Baked Pork Chops With Spicy Peanut Glaze

I love peanut butter. I really do. So when I heard about The National Peanut Board’s recipe contest, I knew I was going to participate. The only question was “what to make?” The recipes for this contest need to highlight both the versatility and health benefits of peanut butter. There are other restrictions about serving size and number of ingredients which you can read about here. I went with this recipe because it’s simple yet flavorful, and draws its character from a perfect pairing of peanuts and chili powder with a slight tang and saltiness to round it out.

Baked Pork Chops With Spicy Peanut Glaze

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

• 2 pork chops, fat trimmed
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons milk(or non-dairy substitute)
• 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt(1/4 teaspoon if your peanut butter is already salted)

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a pan with aluminum foil, add in the pork chops, and drizzle with the cooking oil to coat. Make sure that the oil covers the whole pork chop to prevent burning. When the oven is preheated, put in the pork chops to bake for 30 minutes.

While the pork chops are cooking, combine the peanut butter, chili powder, vinegar, milk, and salt in a small dish. Whisk together to emulsify.

Once the pork chops have cooked for 30 minutes, take them out of the oven to put on the sauce. Evenly distribute the sauce between both chops and brush on in an even layer. Put the pork chops back in the oven for 10 more minutes to finish cooking and for the sauce to thicken.

Simple, yet flavorful—the sauce doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to put together, and can easily be used on any neutral-flavored protein(chicken, tofu). Pork just happened to be what I had around. Serve with light vegetables like a salad or other greens so that the peanut flavor really pops. And if you’re interested in entering the recipe contest, you don’t need to have a blog or anything; just head on over to their website for more info before November 19th.