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 ½"-thick lean boneless pork loin chops (½" thickness)
- 1 Tbsp neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for cooking)
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (I used canola)
- ½ Tbsp sugar
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp ginger (julienned)
- ½ tsp potato/corn starch
- 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.
You’ll be my source for Japanese recipes,I already made dorayaki and have a long list to do. what could I replace sake with?
I’ve never replaced it so I’m not sure how the taste will be, but I heard you can use Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry, but not white wine.
Thank you,Nami. Good night.
What great colours on that pork chop – the sauce/marinade just looks amazing. Sticky, rich, delicious! I don’t eat many pork chops – don’t know why… they’re perfectly nice. Maybe I should pick up some more. I got a question though! Do you really eat pork chops with chopsticks? I know my ex-girlfriend used to “cut” fish and the like with chopsticks, by kinda stabbing them in and opening them out, but I don’t see how it could work on a chop 🙂
LOL! Yes, we did use chopsticks! I was in hurry so I didn’t cut this piece, but I usually cut into pieces (see my Tonkatsu or Beef Teriyaki posts) so we can pick up and eat. Yes, we cut fish with chopsticks too! I think I’ll have trouble opening the fish with fork and knife…maybe that’s why most Western fish used in meals are fillet? 😉
what a delicious dish 🙂
I have many days like this when getting low on groceries and look inside my fridge and wonder what can I make. This is how happy accidents are created. Ja Mata, BAM
Nami, this is one more of your incredibly easy dishes that look absolutely gorgeous and impressive when served. I think, since I started to “play” with Japanese sauces and products, unconsciously I marinate pork in sake and ginger quite often (remember, I did it even in tanindon), so I am sure your marinade makes the best pork chops in the world.
If my mum had prepared spinach in such a delicious way, I would have never hated it as a child!
Just looking at the photos made me salivate, even on a full stomach….love how the pork glistens in the light 🙂 Yumyum…
Imagine coming home after swimming to this dish? Lucky family – especially love this as it’s quick and healthy, Nami. Tell me, if I used mirin in place of the sake, would that be on the same lines? Great addition with the spinach to such a tasty dish.
Hi Jill! Well, mirin and sake are completely different things. We use sake like you use white wine (sake is made of rice). Mirin uses sake and sugar, so it has sweet flavor to it. However, we can replace sugar and sake for mirin for example. Sometimes I make teriyaki sauce with soy sauce + sake + sugar, or soy sauce + mirin… something like that. You can always play with these 4 items in Japanese cooking. I don’t want to make it complicated, but mirin has different kinds. The real mirin (hon mirin) has more alcohol content while mirin flavor seasoning (I use this often) has less alcohol content. I don’t want to go into too details though. I would not skip sake, as it’s one of the important ingredient in Japanese cooking. Either buy cooking sake, or very cheep bottle of sake would be good. If you can’t find, then use Chinese rice wine/cooking wine. It’s probably easier to get this than a Japanese product in Chinese store.
Mystery uncovered. Thanks so much for explaining this, Nami. Have to much to learn about Japanese cuisine!
Nami, sometime I prepared the pork chops using the similar ingredients but i usually deep fry it. Next time I will try your way which sound less oily and has the sauce. Thanks for sharing this simple and delicious dish.
This with a hot bed of warm rice makes my day. Great sauce!
I’m all over this one Nami, thank you.
That looks good! I love quick marinates that give so much flavor!
Hey Nami! how are u?
I wish u and your family a belated happy new year, I hope u enjoyed the time with your mum. my sister flew back to europe yesterday, and we had a hell of a time last night rescuing their baggage in bombay.
I am not much of a pork fan, I do love the taste but I am not fond of fatty foods. Its difficult to find lean pork. except if I go hunting for some wild bores….
your pork chops r very tempting though!
Looks really nice and easy. And that rice cooker with timer sounds really convenient.
looks yummy! that flavouring was what my mum would use with her pork chops too, and I used to find it so annoying when I was a kid, I wished she’d just do it the usual western style, but now I’ve come to love it and realise what special flavours ginger and siy sauce give to the pork chop!
I am loving that ginger soy sauce, will use the marinade for my veggies.
Hi, thanks for sharing. I would like to know what is julienned ginger? Is the pork chop spicy? I intend to cook this for kids. Thks
Cut ginger into julienne (like matchbox sticks). My kids and I can’t eat spicy at all (very low tolerance) and it was okay as long as you don’t serve the ginger from the sauce (if they bite on ginger, it can be too much). You can always reduce the amount of ginger if you are not familiar with using ginger. Hope this helps. 🙂
Even though I don’t eat pork, this dish is enticing me with its flavours and presentation. Its beautiful Nami.
LOVE this, Nami. Totally my kind of pork chop, this sounds wonderful!
Nami, I love one dish meal. I prefer preparing pork chop your way than deep fried.
Simple and quick. This is somthing I could actually fit into my week! Thanks!!
What a beautiful meal Nami! I think I may try this tonight! Your afternoon definitely sounds like how things are at my house. Today we have two music lessons and a 4-H meeting (yep, we’re raising ducks this year!) after school. Thursdays are our BUSY day so this recipe came just in time. 🙂
Dear Nami,
Looks like a nice combination of meat, vegetable and carbs. I seldom cook pork chops because I find they can be tough at times. But Mysaucepan loves a teriyaki sauce especially with salmon but I find it a little sweet for my taste so I prefer my salmon cooked the teppanyaki way with just a little salt, black pepper and lemon juice.
Simple and delicious, have a great weekend Nami!
A wonderful pork chop recipe. I don’t make pork often enough and usually do jerk marinated pork shops in the oven or the bbq grill but the ginger/soy marinade sounds like it would be terrific.
OMG! OMG! OMG! Nami, can you believe that I actually missed out on your giveaway post and thought that I’ve already took part when I couldn’t find any comments that belong to me!?!? :O
I really have to act fast now w/o any delays after this otherwise I’ll bang the wall! 🙁
Btw, this pork looks so tasty and I love the ginger+soy sauce combinations when cooking meats, the kinda old traditional taste. I’m sure my hubby will love this dish a lot! But I’ve got phobia cooking the pork chop or lean meat (Only good with minced and best with belly). Mine always ended up like a rock and my pork could really chop! LOL 😛 I’m always fearing that the meat is under-cooked, that’s why. How do you cook your meats moist and tender besides making sure that you don’t over-cook it?
*Hurrying over to take part in your giveaway while waiting for your reply back! 😉
Looks yummy. I am so addicted to your blog!
This sounds like a great way to have a quick meal. I am loving the colors of the meal on the plate. The pork looks so full of flavor! I like that is not so sweet.
This is the kind of dinner I love. I am always searching for delicious, quick meals to make.
Wow…wow…wow. I don’t even have words. I’m going to start drooling over that first photo. Looks divine, Nami!! I know ginger and soy make a wonderful glaze and definitely pairs well with pork chops!
Perfect! I just bought a lot of pork chops at Costco.
Nami, this is so my kind of cooking!! I love it. 🙂 I am going to make sure I get your recipes emailed… I can’t wait to discover more. ~ Ramona (curryandcomfort)
I love these flavors on pork chop or any type of meat. Thanks for the inspiration. I may do this tonight for supper. Thanks for the recipe & great photos, Nami!
Looks delicious, I like pork, I found it better than meat. Wonderful it is completely savory, ok, I like when a savory dish has also a touch of sweet, but my family doesn’t, so this comes perfect for them.
hubby is already requesting it like a pork chop ginger pork
i love these quick, easy and delicious recipes like this!
I will definitely be trying this one very soon…
My mouth is truly watering–and I want a side of that stir-fried garlic spinach, too!
I love it that you are posting “simpler” recipes. I have such a difficult time with asian flavors. This one looks great. I cannot wait to try this one!
Yum yum yum .. i love pork Nami and this dish is making me hungry !
This is exactly the sort of dish I like for dinner…quick and delicious! Soy works SO well with pork…yummy!
yum yum! I don’t take pork, but certainly turkey steak can be substituted right?
Yes you can! 🙂
I love easy dishes like this! People don’t realize sometimes how quick you really can put together a delicious dish. I adore pork chops so I can’t wait to have a stab at this one!
I can always use a quick and delicious week night meal. Everything on that plate looks so good. Nami, you do all these and bathe the kids at the same time? You’re amazing!
What a beautiful dish! My mouther is watering 🙂
Ginger and garlic make everything better. But then again, I’m a ginger fiend, so I’m biased. 😉
Aah, you know I am always going for your sauces in this case the marinade. I am gong for the spinach too. XoXo
This chops look so juicy and full of flavor, Nami! I like the addition of stir fried spinach on the side — makes it even yummier.
~ ray ~
Love these pork chops – they look like something we would eat regularly here! I am going to an Asian market tomorrow to see if I can stock up on some things for my Japanese meal!
hey nami…haven’t visited you for so long! a very belated seasons greeting and hope you had a great start to this new year 🙂 i have been ‘missing in action’ over past month or so, just spending less time online and more time outside!
so happy to have finally caught up with all your delicious and inspiring posts 🙂 you always make dishes that i want to try straight away!! ohh and you seem like a super mom – juggling so many things all at once…hope this super-mom takes a rest from time to time too! 😀
This looks like a great family meal! My kids would love it. Very healthy too.
Thanks for sharing.
Velva
You are a super mom! Preparing healthy nutritious meals amidst the busy schedule is not easy.
awesome, i’m gonna make this for dinner tomorrow night – i was just wondering what i should do with the pork chops i’m defrosting. 😉 thanks, nami!
Oh what a simple and yummy sauce. It’s perfect for a lot of other proteins, too. I’ll bet I can marinate and bake tofu blocks with this.
What a wonderful weeknight meal! I think this would work equally well with chicken too right? Pork is very expensive and not great quality here. But I really would love the flavors of this and I think the kids (as picky as they are) would like it too. As always, your photos are beautiful. Leave it to Nami to take a brown pork chop and make it look totally drool worthy!!!! 🙂
Nami – this looks amazing! Welcome back and I LOVE good, quick, tasty meals! This one is all that and more!
I love this marinade recipe! I am sure I can use it with tofu for a vegetarian version 🙂
Very Cool recipe, Nami! Love your photos, they are truly mouthwatering!!! Nicely done!!!
Wishing you lovely weekend ahead!
hi nami, happy new year to you! yet another lovely recipe from you, looks so good. havent tried sake in marinating my meat but definately will try it some day!
heavens, that looks delicious, Nami. We eat a lot of pork – it’s our favourite. I’ve been using a Greek rub lately, with zesty lemon. But I think it’s ginger and soy next time! Hope you’re finding life a little less hectic.
Love a good pork chop and your cooking method reminds me of the way I cook fish. Ginger and soy is a great combination of flavours.
Hehe you must have so may of your kid’s friends wanting to come over to dinner Nami! 🙂
It’s fantastic Nami that on a busy day you can put together a meal like this that suits everyone in your family in less than an hour. I’m sure the flavours were amazing.
How perfect is this?! Under an hour for cooking and marinading, I will have to try this on one of our busy weeknights! Hope you have a wonderful weekend Nami!
What a delightfully delicious meal Nami – this suits my tastes perfectly!
🙂 Mandy
Nammi Hello again. I was reading your reply re: mirin and sake and noted down your answer. That’s definitely an answer for all my mirin/sake questions. You are definitely my Japanese one stop source haha.
This porkchops will find its way to my table and that’s for sure!
Happy Friday!
I am saving this beauty. Ginger and soy just perk me up. For someone who lives on garlic, ginger is such a welcome flavor!
I really enjoy flavor packed marinades with pork and this one looks like a great winner. The color is gorgeous. Pretty amazing meal for a busy night!
Nam this looks like such a great week night dish, very similar to the ones my Mom makes (but hers do not have as much marination) I will have to give it a try sometimes soon!
Have a great weekend, it’s pretty cold here so we are enjoying some winter weather!
Such a delicious and an incredibly tasty pork chop, Nami! I would for sure eat this even on my WW diet. So comforting, and delicious! Love it:DDD
I feel like I never make pork chops because I never know what to do with them. This sauce looks simple and delicious, thanks for sharing!
I love pork chops…!! I actually even made them last week a few times myself. My recipe is very similar to yours, but it’s more Chinese than Japanese (e.g. no sake and ginger) and I also use flour and egg to coat the pork chops before frying them – so your version is indeed much healthier! I should give this a try one day, that I don’t have to feel guilty after eating my pork chops ;).
Name another great and quick dish. This will be perfect for today as I am running around like headless chicken. Spinach with garlic and marinated chops yummy.
Again very pretty photos!! I love pork chops, your recipe is making me all hungry!
Hi Nami,
I just want to greet you happy new year! I wish you all the best in 2012, more blessings, lots of love, good health and happiness. 😀 And by the way, that pork chop looks so delicious! It’s making my stomach grumble lol
Nami you are super efficient. That is amazing to whip a meal so fast. The pork chops look amazing. Will try it out.
I remember growing up eating a meat and vegetable dish with a side of rice — this reminds me of my childhood with my Aunt 🙂
Drool-worthy recipe, Nami — I am sure you had a very good time with your Mom 🙂
What a beautiful meal. I love pork chops, and this sauce looks and sounds incredible. I love how it glistens in the photos — mouth-watering.
Hello Nami
Long time! Sorry my trip to India kept me busy. Happy new year to you. The pork chops looks so delicious and juicy. I plan to try this with lamb. Also are you coming to Fancy Food show tomorrow? Keep me posted. Lets plan to say a hi there.
What a wonderful quick & easy dish! This is perfect when you don’t have time and it delicious too!
Have a great weekend, Nami 🙂
Wow! This looks absolutely delicious!! There isn’t one dish on here I don’t drool over lol I love the seasoning, the colors and of course the photos! Job well done Nami I LOVE it! Have a wonderful weekend! =]
Nami this is gorgeous. I have to admit I am such a huge pork fan but I can rarely eat it due to my tummy issues. I am bookmarking this beautiful recipe for an indulgent day when I throw caution to the wind and make some pork.
I’m sold and hungry, just reading the title. The final result looks so appetizing and of course… I can’t wait to try it. 🙂
Lovely…..
Nami, you inspire me to cook dishes which are easy and fast and above alll super delicious….
I have to say you are the best.
These are beautiful pork chops, Nami! The ginger soy sauce sounds wonderful!
this is such a complete and delicious meal I love the sesame seeds on top of the steamed rice
Wow you are a super mom, very busy. I am glad you still give time to entertain us with your posts.
I hear you on juggling cooking and taking care of kiddos! Bravo to you girl! I love your wilted spinach as well 🙂
What a fantastic marinade! Looks like a wonderful meal and I have not made pork chops for my family in awhile.
Hope you are having a lovely Sunday 🙂
Delish Nami! We cook Pork Chop with Ginger Soy Sauce almost 2-3 times in a month. Just couldn’t get enough of it. The ginger and soy works really well with chicken too. Add a little oyster sauce, and corn starch to thicken the gravy, then serve either with plain congee/ porridge or rice. Yumm… yummmm. Did I mentioned typing this is literraly making me drool. Seriously.. lol.. Hugggsssss
I am always on the look for quick and easy recipes!!! This sounds delicious Nami! Thank you for sharing! <3
What a great quick and easy recipe Nami! I love pork chops and the marinade sounds just up my alley!
I am having so much fun catching up on your blog this morning after what seems like forever (life has a way of doing that from time to time). I am simply floored by this combination! I really love the marinade on this chop. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks again for the inspiration!
I’m rarely cook pork at home but I think this one is easy to made, ur suggestion time and preparation story make it more easy and themthing to try 🙂
tq for sharing nami, I’m sure my husband will love this since he is the bigggest fan of the ingredient 😀
by the way, if I haven’t tell u, I made ur chicken katsu donburi (if I’m not wrong – the title I mean :D) on my christmas eve dinner for kids and in law when they waiting for the grilled fish be done… the love it!! tq my friend! keep cooking and sharing girl! 😉
Thank you for making chicken katsu donburi~~~! I’m happy to know your family liked it!
Those pork chops look amazing, my dear! It’s always great to read your recipes 🙂
This looks absolutely delicious. And it looks simple… I might try to make it one of these days. Thanks for sharing the recipe! I just subscribed to your blog 🙂 Wouldn’t want to miss the recipes you’re sharing! 🙂
Made this for our dinner Monday night and we were both so impressed at how incredibly delicious it was. I love finding new pork recipes and this is a keeper! Most people don’t like pork because they don’t know how to cook it. This was spot on tender and moist. And couldn’t be easier for a hectic day. I put the pork in the marinade over night, so it was reaady to cook when I got home.
Thank you so much for making this! I’m really happy you liked it! 🙂
Thanks for this recipe Nami! I tried it and it was very good. I made the mistake of using very thick pork (about one inch, from Costco) so not overcooking/undercooking was tricky. Next time, I’ll follow your instructions and use 1/2 inch slices!
Yeah this is pan fried, so I’d definitely recommend you to use 1/2 inch thickness, so that it’ll cook faster. You can probably slice the Costco size into half with very sharp knife too. Thanks for trying this recipe and letting me know, Hatsuho! 🙂
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. 🙂