Crispy Ranch Pork Chops

These crispy ranch pork chops are absolutely amazing! We are always looking for quick cooking and easy to make recipes, and although this one has a little more work than most of our “quick and easy” go-to’s the end result is totally worth it!

My kids and my husband both LOVE these pork chops, they are super crispy, juicy and flavorful, and the recipe comes with a zesty dipping sauce that tops it off!

We typically have the ingredients for this recipe laying around, and it uses a lot of our staples! We usually keep lemons around because they provide a nice fresh zest to many different dishes.

You should definitely make these as a weeknight or weekend meal. They take about 20 minutes of prep and 10 to 15 minutes of cooking (depending on how thick your pork chops are). This is a great 30 minute pork chop recipe.

---

Ingredients

• Pork Chops
• Panko Bread Crumbs
• Lemons
• Ranch Seasoning Packets
• Sour Cream
• Salt & Pepper

---

Cooking Steps

Step 1: Get all your ingredients together. You will want a couple gallon size ziploc bags at the ready, a meat mallet (our you can just use a heavy pan or rolling pin if you don’t have one), and a small bowl to mix the dipping sauce in.

Step 2: Zest your lemons and then cut them into wedges. I really love the lemon zester we got from Amazon, it does a great job without feeling like you are squishing the crap out of your lemon while zesting it, plus it was only $10 when we got it! If you are interested, I’ve added a link: Lemon Zester ‘paid link’, I highly recommend this if you use lemons and limes a lot (which we do), or cheese (it works wonders for parmesean and asiago.. If you don’t have a lemon zester, a lot of times a cheese grater will do the trick with a little more effort.

Step 3: Put your pork chops into a ziploc bag get out a majority of the air, but not all of it, and close the ziploc seal. You are going to use your meat mallet (or pan/rolling pin) to flatten out the pork chops. You want to use center cut boneless pork chops, but don’t get the thin cut ones. Just a regular cut will do fine. Use your meat mallet (ON THE FLAT SIDE) to flatten the pork chops to about 1/3″ thick. Some times cutting the fat line in some places will help to flatten these out, as this line can cause the pork chop to reform to it’s original thickness if not tenderized well.

Step 4: Mix together your breading ingredients. This will include your panko bread crumbs, ranch seasoning packet, lemon zest and salt & pepper to task. I find it easiest to mix these together right in a ziploc bag so I don’t dirty as many dishes! I pour in the bread crumbs, add the ranch seasoning and salt and pepper and then close the bag and shake it all up. After that, I add in the lemon zest. This way your lemon zest doesn’t just get coated immediately by the powder from the ranch packet.

Step 5: Add in sour cream to the ziploc bag that contains your flattened pork. You want to mix this bag all around to make sure the pork is coated entirely. Sometimes the pork can fold over on itself, so I leave a little air in the bag so I can maneuver the pork chops around to unfold them and make sure they are coated entirely with the sour cream. This will be your base to hold the breading on, so you don’t want any bare spots. Bare spots means non breaded pork, and it’s just not the same without a good full coating! I know the picture probably looks kind of gross, but I promise you these are great once they’re done!

Step 6: Now that your porkchops are nicely and fully coated in the sour cream, you will want to transfer them to the bag with your breading. You can coat all your pork chops at one time using 4 pork chops, the bag has enough room. Shake the pork chops inside the bag, and move the contents of the bag around in your hands to evenly coat them. Again, same tips as in step 5, leave a little air in the bag so you can maneuver these pork chops around inside the bag to assure they are fully coated with the breading. Once it appears the pork chops are full coated they are ready for frying. During this step, I usually flatten my pork chops out inside the bag, and press the coating onto them against the counter. This way I can be sure the coating is well stuck to the pork chop without getting my hands dirty, or having the coating stick to my hands instead of the pork. It’s okay if not all the breading is used, as long as the pork is coated well.

Step 7: Using a nice sized frying pan, you will want to fill the bottom of the pan with oil (I used olive oil, but you can also use vegetable oil). Heat up the oil over medium high heat until the oil is hot enough that panko sizzles when you drop a couple pieces into the pan. Once your oil is heated well enough turn the heat to medium or medium low and start adding your pork chops into the pan, placing them down gently to avoid knocking off your breading. If your breading is browning too quickly, turn the heat down further. My pan fit all 4 of my pork chops, but just place as many as will fit, and cook them through before taking them out and adding more. Let the pork chops cook for about 5 – 8 minutes on each side depending on thickness, the internal temperature should be at least 145ºF, but safer to be around 165ºF. While they are cooking, continue to step 8.

Step 8: While the pork chops are cooking, you can quickly whip together the zesty dipping sauce. You will want to mix together sour cream, ranch seasoning, salt & pepper, and some lemon juice to make this sauce. Place all ingredients into a small bowl and stir together until well combined.

Step 9: Once cooked through, remove your pork chops and place them on a paper towel lined plate to cool and add just a pinch of salt on top (I use a salt grinder with Himalayan Pink Salt ‘paid link’). The paper towel will help to catch any extra oil that drips off, and will help the bottom of the pork chop to stay crispy. You won’t want to leave them sitting on this plate for a super long time, otherwise the breading will still get too much moisture and get a little less crispy on the bottom. I would suggest letting these sit for about 3 minutes before serving.

**Serve these with a lemon wedge to squeeze on top for extra lemon flavor, and enjoy!**