Walnut Crusted Pork Chops with Pear Chutney

I have always wanted to make a nut-crusted something. The time I tried pecan crusted pork loin at one of my favorite restaurants, I was sold. Pecan crusted EVERYTHING! I have a coffee rubbed pork loin that I make a lot, but that’s nothing like a pecan crust and I don’t even know why I’m bringing it up. I guess it’s similar in my mind because how often do we think, “Let me rub some coffee on this meat and cook it,” or “Let me slather this meat with nut dust…” ? So it’s similar. To me, at least. Yeah.

We had some friends coming over one night, and I was determined to make a delicious meal using what I could find in our refrigerator and pantry (too lazy to go to the store with three little rascals).

After foraging through the freezer and refrigerator, and scrolling Pinterest and pinning too many things that had nothing to do with dinner or food in general, I concocted a meal that I hoped would taste superb. AND IT DID. So of course, I had to recreate it for you, so that I could perfect it and write down measurements. 

These walnut crusted pork chops sound and look difficult but they’re actually very easy. You can even make some of it ahead of time, or the whole thing and reheat in the oven. It’s a quick and easy meal that’s sure to impress your dinner guests. The warm and earthy notes from the walnut encrusted pork works exceedingly well with the sweet and savory pear chutney. The dijon used in both the pork and chutney brings the entire dish together.

And the chutney. THE CHUTNEY. I was super impressed with this. Especially because I eyeballed everything and changed just about every single ingredient that the recipe called for. But it was so good that one of our friends went back for seconds. She went back and loaded her plate with more chutney. Just chutney. No judgement. I ate the rest out of the pan when they left. Chutney is like a bougie way of pairing applesauce with pork, without feeding your guests applesauce. It’s the mom and dad of applesauce.  Except we’re using pears.

This meal is very easy to pull together, but tastes like it took awhile.  If you have a dinner party coming up, give these walnut crusted pork chops a try, and let me know if you ate seconds (and thirds) of the chutney like I did!

Walnut Crusted Pork Chops with Pear Chutney

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• Author: Jessica Kuhlman
• Yield: 6 servings 1x

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Description

These walnut crusted pork chops sound and look difficult but they’re actually very easy. You can even make some of it ahead of time, or the whole thing and reheat in the oven. It’s a quick and easy meal that’s sure to impress your dinner guests. The warm and earthy notes from the walnut encrusted pork works exceedingly well with the sweet and savory pear chutney. The dijon used in both the pork and chutney brings the entire dish together.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

pork chops:

• 4 thick cut boneless pork chops
• 1/4 cup stone ground mustard
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups walnuts
• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 2 tbsp thyme
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• olive oil

chutney: 

• 2 cups pears, peeled, cored, and diced (about 3 pears)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 tbsp stone ground mustard
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of sea salt

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add all of the dry ingredients for pork chops (nuts, thyme, salt, and pepper) to a blender or food processor and pulse until coarsley ground. Pour into a pie dish or large plate.
3. Beat eggs with mustard in a medium bowl.
4. On medium- high, heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet (or oven safe skillet), enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
5. Dunk each pork chop in the egg mixture to completely coat. Move to the dish with the walnut crust and completely coat making sure to get all sides.
6. Place in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes on each side. If you’re using a cast iron skillet, you will know when to flip when the meat self-releases.
7. Move the skillet to the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the internal temperature of the pork is 150-165 degrees. If not using a large enough skillet, move to a greased baking dish to bake.
8. Make the chutney ahead of time, or while the pork chops are baking. Add all ingredients to a small pot and cook on medium. Let come to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until pears and onions are soft and tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and serve over pork chops.
9. Pair with a salad, like this Simple Arugula Salad.

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Notes

If you don’t have pears, you can use apples.  If you don’t have walnuts, you can sub pecans or almonds.