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.
Which Pork Chop Do You Have?
Not all pork chops cook the same way. Start with the cut you’re using, then choose the method that works best for you:
- Using Boneless Chops? If you’d rather use your oven, my Best Damn Oven-Baked Boneless Pork Chops are a reader favorite for staying juicy and tender.
- Have Bone-In Chops? For that traditional “Sunday Dinner” flavor, follow my simple Guide for Bone-In Chops in the Oven.
- Want a Savory Twist? Try these Parmesan Garlic Air Fryer Pork Chops for a buttery, cheesy crust that uses basic pantry staples.
- No Air Fryer Available? If you want to use your stovetop, my Best Damn Pan Seared Pork Chops are perfect for a quick, 10-minute weeknight meal.
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!
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
Christina says
ok, these were amazing!! My picky husband, 10 year old daughter and 8 year old son all cleaned their plates!! I didn’t have ground mustard, so I brushed on a little champagne mustard (trader joes) with the oil, before the rub. The chops were only 1 and 1/4 inch so I cooked for 11 minutes. Served with pineapple mango salsa (Trader Joe’s). Some of us also enjoyed the champagne mustard on it. We had mashed sweet potatoes and buttered carrots with it. Thank you for a great recipe! fyi – I rarely post reviews, but just had to with this one!
RecipeTeacher says
OMG That all sounds SO good, Christina! I’m a huge fan of pineapple salsas too. I haven’t tried the Trader Joe’s pineapple mango but I will put it on my list for sure. Thank you for the feedback!
Jess says
Just made these pork chops. They were sooo good!! Will be making them again! Thanks for the recipe
Skye says
We used the Ninja Foodi and I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to use the air crisp or grill function — we grilled for 12 mins at 400 degrees on grill insert and they came out perfectly cooked and juicy. The seasoning was absolutely incredible — these truly were the best damn pork chops I’ve ever tried!
Judy says
Awesome recipe’.
Melissa says
Delicious, these pork chops were total awesomeness????Thank you!
Lisa says
Absolutely loved these! Thank you for posting.
I would like to share this recipe with someone who struggles with dry pork chops but she only has an oven, no air fryer. Do you know what I could have her do to imitate this recipe in a regular oven?
Thank you,
Lisa
RecipeTeacher says
Hi Lisa. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! For making them in the oven, follow same ingredients, bake on a sheet pan or baking dish at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes. Then, finish under the broiler for about 5 minutes o get that nice caramelization.
Lynn Knisley says
Made these tonight. My son 39 year old son they were the best pork chops he has ever had.
They were pretty damn good. Will be using this recipe again. Thank you.
Patty says
Thank you for posting this absolutely incredible recipe! I followed the receipe exactly as stated and there’s no doubt these were the “best damn pork chops” we’ve ever had!
RecipeTeacher says
Thank you Patty!!! 🙂
Linda says
New to air frying and wanted to try pork chops. I made these last night, only I left out the brown sugar as we are trying to stay away from as much sugar as we can. In my opinion it did not hurt the taste. They were probably the best damn pork chops I’ve had.
One thing, I did have to cook two extra thick chops at least 20 minutes, not sure how long as I was going by increments of 2-4 minutes. This could have been do to my fryer though.
Jennifer Mattison says
I am not a good cook and I have never been able to make tasty pork chops but we decided to try again ( so tired of chicken and beef). These were easy and delicious. Absolutely the best pork chops we’ve ever had. Thanks so much for the recipe, I’ll definitely be trying more of your air fryer recipes.
RecipeTeacher says
Awesome, Jenny!! Try the pork tenderloin. It’s SO good. And I’ve got a bunch more air fryer recipes on the way too. Thanks for the feedback!
Maggie says
I’m new at Air Fry cooking. Tried the Best Damn pork chops tonight. They were absolutely delicious, moist and juicy. Will be making this again.
RecipeTeacher says
Awesome! Thanks, Maggie!