Keto Pork Chops with Garlicky Cream Sauce

How can something this creamy and delicious be keto!? These easy pork chops come complete with a mushroom cream sauce that you’ll want to pour over everything. If all keto dinners are this good, sign me up! The cream sauce helps keep the pork chops from tasting dried out and keeps this from being just a boring cut of pork chops. Bonus! It all comes together in well under an hour.

How To Make Keto Pork Chops

Ingredients

• Boneless Pork Chops: For this recipe, I find boneless pork chops work best. They are generally easier to find and use than their bone-in counterparts, and have just as much flavor. Plus, they cook up much faster, which makes them perfect for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.

• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: Extra-virgin olive oil is great because it has a light flavor—perfect for sautéing—while still providing many healthy fats. It is also a great option for getting a beautiful sear on any cook of meat because of its high smoke point.

• Baby Bella Mushrooms: I love baby bella mushrooms. They are incredibly easy to find in any grocery store—though you may find them under several names including crimini, mini bella, or Italian brown mushrooms—and have that classic earthy, savory, umami flavor that I am looking for in a mushroom. Having a stronger flavor than say white mushrooms also lends well to achieving a cream sauce with lots of mushroom flavor.

• Garlic: The punchy, spicy bite of garlic works very well here to cut through some of the more savory, fatty flavors in the mushrooms and cream and adds a beautiful aroma that never fails to draw friends and family into the kitchen.

• Heavy Cream: I prefer heavy cream in my sauces, especially when considering keto recipes, because of its higher fat content than milk or other alternatives. This lends to a creamer sauce with deeper flavors.

• Parmesan: The nutty, fatty flavors of Parmesan pair perfectly with my creamy mushroom sauce. Not only do the flavors marry well, but Parmesan also thickens the sauce giving it a more compelling texture and better ability to stick to the pork chops—and you’re going to want as much sauce as you can get in each bite!

• Baby Spinach: This is going to add a nice textural difference to the sauce while also providing a pop of freshness and color. No dish is complete without at least a little bit of greens.

• Spices: I am staying super simple here: salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper. This combo will help to highlight the natural flavors of the pork while also providing a little bit a spice and bite to the mushroom sauce.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Boneless pork chops are super easy to cook. Start by seasoning both sides of each chop with salt and pepper, and then place them to cook in a large skillet with olive oil heated over medium heat. Cook the chops for about 5 minutes on each side until they are golden and reach an internal temperature of 145°. You will get a better crust on the chops if you allow them to cook the whole time on each side without moving or lifting them—no matter how tempting it is to check. Once cooked through, remove the chops from the skillet and place them aside to keep warm.

In the same skillet, add in the sliced mushrooms and cook them for about 5 minutes until they are softened, and then add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more until fragrant. Take care to move the mushrooms and garlic around while cooking to ensure they cook evenly and don’t stick and burn.

Then add in the heavy cream and Parmesan, stirring to melt the cheese evenly throughout the sauce, before adding in the spices and stirring again.

Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes until the sauce has thickened considerably before adding in the baby spinach and cooking for another 2 minutes.

When the sauce has come together, return the pork chops to the skillet and allow them to simmer in the sauce until they are warmed through. This should take about 5 minutes and will allow imbue even more of that pork flavor into the sauce which really takes it up a level. After warming through, plate, serve, and enjoy.

Recipe Tips

• Use freshly grated Parmesan. While pre-grated Parm will work just as well, the extra freshness and flavor of freshly grated Parmesan is so hard to beat. Plus if you aren’t sure you will go through a fresh block of Parmesan fast enough, you can always seal the extra in an airtight, freezer-safe bag and keep it in the freezer for up to a year.

What To Serve With Keto Pork Chops

While my keto pork chops are a great meal on their own, pairing them with an extra side makes a great experience even better. I love serving the juicy chops and creamy sauce over cauliflower rice, or with a side of roasted green beans or Italian antipasto brussels sprouts salad, but have fun with it! We have a great list of keto side dishes ready for you.

Storage

Both the pork chops and the mushroom cream sauce can keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. While I recommend making the sauce fresh, you can prepare it up to 3 days ahead of time with this method of storage.