Can Pork Chops be Grilled Like Steaks? Absolutely! In fact, it’s the only way to grill them. Now that the USDA has determined that pork need only to be cooked to 145 (medium rare), it makes it an absolute must. Pork chops don’t need all that much, similar to steaks. Salt, pepper, a little garlic, oh and maybe some bacon?! Everything is better with bacon. Oh and butter. Same deal as bacon! The hottest method for grilling steaks these days, and just about anything else, is the reverse sear method.

So I’m going to show how to perfectly grill pork chops like steaks with the reverse sear method but with a twist. Of course the twist comes at the end.

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Grilled Pork Chops Ingredients:

1 Pork loin, carved into chops
1 slice of bacon for each pork chop
Butcher’s twine
Salt
Pepper
Granulated garlic
1 pat of butter per pork chop

Time to prove whether or not pork chops can be grilled like steaks.

How to Prep and Grill Pork Chops

First, slice the pork loin into thick pork chops.

We’re going to do these pork chops filet mignon style.

Wrap each one with a piece of bacon and tie them with butcher’s twine (you could use toothpicks if you can’t find the twine) and then season with the salt, pepper, and granulated garlic:

All lined up and ready for the smoker:

First we Smoke Low and Slow

Prepare the grill for 225F degrees and place the pork chops in the smoker for the first part of the reverse sear:

Some are wondering why I’m not searing them first. Searing caramelizes the proteins and makes meat taste great, right?

Yes it does, but we also want some smoke flavor, first.

Once meat gets to about 140F-160F degrees on the outside, it doesn’t take on much smoke.

So if I sear and then smoke, there will be very little smoke flavor.

Although, if I smoke first and sear, I get the best of both worlds.

Can Pork Chops be Grilled Like Steaks

There’s sear and then there’s SEAR

Once the pork chops reach 130F degrees internal temperature time to sear them.

Bust out the charcoal chimney and a grill grate:

Wait, what? You read that right. This is that twist I warned you about.

A charcoal chimney is like a small blast furnace and can do some wicked searing.

Be very careful here.

Indeed, the bigger the grill grate and the narrower the chimney the less stable this set up is. And as hot as this can get, please be careful when trying this.

Also watch for flare ups from the bacon grease:

How’s that flavor crust?

Don’t go far when doing the searing. The chimney can top 1,000F degrees in no time.

That doesn’t take long to go from beautiful char to char-coal.

Additionally, don’t forget to crisp up the bacon around the edges:

And just because I love these action shots of smoke and fire, here’s one more:

Once they hit 145F degrees internal, plate them:

Again, don’t sweat cooking pork chops less than medium or 160F. The USDA says it’s OK to go to only 145F.

And finally, hit them with a pat of butter each, although I might recommend using a compound butter in the future:

And here’s shot of them sliced:

The word you are looking for is glisten.

Can Pork Chops be Grilled Like Steaks? Yes!

I have to say that these chops were fantastic. Thus, dad and I were grilling and grazing all day. When these came off we still mowed a bunch of them down. They were just that good. So to answer the question, Can Pork Chops be Grilled Like Steaks? Yes, absolutely, yes!

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Recipe Card:

Reverse Seared Pork Chops 3 | GrillinFools — GrillinFools Images ©

Print Recipe

Can Pork Chops be Grilled Like Steaks?

Can Pork Chops be Grilled Like Steaks - I smoked the chops then seared them over a charcoal chimney for maximum flavor crust action

Prep Time5

Cook Time45

Course: Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Pork Chops

Keyword: Bacon, Bacon Wrapped, Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops, Charcoal Chimney, Grilled Pork Chops, Pork, reverse sear, reverse seared, Reverse Seared Pork Chops, Sear, Seared

Servings: People

Equipment

butcher's twine

Ingredients

1 Smithfield Pork Loin Filet
1 slice bacon (1 for each pork chop)
Salt
pepper
granulated garlic
salted butter (1 pat per pork chop)

Instructions

Slice the Smithfield pork loin into thick chops
Wrap a slice of bacon around the outer edge of the pork chop and secure with either butcher's twine or toothpicks.
Season with salt, pepper and granulated garlic
Prepare the smoker for 225 degrees, place the chops inside, and close the lid
When the chops get to about 110 degrees, light a charcoal chimney
When the chops get to 130 degrees, put a grill grate over the charcoal chimney and sear the chops on both sides as well crisping up the bacon around the edges
When the chops reach 145 degrees, remove from the grill and plate

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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