Grilled Pork Chops with Honey Soy Glaze

I love the combination of sweet and savory. Chocolate covered pretzels are pretty high on my list, as is a salty caramel sauce on ice cream. I also love the combination in savory recipes, like my Roasted Salmon with Mango & Avocado Salsa. Savory, hot-out-of-the-oven salmon + the sweetness from the mangos creates a treat for the senses.

In this recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with a Sticky Honey Soy Glaze, I took a local honey and combined it with umami-rich soy sauce. I also added lime for some tartness and a pinch of ground coriander to keep everyone’s tastebuds guessing.

Ground coriander is the ground up seed of the cilantro plant. In the U.K., they actually call cilantro, “coriander”. Don’t fear if you don’t like cilantro, though. Coriander tastes different and doesn’t have that off-putting taste to some folks. It’s lightly sweet with notes of citrus, and it’s often used in Indian cooking. Many curry powders are a mixture of spices, one of which is usually coriander. I think it complements the sweetness from the honey and the richness of the soy sauce.

When I’m shopping for pork chops, I usually choose a bone-in, thin-cut chop. The bones add more flavor to the finished product, and the thin-cut selection makes it easier to cook. If I were cooking with a massive, 1½-inch thick pork chop, I would grill it first and then transfer it to the oven to finish cooking through. With thin-cut pork chops (which are about ¾ of an inch thick), I can just grill it on both sides and be done. It minimizes the risk of it drying out, too, since the cooking time is shorter.

There are all sorts of techniques for glazing pork chops out there. A popular one is to brush the pork chops with the glaze near the end of the cooking time. I happen to think that creates a massive mess of the grill or grill pan (here’s the one I use). Who wants to clean a sticky glaze off a hot grill, or worse, scrub it off a cold grill? Not me.

So I opt to cook them separately, boiling the glaze until it thickens. After the pork chops are finished cooking, I place them on a serving platter and then drizzle them with the glaze. This happens to make a nicer presentation, too!

I paired the chops with this Summer Chopped Vegetable Salad. It’s the perfect summertime meal—hot off the grill pork chops with a super fresh salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet corn, and green beans. I used lime juice and honey in both recipes to minimize the number of ingredients. Both recipes together end up using the whole lime—score! I can’t stand recipes for half a lime, because then the other half rots in my refrigerator until I find it a month later ← confessions of a food blogger.

I took the other half of the cucumber from the salad and sliced it before adding it to a big pitcher of cold water. I also added a sliced orange to infuse the water. Fresh mint is another great addition if you have it!

This is one of my favorite “pantry” meals—I always have the glaze ingredients on hand. If you’re out of limes, you could substitute red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar.

If you make these pork chops, I’d love to know what you think in the comments below!

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