The arrival of fresh strawberries signals the start of summer, the time to visit pick-your-own farms and farmers’ markets to stock up on plump, ripe berries. Add to that a couple of pork chops and you have the makings of a simple but satisfying supper.–Cynthia Graubart
Balsamic Strawberry Pork Chops FAQs
You can just take a paring knife and lop off the green bits but…where’s the fun in that? We’ve got a few suggestions if you want to try something new. A grapefruit spoon works like a charm to dig out the unwanted foliage. The pointed end of a veggie peeler works just as well. You can always rely on the old trick of using a straw, especially if you have little helpers. Just push a straw up through the bottom of the berry, until it pops through the green end.
There are 3 categories of balsamic vinegar—traditional, condiment, and imitation. The one you want here is condiment or “condimento balsamico,” identifiable by the I.G.P. (indicazione geografica protetta-protected geographical indentification) designation on the label. Condiment balsamic is the most widely used version of balsamic—it’s still balsamic but not the strictly produced or expensive top-shelf stuff. It’s the most versatile and you can get a decent bottle for a decent price.
Definitely. Our testers loved the sweet and tangy sauce spooned over grilled chicken.
Pork Chops with Strawberry Balsamic Glaze
Ingredients
For the pork chops
- Four (8-ounce) boneless or bone-in pork chops, about 1 inch (25 mm) thick
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
For the sauce
- 3 cups (1 pound) fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Cook the pork chops
- Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the pork chops in a single layer and cook for 4 minutes. Flip the chops and continue cooking until the second side is browned and the pork is cooked to an internal temperature of at least 145°F (63°C) on an instant-read thermometer, about 6 minutes more. Arrange the chops on a platter and cover to keep warm.
☞ TESTER TIP: Keep a close eye on your pork chops as the cook time will vary depending on their thickness.
Make the sauce
- Return the skillet to medium heat and add the strawberries, vinegar, and sugar. Cook, stirring frequently, until the strawberries begin to give off liquid, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Taste and season well with pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the mixture has thickened, 3 to 4 minutes more. Pour the strawberry sauce over the chops and serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
These pork chops with strawberry balsamic glaze are another great example of how pork and fruit are meant to be together. Strawberries are in season right now, so I just had to try this recipe, and it was delicious! Be sure to have your sauce ingredients ready to go, because this comes together in a flash. I served this with the warm goat cheese salad and it was truly a perfect meal. Really quick, but fancy enough to serve to guests. I used boneless pork and would highly recommend this for quick, even cooking.
If you’d like a quick & easy weeknight meal, these pork chops with strawberry balsamic glaze are for you. The sauce over the chops is delicious. I can imagine the sweet and savory sauce over many food items, including but not limited to grilled chicken and vanilla bean ice cream. It’s yummy.
The pork was okay. As I am not a pork lover, it’s a challenge for me to make it tender. This recipe didn’t really yield better results for me. My husband loves pork so his opinion was much better. He said I cooked it well and didn’t go over the line. It was still pink and juicy. The sauce made the dish!
Move over apples, there’s a new fruity pork partner in town! Both the fresh summer strawberries and balsamic add enough tang and sweetness, complemented by the smoky sweetness of the brown sugar. The sauce thickens nicely in about 3 minutes with just the right amount of umami.
I was tempted to add a pat of butter, but it really didn’t need it. I chose to use bone-in chops with the goal of keeping the meat moister. The fat from the bone-in chops provided just enough richness. Finishing them with a sprinkling from the fresh parsley from our garden was the perfect grassy note to bring it all together.
With just a few ingredients, you can turn any weeknight – or weekend – meal into something that reads fancy but is simple and quick to throw together. I will definitely be making these pork chops with strawberry balsamic glaze again – maybe for company too! And, depending on the season, I will likely try it with whatever fruits are available – that’s how versatile this recipe is. Total bonus!
This is the perfect way to celebrate summer…pork chops with strawberry balsamic glaze! The chops were wonderfully juicy cooked to 145°F. The fruitiness of the strawberries and balsamic vinegar is the perfect marriage of flavors. I wanted every last bit of that sauce. This is a “must-have-bread-to-mop” dish! Fortunately, there is sufficient sauce for mopping! Actually, there was enough sauce for 6 chops. I served the chops with lemon Israeli couscous (without the peas) and steamed baby peas.
A strawberry-balsamic mixture makes so much sense but the idea of cooking it and then slathering it over pork chops is practically otherworldly. It’s one of those recipes that had me saying “Why didn’t I think of that?” And it’s so simple. The “hardest” thing about this recipe was chopping up the strawberries. Dinner was on the table in no time at all.
The only real challenge-if you could even call it that-is to keep an eye on the chops as they are cooking because they can go from under to overdone in a matter of just a couple of minutes. And overdone pork chops are not very enjoyable. I caught mine just in time. I quibbled with adding brown sugar and indeed the next time I make this I think I’ll leave it out. I didn’t find that the strawberries needed any more sweetness and the brown sugar cut the acidity of the balsamic a bit too much for me. We served these pork chops with grilled broccoli, which was great because the florets soaked up the sauce…Mmmm.
Pork chops with strawberry balsamic glaze are a fabulous recipe for summer! The sauce was surprisingly fresh and not too sweet. I used boneless pork chops and liked that the spicing was simply salt and pepper. I felt this would not take away from the sauce and allow the pork to shine. I would recommend using a quality pork for this recipe because of its simplicity. The sauce was surprisingly simple and easy to make. Chop your berries and cook down with a little sugar and balsamic vinegar. The berries didn’t need any more sugar than a tablespoon as they were fresh and sweet. The resulting sauce took about 15 minutes total from chopping the berries to thickening. As my chops were on the thinner side I started cooking them when the sauce was almost ready. The result was a fresh entree that was light and summery. We served this with a salad of greens from the garden.
There was quite a bit of sauce left over. We had some the next night over grilled chicken and it was just as good as it was with the pork. My daughter even spooned some over vanilla ice cream one evening. The sweetness of the ice cream was complemented by the slight tartness of the sauce. A very versatile sauce indeed!
Wow! Who knew pork and strawberries would make such a great pairing? This recipe is a spot-on matchmaker! The berry-balsamic sauce had a slight sweetness and briny tang, and it was so good with the pork chops. I found myself dragging every piece of the pork through the sauce and mounding the juicy strawberries onto it. My chops were pretty thick (1 ¼”), so it took a total of 11 minutes to cook them. (I love thick pork chops because they are less tricky to work with. There is ample room for the thermometer probe, and having a few extra minutes allows me to check the temperature multiple times until the meat hits the desired doneness.)
When deciding what to serve with this, feta was the first thing that came to mind as I love it with fruity flavors. So, I made a salad of canned cannellini beans (rinsed and drained), tomatoes, green olives, and crumbled feta, tossed in lemon vinaigrette. I enjoyed the one leftover pork chop the next night, sliced super thin and put on top of a green salad with the strawberry-balsamic sauce and all.
