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
cynthia says
For sure The Best Damn Pork chops I have ever had in an Air Fryer! I am so Pleased. I put in all of the ingredients and did exactly the same cook time and they came out Perfect….
Fn says
Came out perfect! My guest loved them. Served with mash potatoes and gray and some steamed broccoli. Thank you for the recipe!
Rebecca Braswell says
This was so good I want to wrap it in bacon next time!!!
KeVeena says
i used boneless but still these pork chops were moist inside yet crisp outside best porkchops ever and had a good tasye and texture Thank you
Joan says
Best Dame pork chops ever!!!
Kara Johnson says
How about if you are using boneless?
RecipeTeacher says
Same everything. Just keep a very close eye on that internal temperature.
Pat says
Hi Jason,
I tried the thick pork chop air fryer recipe the other day and I have to say it was different from what i’m used to cooking. It tasted a lot better too. I usually buy the boxed pork chop seasoning mix and bake it. But your way with all the different ingredients you used made it taste a lot better and gave the pork chops a BBQ flavor. I will cook this again and thank you for sharing this recipe. Next, I’m going to try the chicken legs and hope they come out as good as the chops.
Linda says
Recipebis very good. I had ro cook it for an additional few minutes since the juice was running red. Ball in all good recipe. I used chops about 1 1/2 inches thick. My husband doesn’t like garlic and o ion so I just left it out. It was still really good.
Will use this recipe again.
Desiree says
I just tried this recipe and I’m typing as I eat. And I must say, this is a pretty damn cook chop. Little confession, I didn’t have no ground mustard but I’m sure going to try it again when I do. I’m a fan.
Jk says
Not balanced, brown sugar hides all the flavor.
🙁
PJ says
I’ll admit I was a little skeptical at first to try this but DAMN!!
This will be a go-to from now on. So easy and so good.
I was absolutely blown away at how juicy these things came out.
No need to adjust ANYTHING with this recipe.