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Some of the feedback and requests I received from the readers are for more quick and easy recipes. The other day I made this pork chop after my children’s afternoon swim lesson, the most busy day of the week for me. Because of my mom’s visit, I haven’t had the chance to do my regular grocery runs so my fridge was pretty empty. I quickly ran to get some pork chops, spinach, and other ingredients from the market on the way home and I made this dish in less than one hour including marinade time.
As soon as I came home from the swim lesson, I quickly marinated the meat. Meanwhile I bathed the kids and prepared miso soup, stir fried garlic spinach, and another small side dish. My rice cooker has a timer so I set the rice to be done right before our dinner time. If you are curious about this pork chop flavor, it’s more on the side of salty flavor than sweet (like Teriyaki sauce). If you use this recipe, you definitely want to enjoy it with steamed rice. You can adjust the time for marinade as you like, but please do not marinade overnight or else it will get too salty.
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- 4 boneless pork loin chops (½ inch thick) (½" thickness)
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for cooking)
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (I used canola)
- ½ Tbsp sugar
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp ginger (julienned)
- ½ tsp potato starch/cornstarch
- 1 shallot (or 1 Tbsp minced onion)
- Put all the seasonings in a Ziploc bag and mix well.
- Prick the pork chop with fork so the meat will absorb the marinade and put them in the Ziploc bag. Squeeze out the air before sealing the bag. Keep in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour. (I decreased the marinade time from the original recipe as I'm afraid it might be too salty. If you want to marinade for 2 hrs, you can decrease soy sauce to 3 Tbsp.).
- You can grill on a BBQ grill, or you can pan fry. In a large skillet, heat oil on high heat. When it’s hot, put the pork chop in the pan, but keep the marinade in the Ziploc bag. Cook until the bottom side of the meat is nicely brown.
- Once the meat is brown, flip it and lower the heat to medium low. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 3 minutes (depends on the thickness of your pork chop). You don't want to under cook the pork but you also don't want to overcook because the meat gets harder.
- Add the marinade into the pan and increase the heat. When it’s simmering, scoop the marinade with a spoon and pour over the meat a couple of times. Turn off the heat and ready to serve. Again please do not overcook the pork.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
I used low sodium soy sauce to reduce saltiness. This recipe is delicious, everyone lived it. Very flavorful. I will make it again.
Hi Linda!
Low sodium soy sauce is a better choice. Glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂
I liked this recipe even though I didn’t complete the ingredients. I just used what was available in my kitched at the time.
Saved it in my ipad!
Hi Rachel! Thank you for your feedback! I’m really happy to hear you like this recipe! Thanks for writing. 🙂
Made this today–family loved it! I did modify the recipe a bit–I used thick cut bone in pork chops, marinaded them for about 4 hours then seared and grilled them on my barbeque. They came out perfectly! I did a quick reduction on the marinade and reduced it to about 1/8th of a cup and thickened it. I put about a teaspoon on each pork chop before I served it. Yummy! Thanks Nami!!!
Hi Pete! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and writing feedback here! I’m very happy to hear your family loved it. Thank you!! xo 🙂
I made these last night and they were restaurant quality deliciousness. This is an all time keeper. Wonderful amazing flavor. Thank you so much for sharing this savory juicy tasting recipe. Question. I made 2 pork chops and found one more dry tasting than the other, even though they were cooked at the same time. The one that wasn’t dry, tasted as succulent as any steak could be, while the other, not so much. They were the same thickness, although one, I think had more fat on it. Or I wonder if the one that was so tender, perhaps I undercooked it. So when you say to cook until the bottom side of the meat is nicely brown, before flipping to cook for 3 minutes, how many minutes approximately would that be? I am concerned about overcooking but I am also concerned about undercooking. Thanks.
Hi Kazy! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it. For Step 3 where you cook the bottom of the meat, you just need to have nice grill mark on the meat, and this is not where you try to cook through the meat (which is why it’s cooked on high heat here). So my guess is that one meat has more fat than the other (especially if it’s the same size/same thickness).
Sorry, Nami, but I am a novice at cooking,
Got one more question. You write: “In a large skillet, heat oil on high heat.” How much oil would you suggest? I hope that the oil listed in the ingredients isn’t what you meant, because I thought that was part of the marinade.
Kazy, thank you so much for noticing my error. I didn’t write the oil for cooking the meat – I updated my recipe and added 1 Tbsp oil for cooking the meat in the ingredient list. So sorry!
Thank you so much for all your incredible recipes! Recently, my hubby and I have been considering moving permanently to Japan, and we wanted our kids to start getting used to common foods and flavors there. Consequently, I’ve been using your site almost daily to get them familiar with the food. This recipe in particular has been a favorite. My daughter says that aside from chicken katsu, this is her favorite food (I mean not just Japanese foods, but favorite food). Thanks for helping my family not only get ready for our soon to be culture shock, but actually making them excited about what can seem very scary.
Hi Emerald! Wow moving to another country permanently is a huge decision! I’m happy to hear you think my blog has been helpful. You’ll see lots of unique dishes that are not here in Japan, but I try to cover basic home cooked Japanese foods first (then maybe in the future I’ll share more regional and rare recipes.). If you decide to move to Japan, enjoy your new life there! Keep me posted about your new journey. 🙂
This was a hit! The recipe was spot on timing wise!
Hi Jill! Glad to hear that. I hope you enjoyed the recipe!
Just finished having this for dinner. It was absolutely delicious! Steamed some rice, and veggies. My fiance gobbled it right up and left the table full! The marinade was also really well balanced. Not too sweet, not too salty. If I had room for more, I’d definitely go back for seconds!
Hi Brittany! I’m so happy to hear you and your fiance enjoyed this dish. Thank you for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback! 🙂
I just tried it. Like, JUST finished cooking and eating, and while I usually pick at my food after the first few bites, I devoured everything on my plate. My husband turned up his nose a bit when I told him I was cooking his beloved chops Asian style, but he loved it, too!! It was excellent and healthier than the pork chops I usually cook. My only issue was that there wasn’t NEAR enough sauce for the rice. However, the flavor was deep enough to stretch. I’ll just double the marinade portion of the recipe next time! Thank you! Will make again.
Hi Kimberly! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Yes, please double the sauce next time. 🙂 In Japan, we don’t usually put the sauce on the rice, so I did not include that portion. Thank you for your kind feedback! xoxo
Can you brown pork chops in wok?
Hi Mary! You “can” but if you want to sear the pork chop nicely, you prefer to have a flat skillet so the meat can have good contact with the heat. 🙂
Namiko-san,
Hello! If I may ask your advice, could mochiko flour or corn starch be used instead of potato starch? I don’t have any on hand at the moment and I’m eager to try this recipe. I’m so happy I came across your site; I really enjoy Japanese cooking. I’ve tried, and love, your mentsuyu recipe and seriously look forward to eating more authentic Japanese cooking. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. お疲れ様でした！
ah! i read over it again and juat noticed you already included corn starch as an option!
Hi Syd! No worries, usually potato or corn starch works just fine. Mochiko is a bit different tho.
I’m so happy to hear you liked the mentsuyu recipe and hope you continue to enjoy cooking Japanese food at home! ありがとう！