How to Cook Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops in the Oven

By: Brynne Chandler

Pork chops and bacon go together like peanut butter and jelly and are lot more satisfying for your grown-up palate. Fortunately, the combo is just as appealing to most kids and nearly all men. While pork chops can be pan fried, they also do well in the oven, which means that you don’t have to stand over a hot skillet with little ones at your feet. Served with a crisp, green salad and roasted red potatoes, bacon-wrapped pork chops make for a meal that’s quick enough for busy weekdays and elegant enough for Sunday dinner.

Preparation

Rinse your pork chops well and pat them dry with paper towels.

Wrap each pork chop with bacon that has been cooked through but is still limp and bendable. Secure the bacon by sticking a toothpick or two through the overlapped bacon ends into the pork chop. Leave enough of the toothpick sticking out so that you can easily remove it before serving this to the kids.

Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Coarse sea salt and cracked pepper give a little extra flavor, but you can use what’s in your shakers, if that’s all you have on hand.

Roasting

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Coat a baking dish lightly with nonstick cooking spray. If you prefer to not use a spray, pour a spoonful of olive oil into the baking dish and spread it around with a paper towel.

Lay your pork chops in the baking dish in a single layer. Don’t crowd them too much if you can help it.

Roast the pork chops for 10 to 15 minutes or until the tops start to brown.

Turn the pork chops and roast them for another 10 to 15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest chop reads at least 140 F.

Broiling

Turn the broiler on. Let it come to its full heat, if you’re using an electric oven.

Coat both pieces of a broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray or canola oil rubbed on with a paper towel.

Lay the pork chops on the drip rack of the broiler pan.

Broil the pork chops for 7 to 10 minutes or until they start to brown. Broiling works best for thinner chops, because you want the inside to be fully cooked before the outside starts to scorch. For thick chops, move the oven rack down one step from the highest position.

Turn the chops with tongs and broil them for another 7 to 10 minutes. Check for doneness by sticking an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the biggest chop. It has to read at least 145 F to be safe.