French Onion Smothered Pork Chops
French onion smothered pork chops are absolutely delicious, super flavourful, soul-warming and simple to make with simple ingredients. This incredible comfort food is gorgeously cooked while smothered in a rich caramelized onion gravy, then covered in melted provolone and Gruyere cheese. It's melty cheese bubbling on top is absolutely irresistible! This recipe is a family favorite and great served along with mashed potatoes.
French onion soup is so flavourful, soul warming and simple to make with simple ingredients. It's melty cheese bubbling on top is absolutely irresistible!
As a family who really enjoys a nice hearty and filling meal, I decided it might be worth a shot at trying French onion soup in a different way… as French onion smothered pork chops!!
I'm telling you… this tender and juicy pork chop recipe will really rock your world! It's become one of my family's favourite pork recipes. ❤️
To make this deliciousness happen, I seared the meat in the pan, then made a scrumptious caramelized sweet onion gravy. To finish them off, I baked the chops in a glass baking dish along with the gravy and topped each with some melty gooy provolone and Gruyere cheese. The melted cheese is soooooo good! 😋
We love to serve the French onion pork chops along with some creamy whipped potatoes and some veggies. Don't be ashamed to go nuts with the gravy… it's so amazing!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! ❤️ If you give it a try, please let me know how it turned out for you in the comments section at the bottom of the page or share a pic of your om noms on Instagram and tag @dishesanddustbunnies! ❤️
Be sure to see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for full ingredients & instructions!
Ingredients used to make French Onion Smothered Pork Chops
This recipe is made with simple and easy-to-find ingredients such as pork chops, butter, beef stock or beef broth, onions, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, a little flour (to thick the gravy) and of course, some provolone and Gruyere cheese. The melted cheese is amazing, by the way! 😋
What are the best pork chops to buy for this recipe?
Typically, I like to use bone-in chops in recipes as they're super flavourful; for this delicious recipe, however, it's best to use the boneless kind as it's more convenient to serve with the French onion sauce and cheese over the top. Once served and when cutting into the chop, you won't have to worry about finding any hidden bones or making a mess trying to remove them – your focus will instead be on enjoying that sauce and flavour! 😋
Be sure to see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for full ingredients & instructions!
How to Make French Onion Pork Chops – Overview
In the recipe at the bottom of the page, you'll find the full instructions on making French onion pork chops, but first, here's a quick overview of how easy it is to make!
To start, melt butter in a large skillet or frying pan. Add sliced onions and cook until caramelized and change to a lovely rich golden brown colour. Next, beef broth is added to the pan and reduced into the onions. Once the onions have been flavoured, they're removed from the pan and set aside until needed.
The pork chops are prepped in the next step by seasoning them with salt, pepper, dried thyme, and garlic powder. The chops are then added to the skillet and cooked for about 6 minutes on each side or until golden, then removed from the pan, set aside on a plate until needed.
Next, you're going to make the delicious onion gravy to smother those pork chops in! Return the onions to the pan, combine with the flour and cook for a few minutes while stirring. Add the remaining beef broth, stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add the pork chops to the pan and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Finally, remove the pork chops from the skillet and place them into a glass baking dish. Pour the French onion gravy over the top of the chops. Place a piece of provolone cheese over top of each chop, then sprinkle with Gruyere or Swiss cheese.
Place the dish in your oven under the broiler setting to melt the cheese. Once the cheese has melted, remove it from the oven and sprinkle a little fresh thyme over the top. Please don't skip this part; it gives the pork chops a pleasant little added aroma and flavour!
Serve French onion pork chops with creamy mashed potatoes with a generous helping of that deviously irresistible onion gravy on top.
Don't be ashamed to go nuts with the gravy… it's so amazing! 😋
How to Prepare Ahead, Serve and Store
Serve: Serve French onion pork chops along with creamy mashed potatoes and a generous helping of onion gravy on top. Roast veggies also go deviously with these chops. You can find more ideas on how to serve this recipe further down in this post.
Prep Ahead: You can prep this recipe ahead of time by preparing the onion gravy and cooking the pork chops. Place everything in the baking dish, so they're ready to go, except for the cheese. Allow everything to cool on the counter, then cover with a lid or foil. Store in the fridge until you're ready to finish the recipe. Place cheese on top of the pork chops, then reheat in the oven.
It's important to note that before reheating, let the baking dish and its contents rest at room temperature on the counter for at least 20-30 minutes. This is to avoid breaking the dish due to temperature shock when a cold dish enters a hot oven.
Store: We rarely ever have leftovers for this recipe; however, if you do end up with some, I'd recommend storing the pork chops and onion gravy in a glass oven proof dish (such as the dish you baked it in) with a lid or some aluminum foil over the top. This way, you can reheat the French onion pork chops in the oven.
If you enjoy this recipe, be sure to try my Classic Homemade French Onion Soup from Scratch!
Be sure to see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for full ingredients & instructions!
Can I cook French Onion Pork Chops using other methods?
Yes, you can definitely cook this recipe using a few other methods!
One-pan/One Dish Version: If you have an oven safe skillet, you can reduce the dirty dishes and turn this recipe into a one pan meal! Instead of transferring everything to a baking dish, you can keep everything in your oven safe skillet, add the cheese on top and finish it off under the broiler.
Slow Cooker/Crock pot: To make this recipe using your crock pot or slow cooker, follow the recipe instructions at the bottom of the page but at step 5, after searing the meat, place them. in the slow cooker. Continue making the onion sauce in the skillet according to the recipe, but when done, pour it into the crock pot over the meat. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
Once the pork chops and gravy have finished cooking in the slow cooker, remove the meat, place them into a baking dish and pour the sauce over the top. Add the cheese as described in step 11, then continue as written. Please note that even though you're cooking this mainly in a slow cooker, you'll have to finish the recipe off in the oven under the broiler to melt that yummy cheese!
What to serve with French Onion Pork Chops:
We love to serve the French onion pork chops and some creamy whipped potatoes and some veggies. Below are a few other ideas:
- Potatoes – mashed, roasted, baked, etc
- Rice – the sauce is so good with this recipe that plain white rice is usually best! I enjoy steamed basmati as a side with this recipe.
- Steamed and roasted veggies
- Salads
- simple green salad
- Creamy Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Salad
Other recipes you'll enjoy:
French Onion Smothered Pork Chops
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsps unsalted butter
- 3 tbsps all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cup beef broth or stock
- 4 pork chops, boneless
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 4 slices of provolone cheese
- 1 cup (or more) shredded Gruyere cheese
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottom frying pan or skillet, melt the butter on medium heat.
- Add sliced onions to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the onions are caramelized and a nice rich brown colour. Stir around a few times making sure not to burn them.
- Add 1/4 cup of the beef stock to the pan, stir and allow to reduce into the onions. Once reduced, remove the onions from the pan and set aside in a dish until ready for them again.
- Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper, dried thyme and garlic powder.
- Add pork chops to the pan and sear them on each side until golden – about 6 minutes each side. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate until ready for them again.
- If there are any little golden bits on the bottom of the pan, be sure to loosen them up by adding a little water to the pan and scraping them with a spoon. These tasty bits are important in making the dish super flavourful!
- Return onions to the pan and combine with the flour. Cook for a few minutes while stirring.
- Add beef stock, stir to combine and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat, add the pork chops to the pan and cook for about 15 minutes while spooning the liquid over top. The liquid should thicken up nicely while cooking.
- Remove the pork chops from the pan and place into a 9″x13″ glass baking dish (I use one like this). Pour the sauce from the pan into the baking dish and over the pork chops.
- Next, lay a slice of provolone cheese over top of each pork chop. Sprinkle the Gruyere cheese over the tops of the provolone slices.
- Put the baking dish into the oven on the broiler setting to melt the cheese and bring it to a nice golden colour on top. This should only take about 8-10 minutes so make sure you keep an eye on it. Once cheese is melted and golden, remove from the oven.
- Finally, sprinkle the fresh time leaves from the sprigs over the top of everything in the baking dish. This makes everything super yummy!!
- Serve with mashed potatoes and veggies for a spectacularly yummy dinner! This recipe is one of our family favourites! 🙂
Notes
If you can't find Gruyere cheese, you can substitute it for Swiss.
One pan/One Dish Version: If you have an oven safe skillet you can reduce the dirty dishes and turn this recipe into a one pan meal! Instead of transferring everything to a baking dish you can keep everything in your oven safe skillet, add the cheese on top and finish it off under the broiler.
Slow Cooker/Crock pot: To make this recipe using your crock pot or slow cooker, follow the recipe instructions at the bottom of the page but at step 5 after searing the meat, place them. in the slow cooker. Continue making the onion sauce in the skillet according to the recipe, but when done, pour it into the crock pot over the meat. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
Once the pork chops and gravy have finished cooking in the slow cooker, remove the meat, placing them into a baking dish and pour the sauce over top. Add the cheese as described in step 11, then continue as written.
Please note that even though you're cooking this mostly in a slow cooker, you'll have to finish the recipe off in the oven under the broiler in order melt that yummy cheese!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: about 45 minutes
- Category: Main
- Method: Stove top and Broiler setting in Oven
- Cuisine: American/Canadian
