These Instant Pot pork chops are quick and easy to make. They are simply seasoned with salt and pepper and are super delicious with a sprinkling of parsley or with your favorite sauce.
I love making pork chops for dinner. My preference is the center cut bone-in loin chops because both the bone and the marbling add so much flavor to the meat. Making them in the Instant Pot makes for a quick, hands-off method that I use a lot on weeknights. Scroll down to read more about cooking pork chops in the Instant Pot, or click here to jump down to the recipe.
Why Are Pork Chops Dry Sometimes?
The problem with pork chops is that they are often over-cooked, dry and more like shoe leather than juicy, tender pork. I blame the old public service announcements about the dangers of eating undercooked pork. These days pork only needs to reach 145°F to be safe. Note that dry overcooked pork is not just an issue with chops. It’s an issue for all kinds of pork, like roast pork, pork loin, and pork tenderloin too. But if you cook these cuts to 145°F instead of 160°F, you’ll have much juicier results.
Why Cook Pork Chops In The Instant Pot?
Cooking at a high temperature for a short amount of time keeps the meat juicy and using the sauté function creates a beautiful golden crust. I have the Instant Pot DUO Plus 8 Qt, and I absolutely love it.
The salt and pepper I use to season the chops may seem simple but I think you will agree that the results are anything but plain.
If you are ready to overcome the over-cooked-pork-chop syndrome, give this method of cooking pork chops a try!
Making Instant Pot Pork Chops
I use bone-in pork chops for this method, I think they have more flavor and can be kept more tender than boneless pork chops.
Start by seasoning with salt and pepper, then sear your chops in the Instant Pot with the sauté setting. This will take about 3 minutes on each side.
Remove them from the pot and pour in your broth or water. You’ll want to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Not scraping those all up can result in them starting to overheat and burn later, which can cause the Instant Pot to give you the Burn notice and turn off.
Next, add a trivet to the Instant Pot and put your pork chops on top. Seal it up and set it to pressure cook for 5 minutes. The pressure cooker will come up to pressure and then it will pressure cook for those 5 minutes. After that, let it sit, still sealed, for an additional 5 minutes after the cook time, then release the pressure.
You should check the internal temperature of the pork at this time and make sure it is at least 145°F. If it is lower, simply put the lid back on and seal it, make sure the Instant Pot is set to Keep Warm, and then wait another couple of minutes. This technique of letting the heat from the Keep Warm setting finish cooking the pork works really well. I first started doing it for Instant Pot Pork Loin, and now I use the technique for cooking all kinds of things.
Serving Pork Chops
You can serve these with a sprinkling of parsley or try them with your favorite sauce. During the summer, I like to serve them with my Best Ever Barbecue Sauce and baked beans. Pork is also great served with an easy homemade applesauce.
Or, you can try one of my amazing gravy recipes and serve them with mashed potatoes. My Classic Gravy is here but I also have a recipe for gravy without drippings, and you can make gravy in the Instant Pot as well.
More Instant Pot Recipes
Here are some of my favorite Instant Pot recipes for you to try:
- Instant Pot Farro
- Instant Pot Ribs
- Instant Pot Chuck Roast
- Instant Pot Short Ribs
- Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
- Instant Pot Pork and Sauerkraut
And if you love the Instant Pot as much as I do, head over here to browse through all of my Instant Pot recipes. Enjoy! -Christine xo
Print
Instant Pot Pork Chops
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
These Instant Pot pork chops are quick and easy to make. They are simply seasoned with salt and pepper and are super delicious with a sprinkling of parsley or with your favorite sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 thick pork loin chops, bone-in
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 cup unsalted chicken broth or water
- Parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Season pork chops with salt and pepper.
- Select the Sauté button to heat the Instant Pot. When “Hot” is displayed, add the olive oil.
- Add the seasoned pork to the Instant Pot and sear both sides making sure the chops do not overlap, approximately 3 minutes per side. You may need to sear the pork in two separate batches.
- Remove the pork from the Instant Pot and set aside on a plate.
- Add the broth or water to the Instant Pot, scraping any bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
- Place the trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot and lay pork chops on top of the trivet. They can overlap.
- Cover pot, lock on the lid, and set the steam release valve to Sealing.
- Select the Meat/Stew or Pressure Cook button and set the cook time to 5 minutes.
- When the cooking cycle has finished, allow the pot to sit for 5 minutes, and then do a quick release by moving the valve to Venting.
- Garnish with parsley or serve with your favorite sauce.
This post originally appeared in October 2019 and was revised and republished in May 2022.
Susan says
My instant pot doesn’t have a trivet. I just put them in the pot. I also added a couple of potatoes and some onion. Hope it turns out ok. This is my first experiment with my brand new instant pot.
Christine Pittman says
Let us know how it turned out for you, Susan! You can purchase a trivet individually for yours if you find you need it.
Wanda says
How long should I cook only 2 port chops? It is just me and I am retired. Please advise. Thank you so much!
Christine Pittman says
Wanda, I’ve never done only 2 pork chops in the Instant Pot. If they’re nice thick ones, I’d probably still do 5 minutes. If they’re thinner, I’d do three minutes. But honestly, if you’re cooking 2, I would consider pan-frying them or air-frying them. It won’t take that much longer and the results are better.
https://cookthestory.com/cook-pork-chops/
https://cookthestory.com/air-fryer-pork-chops/
Wendy Schneider says
These are wonderful! Made them tonight. I used my Instant pot 8 quart cooker and braised in three intervals, ending with 12 thick bone in pork chops. I then put in the trivet and all the pork chops back in the pot and added 3 cups of hot water. I used the stew button but put it for 18 minutes. They were so moist and tender. I have 5 teenagers and within minutes they were all gone!
Christine Pittman says
Fantastic, Wendy! I’m so happy it was such a hit.
ksaj says
can this be made with boneless pork chops?
Christine Pittman says
Yes, but if they’re thin then it isn’t ideal. If you have thin, boneless pork chops, your best bet is to do them in a pan or under the broiler. They won’t take very long. In the amount of time the instant pot takes to get up to pressure, thin chops would already be cooked. I think they would therefore end up dry.
Lisa says
Just finished eating.
Best ever! This will be a new go to!
Thank you!
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Lisa! So happy you enjoyed it!
Debbie Yoder says
These look awesome! I dont have an Insta Pot yet,but I want one!
Christine Pittman says
Thanks, Debbie!
Calvin says
Nice and simple recipe, haven’t made pork chops before.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks, Calvin! Happy cooking!
Sarah L says
Have to speak to Santa about getting an instant pot. These look so good.
Christine Pittman says
I hope he comes through for you, Sarah! :)
Leslie Kiley says
I love my insta pot and I really love trying new recipes with it. My new move is to get one for my daughter!
Christine Pittman says
We love the insta pot too, Leslie! We’ve got lots of recipes on the site for you to try and enjoy!
Barb says
Hi There
Instant Pot Newbie here. I just purchased the 8qt Duo, for two of us. The Pork Chop recipe above, is it for the 8qt or 6qt? I’ve been reading that the 8qt needs at least 2 cups of liquid while the 6qt needs 1 cup of liquid.
Sounds wonderful and juicy, can’t wait to try in my new Instant Pot.
Thanks
Christine Pittman says
We used the Instant Pot DUO Plus 8 Qt
LB says
Hi, still learning with my instant pot. We have big eaters so I’ll need 4 large chops which means searing in batches which takes extra time . Is the searing necessary or can it be skipped to make this a quicker hand off meal? Thx.
Christine Pittman says
Searing the pork chops can be skipped but isn’t ideal. Here’s an idea, LB…you could turn the broiler on and broil them AFTER cooking them in the instant pot to get some color on them. However, depending on how thick they are, you could just broil them to cook them in which case you don’t need the instant pot at all.
Richard says
I tried this but it came out much too tough. Recommend less time.
Angela Hardy says
Can I make these with frozen chops?
Christine Pittman says
Angela, probably yes. You would just need to set the time for longer, and you can’t sear them first. I haven’t done it though so I don’t know for sure how long. If they chops are frozen separately (not clumped together), I’d set the pressure cook time to 8 minutes and see how that does. Note that you can totally sear them or broil them AFTER pressure-cooking to get that nice brownness.
Douglas L Tyndall says
Our cuts of pork loin chops maybe were not the best…purchased from walmart with 20 cents off for the family pack. Feeding family of 7, must get all discounts I can. That being said, this process took much longer because of searing 7 large pieces, 3 minutes each side equals about extra :45…we have the largest instapot available, but the chops were too large to fit 2 in at time with bone. We followed directions exactly, and everyone at the table seemed to enjoy. Depending on the cut….we had some with bone around edges, and some with bone near middle…some pieces were a little more dry than others. We did not lay the chops flat in the pot, we stood them up on end with bone on bottom….not sure if that affects anything one way or another. I just felt it would allow steam to flow thru meat evenly. However, alot of the salt may have drippedof f the meat this way, because the meat was a little bland by itself. Some of the kids added franks red hot sauce to accommodate for this. The instapot is great for some things, but for a larger family, we may just stick with the oven metthod for pork chops. Otherwise, the recipe was good, and meat was mostly tender as a pork chop could be. Glad we tried it at least once. If we do again, we might skip the saute/searing step of the process, and just add a couple minutes to the pressure cook time.
Tom says
Followed the directions, but chops came out very tough… was I supposed to pound them first? They were just under 3/4″ thick… not sure where I failed.
K Ann Guinn says
Thanks for this simple yet tasty recipe. It was exactly what I needed for today. I thickened the drippings and we used it as a light gravy. I will definitely keep this as a go-to method for cooking moist pork chops.
Christine Pittman says
So happy you liked the pork chops. Thanks for letting us know!
Wendy says
What is the max number of pork chops that can be cooked in the instant pot? I have the 8 quart.
Christine Pittman says
Wendy, I think you could technically fill the whole thing with pork chops. You would then need more time, I think. And they might end up unevenly cooked. I haven’t tested a maximum number but I’d think 6-8. If you do a big batch, please come back and let us know what you find out.
Craig says
Hi,
Thank you for a wonderful, fast, and easy to prepare recipe.
The pork chops came out so moist and flavorful.
Christine Pittman says
Craig, I’m so glad you liked them. Thanks for letting us know!
Trent says
Thank you for the recipe, Christine! I’m military – currently away from my wife and kids- and learning to cook for myself. I was looking for a no-fuss pork chop recipe (no breading, special sauces, etc.) and found yours. I followed your recipe (I didn’t have parsley) and my pork chops turned out great!
Christine Pittman says
That’s great, Trent! I’m so happy you liked it. Thanks for letting me know!
Mary says
Thanks for the easy, tasty recipe! I made it with 2 pork chops.
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Mary. Glad you liked it!