicy, tender and delicious air fryer pork chops.
Ingredients
- 2 center-cut, bone-in pork chops, 1 ½ – 2 inches thick
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes.
- Rinse pork chops with cool water and pat dry completely with a paper towel.
- In a small bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.
- Coat the pork chops with olive oil and rub in the mix. Rub it in well and liberally. Use almost all of the rub mix for the 2 pork chops.
- Cook pork chops in air fryer on the air fry setting at 400°F for 12-14 minutes or until internal temperature of 140°F. Flip pork chops over after 6 minutes.
Notes
Air fryer temperatures can vary. Remove pork chops when internal temperature reaches 140°F. The carryover cooking will bring the temp up to 145°F.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 12 min
- Category: Pork chops
- Method: air fryer
- Cuisine: American
Christine
Mine turned out just like the picture. I used bone in 3/4 “ thick so they were done a little quicker but gorgeous to look at, juicy inside, and great color! Thanks for your recipe!
Ven
Best pork chops I’ve ever made. Family loved it.. thanks
Lynda
So easy and delicious.
Wendy
Such a delicious recipe!! The best pork chops ever!!
Ann
Very good. A little to salty for us. I will definitely make again and use less salt
Karen MacIsaac
This quickly became my go to pork chop recipe. Delicious!!
Dale
I made this today for my wife and I. It was superb. Served stewed tomatoes and green beans as a side.
Jeanne
I made this tonight for supper and it was sooo good! Didn’t use quite as much salt but kept all the rest of the ingredients the same. My picky husband loved the pork chops! Will be saving this recipe for sure!
Temple
We cooked these two nights ago. Absolutely Delicious!
The grocer did not have thick bine in chops so we used 2″ thick boneless tenderloins. I did have to raise the cooking time, they did not cook thoroughly at 12 minutes so ended up cooking them for 24 minutes turning them every 6 minutes. They still came out juicy.
What I would like to know, is what watts do you set? My air fryer has 3 watts settings, 900, 1300, and 1800.
RecipeTeacher
Hi Temple,
I’m so glad you liked the pork chops! So when it comes to air fryers, there’s SO many new ones with lots of variables that keep coming out. My Cosori air fryer is 1700 watts. Most are a high wattage such as this. I would say, unless a recipe specifically states to use a lower wattage (very few recipes make mention of this anyways), use the highest wattage setting.
keely
Just happened upon this recipe after googling recipes for pork chops and Im very glad I did. It is delicious, it was so good my husband ate 3 pork chops that night! Thank you for sharing this
Lois
What if my pork chops are not that thick? Can I just use a lower temp?
RecipeTeacher
Same temp, just less time. An instant read thermometer is great to check for internal temp of pork chops.