The Salt and Pepper Pork Chops My Dad's Made 100,000 Times
Why this recipe
Most salt and pepper pork chops recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 50 years and can make this in his sleep.
I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 1.8M views, 30.5K likes on YouTube.
Salt and Pepper Pork Chops or 椒鹽豬扒 is a well-known dish that accompanies Chinese restaurants' casual dinners. It's the dish that families order for takeout when they have family gatherings at home and is the real MVP of protein dishes to go.
Salt and pepper pork chops are just one of the wildly popular salt and pepper style dishes in Cantonese cuisine. There are countless other proteins you can cook in this style, such as squid, fish, chicken, and tofu, to name a few.
Browse through a couple of recipes online and you’ll see that the seasonings can also vary based on your particular preference, with some recipes featuring five spice and Sichuan peppercorns while others include black pepper and jalapeños.
Despite all the variety, these dishes all share in the wonderful combination of spicy, salty flavor and crispy yet tender texture of each bite.
But what's the secret to the perfect bite of Salt and Pepper Pork Chops? The trick for that crispy crust and keeping the meat juicy and tender is the combination of tenderizing, marinating, and double frying.
We cover all these techniques with this easy recipe so you can achieve these restaurant-quality Salt and Pepper Pork Chops right at home!
Ingredients
Instructions
Prepare ingredients
Start with chopping up the vegetables. Cut red pepper into strips then rotate 90 degrees to dice. Dice the green pepper the same way.
Roughly dice the green onion (1 stalk) into medium-sized pieces. Then peel, smash, and mince the garlic (2 clove).
Cut across the red chili pepper into thin slices the shape will look like coins. If you want to make it spicier, you can use more of it.
Cut pork chops (1 lb) into palm-sized pieces and halve them horizontally to have thin slices. Make sure to cut against the grain to keep the meat intact during the cooking process. To tenderize them, use the back of the knife to pound into the pork chops on both sides.
Mix sauce
For the pork marinade, mix cornstarch (2 tbsp), baking soda (0.50 tsp), cooking wine (1 tsbp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), light soy sauce (1 tbsp), and water (1 tbsp). Give it a quick mix then add sugar (1 tsp) and salt (0.50 tsp).
Marinate pork chops
Mix the pork in with the marinade by hand for about one minute.
Let the pork marinate for 30-60 minutes.
Prepare for frying
In a pot over medium heat, add corn oil (2 cup) and bring it to 380°F/193.3°C.
While waiting for the oil to heat up, beat an egg in a small bowl and pour the egg into the marinated pork. Mix well. The egg will soak up the cornstarch, and make the overall pork crispier when fried.
Put the cornstarch (3 tbsp) onto a large plate. Once the oil has come to temperature, coat pieces of pork with cornstarch.
Fry the pork
To fry the pork chops, put them in one at a time into the oil and fry them in batches to not overcrowd the pot.
Fry until the pork chops' crust is a light golden brown, or about a minute and a half. Take out the pork pieces and let the oil drain from the pieces back into the pot with a strainer.
Turn the heat up to 450°F/232.2°C and fry a second time for about 30 seconds. This results in an extra crispy texture.
On the first fry, the moisture is at the surface. On the second fry, the juices on the surface have dried. So the meat will fry up to be fragrant and crispy.
In order to keep track of what pieces are on the first fry versus on their second fry, look at the color of the coating. If it's on the lighter side, it's on the first fry. If it's golden brown, it has completed its second fry.
After frying, set the oil aside for the stir-frying step.
Mix seasoning
In a small bowl, mix together garlic salt (1 tsp), salt (0.25 tsp), and white pepper (0.25 tsp).
Cook all ingredients
Now, we'll put the dish together! Start by heating up a wok on medium heat.
When the wok is hot, we'll add about a tsp of the oil we just used. Add in the garlic, red chili pepper, and stir-fry until it starts to be aromatic.
Add the bell peppers and stir-fry everything for about 30 seconds on high.
Add the scallions followed by all of the pork.
After tossing the pork in with the aromatics for about 30 seconds, add the seasoning. Make sure to put it in gradually to evenly coat all the pork chop pieces.
After adding in the seasoning, cook for another 15-20 seconds before turning off the heat.
Continue to mix for another 20-30 seconds until the seasoning is evenly coating the pork, then you can plate it.
Taste test & plate
Finally, taste to adjust the flavors of the pork chops to your liking! This is usually served on a large serving plate at the center of the table. Everyone can take the amount they want in smaller individual plates.