This pork chop marinade is a blend of garlic, herbs, olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar and Dijon mustard. It produces perfect marinated pork chops every time, and you can use your pork marinade for baked, broiled, grilled or sauteed pork.
Pork chops are a welcome addition to any dinner menu, and this marinated version is a family favorite. Serve your pork chops with Instant Pot mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli for a complete meal that everyone will love.
Pork chops naturally have a mild flavor which makes them the perfect meat to soak up a marinade. This is the best pork chop marinade – tender, juicy and full of flavor. You can bake, broil or grill your marinated pork chops for restaurant quality results that will earn you rave reviews. Add some great side dishes like cilantro lime rice and grilled vegetables for a memorable meal.
Table of Contents
Pork Chop Marinade Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, salt, garlic and pepper.
How Do You Make A Pork Chop Marinade?
Place all the marinade ingredients in a bowl or resealable freezer bag. If you’re using a bowl, whisk everything together. If you’re using a bag, seal the bag and shake well to combine. Place your pork chops in the bowl or in the bag, then marinate for at least one hour.
Tips For Pork Chop Marinade
- This marinade can be made up to 3 days before you plan to use it. Simply store the marinade in the fridge until you’re ready to pour it over your pork.
- You can really use any cut of pork for this marinade such as bone-in pork chops, boneless pork chops, pork loin or pork tenderloin. You can even use the marinade for chicken or steaks! Be sure to check out some of my other great marinade options for other types of meat such as teriyaki marinade, BBQ chicken marinade, London broil marinade and chicken thigh marinade.
- This marinade contains sugar which adds great flavor, but can easily burn on the grill. Make sure your grill or pan is not too hot before you add your meat!
- No brown sugar on hand? Honey is also a great choice!
Quick Tip
It’s important not to overcook your pork, otherwise the chops could be tough. Use a meat thermometer to make sure your pork is cooked properly.
Recipe FAQs
My favorite way to cook marinated pork chops is on the grill. If the weather isn’t nice enough for outdoor grilling, I use an indoor grill pan on the stove. If you prefer, you can bake or saute your pork chops.
Pork chops should be marinated for at least one hour. I recommend marinating your pork chops for a longer period of time for the best flavor, I try to let my pork marinate for at least 6-8 hours.
Pork should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. The easiest way to gauge if your pork is done is to insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the pork – be sure that the thermometer is not touching the bone! Once you’ve reached the correct temperature, remove the pork from the heat and let it rest for 3 minutes before you slice it.
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Flavor Variations
While this recipe is delicious as-is, you can add other ingredients to customize it to your tastes.
- Spicy: Add crushed red pepper flakes to taste.
- Herb Lover’s: Add 1/4 cup fresh chopped herbs such as thyme, green onions, rosemary or parsley. Scrape off the large pieces of herbs before you cook your pork.
- Asian: Use a blend of olive oil, toasted sesame oil, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and garlic.
- Mexican: Use a blend of olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chili powder and onion powder.
Once you try this pork chop marinade, you’ll find yourself using it on a regular basis! My family requests marinated pork chops all the time and I’m always happy to oblige.
More Great Pork Chop Recipes
Mushroom Pork Chops
30 mins
BBQ Pork Chops
40 mins
Brown Sugar Pork Chops
35 mins
Honey Garlic Pork Chops (Slow Cooker)
5 hrs 15 mins
Stuffed Pork Chops
30 mins
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Pork Chop Marinade
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a large bowl or resealable gallon sized bag.
- If using a bowl, whisk to combine the ingredients. If using a bag, seal the bag and shake to combine the ingredients.
- Add 2-3 pounds of pork chops, then marinate for at least 1 hour, or up to 12 hours.
- Proceed with cooking method of your choice.
Notes
- This marinade can be made up to 3 days before you plan to use it. Simply store the marinade in the fridge until you’re ready to add your pork.
- You can really use any cut of pork for this marinade such as bone in pork chops, boneless pork chops, pork loin or pork tenderloin.
I don’t usually post comments, but this recipe was knock-your-socks-off DELICIOUS!! I made it exactly as the recipe says to do and WOW! Even my husband loved it. Thanks so much for enriching our dinner tonight!
Delicious recipe. I added the mustard and added 1tsp of sweet and spice mustard and cooked my chops in a cast iron skillet. YUMMM! Will be using this recipe again and again.
Th is is my go-to marinade for pork chops! It is so flavorful and goes with everything. I especially love serving it with roasted potatoes and broccoli with some olive oil, garlic powder and lemon pepper. I will always use this recipe for pork!
Want to know if I can make this and freeze it. It made my chops amazing the other night
Yes that’s fine!
I just tried your pork chop marinade and it is the best marinade I’ve ever made. We don’t have pork chops often since they can be a bit dry so I was determined to find a great solution. I’m going to make the marinade and have it on hand since I had too much left after marinating the chops and obviously couldn’t save that. I look forward to exploring your website in depth.
Just made for the first time yesterday- had a 4 pack of fairly thick boneless/skinless pork chops we were looking forward to putting on the grill- let them marinade for about 4 hours- AMAZING! I followed the recipe exactly how it appears, won’t change a thing and it will be my new favorite ‘go to’ marinade! Can’t wait to experiment on different cuts of meat! THANK YOU for sharing!!
Very tasty! This is now my go-to marinade for pork chops! Thanks for sharing.
followed recipe exactly…..perfect would not change a thing.
thx
Is there anything else I could use instead of mustard please as I don’t have it in? Thanks
You can omit the mustard!
I used dry mustard!
Excellent marinade, tasted great. Only thing I would omit is the salt, the soy makes it salty enough. Other than that, it was as good or better than anything in a bottle from the store.
Very tasty marinade.
You should make it printable. It was very good, I think it would work wonderful for a pork tenderloin also. Just marinate it overnight.
So glad you enjoyed it! All recipes are printable, there’s a print button under the square photo in the recipe card.
Looks great and can’t wait to try! How many pork chops is this recipe for?
About 2 pounds of meat, so 4-6 chops. You can double it if you need more!
Absolutely delicious! Even my 5 year old loved the flavor of this marinade.
Thanks for sharing!
I used your recipe to marinate a 3 pound pork loin. I only had 3 hours for marinating before I cooked it in a 350 degree oven for an hour, and let rest covered for a half hour. It was nicely flavored and very moist. Didn’t need any extra sauce, although I did boil the marinade and baste the pork midway through. Thank you for your recipe. 🙂
Would this marinade be ok to use for pork chops in the crockpot…it’s winter and I can’t grill, but the recipe looked so good!
I’ve never used it in a crockpot! You might want to try this one with pork chops instead because I think it would work for sure: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/slow-cooker-pork-tenderloin/
Hi! Do you think I could use the marinade in this recipe with boneless pork chop and cook on the instant pot following this recipe instruction: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/slow-cooker-pork-tenderloin/? if so, for how long would you cook the pork chops?
Yes that should be fine. Are you using the slow cooker or pressure cooker function on the instant pot? That recipe is designed for a slow cooker.
Looks really good, I have to know what the dish is that you have the pork chops sitting on. Is it a corn orzo something? Please share the recipe.
Thank you for all the great recipes.
It’s a box of Israeli couscous mix with green bell peppers, corn and parsley mixed in!
Made this for my husband and son. I don’t personally eat pork, but they said it was AMAZING!! Thanks for sharing!!
Yum..enough said
This is a fantastic marinade. I made this for the pork chops for the family and there were a LOT of compliments. I also made a gravy using the excess marinade (make sure you boil it up furiously before making the gravy) and it was truly delicious.
I’m a foodie and a cook and pretty critical when it comes to food. This is probably the best marinade I’ve used, especially for pork. After marinating for most of the day, we’re grilling these babies tonight.
The marinade was delicious! I made it the yesterday morning and had the pork sitting in it all day. Delicious! Thank you