Thin and crispy Chinese restaurant-style honey garlic pork chops use common ingredients to bring you an uncommonly exciting flavor everyone will love for dinner! {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Pork is one of my favorite proteins to use when creating recipes. In Chinese and many Asian dishes in particular, it creates new and unique dining experiences, breaking away from the boring and expected.
You can check out my other pork chop recipes – Salt and Pepper Pork Chops, Chinese Fried Pork Chops, and Instant Pot Pork Chops with Black Bean Sauce.
And now, you can add my honey garlic pork chops to your list of delightful pork recipes. If you’ve ever had it at your favorite Chinese restaurant, you might be surprised to know you can make it at home with common pantry staples. By simply putting these things together, you get a crispy pork chop with a heavenly honey garlic sauce. It’s so incredibly delicious and is sure to be a new favorite dinner at your home.
Why this recipe
This honey garlic pork chop is different from other recipes because:
- It uses ultra-thin pork chops pounded very thin to create the extra crunchy crispy result. I then cut the pork into bite-size pieces so it will have more crispy surfaces, like nuggets.
- The quick marinade helps get the maximum flavor.
- My recipe uses tons of fresh aromatics to create a balanced and rich sauce.
- You will even satisfy your sweet tooth with only two tablespoons of honey without any other added sugar!
Honey garlic pork chop ingredients
What cuts of pork to use
The best cut of pork chop is the thin bone-in cut, about 1/4” (1/2 cm) thick. You don’t need to remove the bones when you cut up the pork.
The next best choice is boneless chops that are around 1/2” (1 cm) thick. For this cut, you will need to pound them a bit more and the pork pieces will come out a bit thicker, but will still be very crispy.
I would avoid super thick chops that are more than 1/2” (1 cm) thick.
Shaoxing wine
Shaoxing wine is an essential ingredient for Chinese pantry. You can read more about it here.
In this recipe, I used it to marinate the pork and make the sauce. It helps to eliminate the gamey taste from the pork and add a rich umami to it.
If you want to make a non-alcoholic dish, you can skip the wine from the marinade, and use soy sauce as a replacement in the sauce.
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have the ingredients well prepared:
- Pork chop, pounded and cut
- Mixed marinade
- Mix sauce
- Chopped aromatics (garlic & green onions)
Cooking process
- Pound the pork chop thin
- Cut the pork chop into bite-sized pieces, then marinate
- Coat the pork with starch right before cooking
- Shallow fry the pork until crispy
- Gather the fried pork with aromatics and sauce before stir frying
- Cook the aromatics to release the fragrance
- Add the sauce and reduce until thickened
- Add the cooked pork for the final mix
Frying method
You can use a bit more oil to shallow-fry the pork chops for that extra crispy crust and juicy texture just like you’d get at a Chinese restaurant. You can also coat the pork with a generous amount of oil spray and cook it in your air fryer if you prefer, then finish up the sauce in a pan separately.
Afterthoughts
This dish was my childhood favorite and I think it was extra special since my dad made it for special occasions. I always keep pork in my freezer (and you should too!) as it is so versatile and allows an escape from ordinary flavor.
These honey garlic pork chops are wonderful on top of steamed rice or noodles. Serve them with some blanched veggies and you’ll have a delicious treat and full meal to enjoy!
Other delicious takeout recipes
- Chinese Curry Chicken
- Walnut Shrimp
- Beef Lo Mein
- Chicken Fried Rice (鸡肉炒饭)
- Easy Mongolian Meatballs
- Chicken Mei Fun
Honey Garlic Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 bone-in thin cut pork chops , about 1 lb / 450 g in total (*Footnote 1)
Marinade
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or rice vinegar)
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- Pinch of white pepper
- Pinch of black pepper
- 2 tablespoons water
Fry
- 1 cup vegetable oil (or other neutral oil) (*Footnote 2)
- 4 cloves garlic , minced (*Footnote 3)
- Sliced green onion and / or fried garlic , for garnish (Optional)
Instructions
- Pound the pork chops with a tenderizer or the back of a heavy knife until 1/4” (1/2 cm) thick. Cut the pounded pork into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a medium-sized bowl.
- Add all the marinade ingredients except the cornstarch and flour into the bowl with pork chops. Massage in the marinade with your hand. Marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix well.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed skillet until about 350°F (176°C).
- Meanwhile, add the cornstarch and flour to the bowl with marinated pork chop. Mix until the pork is evenly coated. Add the chops to the preheated oil. Fry until both sides are golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove the cooked pork onto a plate.
- Turn off the heat. Drain most of the oil from the skillet using a ladle, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan.
- Turn on the heat to medium. Add the garlic. Fry until fragrant and golden, about 1 minute.
- Pour in the sauce. Cook and stir until it reduces to a thin, syrupy consistency.
- Add the cooked pork back to the reduced sauce. Stir a few times until it is well coated. Transfer everything to a serving plate. Garnish with sliced green onions and more fried garlic chips, if using.
- Serve immediately as a main dish.
Notes
- You can either use bone-in or boneless pork chops.
- The result will be the best if you use a bit more oil to shallow fry the chops. Alternatively, you can spray the pork chops with a generous amount of oil and fry them in an air fryer.
- I fried some extra garlic chips to garnish the dish at the end. It adds a more savory taste to the pork. You can totally skip it or use store-bought fried garlic if you like.
This recipe was delicious! My Taiwan-born fiancé approved, as well!
Hello,
This is a good recipe. My trial did not look anything like those nice pictures but it still looked decent. To be faire, I semi-fried the pieces of pork with a very shallow level of oil. I also accidentally put the flour and cornstarch in the marinade.
Because I had 1.5 kg of pork, I multiplied the sauce x 5 (and it wasn’t enough). I followed the recipe, except I needed tosubstitute honey for maple syrup. That might explain why my color isn’t as “golden brown”.
With that modification, it tasted primarily sweet, but my 2 year old daughter devoured it, so it’s a recipe I’ll try again.
I also added a mix of vegetables (cabbage, carrots, onions)
Could you use thinly sliced pork tenderloin?
Yes you can!
Amazing as usual!
Wow! Honestly while prepping these I was worried about the lack of flavor. The marinade seemed light and the sauce very minimal but they turned out perfectly! Nice and sticky and crispy. I halved the recipe for my husband and I and we ate every last bite. Parked it with your lo mein for a homemade takeout night. Loving your recipes I’m so glad I found your site!
Divine! Simple delicious and a keeper. Served with coconut rice and steamed broccolini. I put the fried garlic slices over the broccolini along with a drizzle of oil . Next time I will add the slightest touch of pepper flakes to the sauce. I think doubling the sauce is a good idea as well.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It was easy to make and it was delicious! I will definitely make this again!
Would pork chops labelled “fast fry” (such as those used for schnitzel) be the right thickness?
I think that will work out great.
Yummy
This dish is in regular rotation in my house. It’s fantastic. Crunchy sweet and it always turns out great.
Loved it
Followed your recipe precisely using a wok and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Only suggestion to readers would be drip-draining all oil before adding the sauce, and serving over a plate of green beans, onions and garlic, wok-prepared before cooking the meat.
Question for Maggie — What should I add to get that nice candy-red color for the honey-glazed meat you see in the picture?
Happy to hear you like the dish! 🙂
Re color – the honey will caramelize and turn to a nice orange-brown-ish color so you will need a very hot pan. The light soy sauce helps because it won’t turn the sauce too dark. The rest is photo editing lol
You need good jarred honey and not anything that squeezes for it to caramelize and darken 🙂
Holy moley. I only half followed the recipe, and it turned out amazing!!!
This was really good. Next time I will double the sauce because we like it saucy.
I love this recipe and make it at least once a week. I change nothing and it’s fabulous.
Great recipe. Sound complicated, but isn’t. Leftovers were eaten cold. That is how good this recipe is.
This turned out well.
Used Pork tenderloin and the sauce was spot on.
Thanks.
This was fantasticly delicious and easy..
Crispy, tender, delicious!
I’ve been using this recipe at least once a week for nearly a year now and have changed nothing. My entire family loves it and this is their preferred way to eat pork chops now. Also this is one of the few sauces that tastes great. The perfect amount of everything.