Air-Fried Porkchop
by Val CucinaAir-Fried Porkchop
Rated 5 stars by 1 users
Porkchops are not as easy to cook well than it looks. We all have had experiences eating over-cooked porkchops, tough and chewy. With the Val Cucine Air Fryer, we found a way of cooking porkchops that is both moist and tender. The only extra effort required is to marinade the porkchop(s) for about 15 minutes before hand to get more tender and flavorful results. With the “broil” function there is yet another avenue to use a “multi-purpose” air fryer.
Thickness of porkchops determines cooking time and tenderness. The rule of thumb is for a 1” or thinner porkchop it’ll takearound 11-12 minutes; if you like to eat thicker porkchops, say a 2” thick porkchop, the cooking time should be around 20-21 minutes; and a 1-½ inch porkchop, the cooking time should be 15-16 minutes. If you use a meat thermometer, the internal temperature for the porkchop should not be lower than 165F. Important to remember is to turn over the porkchop half way through cooking so both sides can benefit from cooking heat from above. When cooking is complete, let the porkchop(s) rest for a few minutes before serving for the cooking juices to resettle back into the porkchop.
Ingredients
-
Two 1-½ inches thick pork-chops, cleaned
- ½ tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, vinegar or Asian fish soy
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder (optional)
- ¼ cup pangrattato or panko
- One clove of garlic, crushed
- A pinch of fresh or dried herbs
- 1 tablespoon grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
- Coarse sea salt & freshly grounded black pepper
Directions
- Set “air fry” function to “A3”; set temperature to “350F”; set timer to “18” minutes; place cooking basket in the middle of the air fryer when cooking; preheat the air fryer;
- Place the porkchops on a plate or pan, drizzle the olive oil over the porkchops on both sides first, then sprinkle the acid, either lemon juice, vinegar or Asian fish soy. The combination of lemon juice and fish soy is best;
- Cover the plate with plastic wrap to cover, after 7 or 8 minutes, flip the porkchops over onto the other side;
- After about 15-20 minutes in the marinate, remove the porkchops onto the wire basket;
Line the cooking tray with a piece of aluminum foil and place it underneath the wire basket with the pork-chops, so to catch the fat drippings from the pork-chops during cooking;
- Or, you can choose to place a piece of aluminum foil directly in the wire basket underneath the porkchops if they do not have too much fat on them. This way you can avoid cleaning the wire basket when cooking is finished;
- When the air fryer preheating is complete, place the air-fry basket in the middle of the oven and cook for 8 minutes;
Take the wire basket out of the air fryer and turn the pork-chops over, place the chops back into the oven and cook for another 7-8 minutes;
- While the porkchops are cooking, in a bowl mix together the pangrattto (an Italian name for coarse breadcrumbs), you can make the pangrattato with left over bread, dried old bread or you can use Panko;
Take a little olive oil and fry the breadcrumbs with a clove of garlic, some fresh or dried herbs, a little coarse and black pepper;
- When the pangrattato is done, remove the garlic clove and let the mixture cool on top of a paper towel;
- When the porkchops have finished cooking and resting, mix together the pangrattato, the grated Pecorino, smoked paprika and cayenne if you like your porkchops spicy;
- When the porkchops have rested, place the breadcrumb mixture on a plate and place the porkchops on top of the porkchops, press down on the breadcrumbs a little and then turn over, repeat the same procedure;
- Now set the porkchops on a plate, place some vegetables on the side and then serve;
- If and when you would like to warm up left-over porkchops, simply set the air fryer to “375F” and cook for “3-5” minutes;
- For a moist option, wrap the porkchops in aluminum foil and warm at the same temperature and time.