How to Check the Internal Temp of a Stuffed Pork Chop

By: A.J. Andrews

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You're cooking two foods in one when you cook a stuffed pork chop. The stuffing, not the pork, poses the food safety threat because juices released during cooking collect in the pocket of stuffing. The outside of the pork reaches a safe temperature after about 15 minutes of roasting, but it takes about another five minutes for the surface heat to radiate to the center where you measure the internal temperature of the stuffing.

Stuffing the Pork Chops

Prepare the stuffing just before you stuff the pork chops. If the stuffing contains meat, cook it all the way through first. The stuffing should be slightly moist for the heat to effectively kill any bacteria. Arrange the pork chops in a shallow dish and roast them in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes.

Checking the Internal Temperature

Take the dish out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Remove the thickest pork chop and place it on a plate so the heat from the dish won't interfere with the measurement. Insert an instant-read meat thermometer in the pork chop horizontally, positioning it so the probe doesn't touch a bone and the center of the probe is in the center of the stuffing. The stuffing should measure at least 165 F. If the stuffing measures less than 165 F, return the dish to the oven and roast an additional 5 minutes for every 5 degrees the temperature measured below 165 F.