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These creamy garlic pork chops are smothered in a garlic cream sauce with whole garlic cloves! This recipe is quick and easy to make in about 30 minutes.
You may also like my Creamy Garlic Pork Tenderloin or Creamy Pork Tenderloin Medallions.
Why you’ll love it
If you’re fan of my popular Creamy Garlic Chicken recipe and also like pork, you may want to try this recipe. I tweaked the sauce a bit to make it work with pork chops. Garlicky goodness. These pork chops are just so good and really simple to make.
Yes, there’s a whole head of garlic in here as well as garlic powder. The garlic cloves mellow out. You can eat them and they’re not overly garlicky… they taste kinda like roasted garlic. I like building layers of garlic flavor! It’s the perfect weeknight meal.
What you’ll need
- Pork chops – I use 0.75-1″ boneless pork chops seasoned generously with salt & pepper to bring out the flavor
- Olive oil and butter – for pan frying and the base of the sauce
- Garlic and garlic powder – there’s absolutely a whole head of garlic in here and garlic powder
- Flour – to thicken the sauce
- Chicken broth – more savory depth of flavor
- Lemon juice – a pop of acidity to balance everything
- Heavy cream – to make the sauce luxurious
Pro tip
I recommend taking the pork chops out of the fridge at least 15-30 minutes prior to starting the recipe. They will cook better this way!
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- Pork chops can easily dry out (especially boneless ones), so I highly recommend getting an instant read meat thermometer so you can check the temperature and not overcook them. Pork is safe to eat at 145F (and don’t forget the temperature continues to climb for a few minutes after you finish cooking it). It’s ok if pork is a bit pink in the middle.
- You can use either boneless or bone-in pork chops. For larger bone-in chops, you may need to sear them in two batches. If your skillet goes dry, I’d add up to 1 tablespoon extra olive oil for the second batch.
- Measure out the butter easily with this butter dish that has measurement marks right on it.
How to make creamy garlic pork chops
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Season the pork with salt & pepper. Heat up the oil and some of the butter in a skillet, then sear the chops on both sides until golden. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining butter and the garlic cloves, and cook until the garlic is lightly browned.
Push the garlic to one side of the skillet, then stir in the flour to make a roux. Pour in the broth and lemon juice, and cook until thickened. Add the cream and garlic powder, and stir until it’s dissolved in.
Return the pork to the skillet, and cook through until the sauce reduces more and the pork is cooked to 145F. Season with extra salt & pepper if needed, and top with fresh parsley if using.
Substitutions and variations
- I don’t recommend subbing the cream for a lower fat alternative as it may curdle and the sauce won’t be as thick.
- You could throw in a handful of spinach at the end before adding the pork back to the pan if you want some greens.
- Looking to make this with chicken? Try my Creamy Garlic Chicken instead.
What to serve with garlic pork chops
- These creamy pork chops are delicious with Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Potatoes, Stick of Butter Rice, or even pasta like my Quick Garlic Butter Noodles.
- For veggie options, try my Easy Roasted Cauliflower or Easy Roasted Green Beans.
- Craving a salad? Make my 10 Minute Easy Caesar Salad Dressing.
Leftovers and storage
- Store any leftover pork chops in the fridge in a covered container for 3-4 days.
- Reheat over a low heat slowly until warmed through so the chops don’t dry out.
- I don’t recommend freezing this one.
More delicious pork chop recipes
Questions about this creamy garlic pork chop recipe? Made it? Talk to me in the comments below! Tag me #saltandlavender on Instagram if you make this.
Creamy Garlic Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops see notes
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 whole head garlic cloves peeled
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 cup heavy/whipping cream
- Fresh parsley chopped (optional, to taste)
Instructions
- Take the pork chops out of the fridge 15-30 minutes prior to starting the recipe if possible. Season the pork generously with salt & pepper on both sides.
- In a deep skillet, add the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat. Let the pan heat up for a few minutes, and once it's hot, cook the pork chops for 3-5 minutes/side or until golden (3 minutes for thinner chops and 5 minutes for pork chops up to 1" thick). Once the pork chops are done searing, transfer them to a plate.
- Add the remaining butter and the garlic cloves to the skillet. Turn the heat down to medium (or medium-low if using cast iron). Cook it, stirring fairly often, for about 3 minutes or until the garlic has somewhat browned on the outside.
- Push the garlic to one side of the pan and sprinkle the flour in (avoiding the garlic). Let it cook for around 30 seconds, and give it a stir so it's incorporated with the butter (we're making a quick roux).
- Add in the chicken broth and lemon juice. Stir and let it cook for about a minute or until the sauce is noticeably thickened.
- Add in the garlic powder and cream. Stir or whisk it until the garlic powder has dissolved.
- Add the pork back in and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened up a bit (let the sauce bubble a bit but not furiously boil) and the pork chops are fully cooked through (145F minimum). Keep in mind the pork's temperature will continue to rise once you stop cooking it, so if it's close, I'd take it off the heat and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. Season the sauce with extra salt & pepper as needed and parsley if you wish.
Notes
- It’s very easy to overcook pork and turn it into shoe leather. I highly recommend using an instant read thermometer to take the guesswork out. Pork that’s 145F and pink inside is safe to eat.
- You can use boneless pork chops like I did or bone-in. I recommend pork chops that are 0.75-1″ thick. Anything much thicker or thinner is likely to end up under or overcooked with this particular recipe since it’s finished in the cream sauce.
- This recipe is also in the Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials cookbook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Easy dish with lots of flavor. Reminds me of stroganoff. I served with buttered noodles and maple-glazed bacon wrapped carrots. I’ll definitely make the chicken version.
I’m so happy you liked it! Those carrots sound so good…
Love! Love! Love! I added mushrooms and green onion when cooking the garlic.
Thank you for sharing!
You’re very welcome! 🙂
Love this recipe. Instead of flour (roux) I use Les stock and more cream and let it cook down more (thicken) before adding back in the chops and then I add Parmesan cheese to help thicken.
Thank you for the inspiration!
I’m so glad it worked out for you! You’re welcome!
I tried my best to do this but my cream turned into a more dark brown. Then at the end, the cream separated. I’m teaching myself how to cook, so what could have caused this?
Hi Jess! No worries… the only way to learn is by doing, so I applaud you for trying! Believe me, I’ve had my fair share of kitchen mishaps (and continue to have them) haha. Ok, so it sounds to me like your pan was too hot and/or you ended up cooking it for a bit too long (which means the pan gets even hotter and it’s a sorta snowball effect). There’s nothing wrong with the sauce being a bit darker… it just means that you may have had more yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan incorporated into the sauce because you likely cooked the pork for a little longer than I did. Are you absolutely sure you used heavy cream and not something with less fat (you want minimum 33-36% fat) like half-and-half? Cream can curdle due to high cooking temperature, so if you poured it straight out of the fridge into a very hot pan, I suspect that could have curdled it if you did indeed use the full fat stuff. So, if you want to re-attempt the recipe, I would probably turn the heat down a bit (at least after the searing step since the pan gets hotter and hotter and retains heat – especially if you use cast iron), and I’d get the cream out a bit early, measure it out, and let it sit on the counter for a bit. Do you have a gas or electric stove? I now have a gas stove, and I find it runs hotter than electric, so I have to be mindful that “medium high” on my gas stove is quite a bit hotter than it was on my electric stove, and I turn it down a bit. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Temper your cream. That is, take a soup ladle & pour some of the hot liquid into some of the cream & stir until incorporated. Slowly pour the mixture back into the pot & stir. Do this a few more times, then it’s okay to pour the rest of the cream into the pot without tempering. It’s best to let the cream come to room temp before adding.
Yes! That works too.
Very yummy! Although I am not the next natural cook and followed the instructions step by step and the pork chops were way undercooked with the time that was given. So I had to cook them about 15-20 minutes on each side.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Did you use a meat thermometer like I suggest in the blog post? Because 15-20 minutes/side is a LONG time to cook pork at the suggested stove temperature.
Just had for dinner and it was delicious! Hubby said he’d definitely like to have again. I added some chopped shallots that needed to be used up when I cooked the garlic cloves, but otherwise was true to the recipe. Our whole house smells like garlic now, but that’s fairly normal for us! Will cook again!
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Delicious! I used wild boar backstrap and it was outstanding over rice! Great recipe and super quick and easy! Thank you!
Wonderful! 🙂
This is soooooo good! We are garlic addicts so I added a couple more cloves and oh my gosh it was delicious!
Good idea!! I love garlic too haha.
Got the kudos from the kids ., very good.. definitely make again.. Thank You
You’re welcome! 🙂
Delicious!!
So happy you liked it, Lucie!
This was so easy and delicious! All ingredients I had on hand too. I served it over mashed potatoes. Thanks for the continued great recipes!
That’s great! You’re welcome! 🙂