Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops

Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops Recipe? Yeah, we stuffed pork chops with candy corn before grilling them. It was a crisp, Fall day and we had a solid docket of recipes to film. Nine hours later we did three different stuffed pork chop recipes, two rib recipes, a pork shoulder and a spiral sliced and stuffed pork loin. The candy corn chop was the best thing I tasted that day. Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting this to be anything other than a gimmick, but I’m saying right now, it isn’t. It wasn’t a gimmick. These stuffed and smoked pork chops were fantastic. Think of it as Candied Grilled Pork Chops. 

Candy corn and pork chops? I know it sounds nuts, but sweet pork is a thing. Think about it. We glaze pork with sweet barbecue sauce and sweet rubs all the time. Making sweet pork is nothing new. We just took it to another level by stuffing it with one of those often sneered at candies normally associated with Halloween and the Fall. 

This is not the first time we’ve delved into two inch thick chops or stuffed pork chops OR stuffed two inch thick pork chops cooked in the fall in my backyard.

This is the first time I stuffed two bone chops with candy. It won’t be the last time. Also, if you are looking for more of a summer recipe for pork chops with fresh watermelon or mango salsa on top, we can help there. 

Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops Ingredients:

• 3 bone in pork chops, 2 inches thick
• 8-12 ounces of candy corn, divided
• Your favorite sweet BBQ rub
• Salt, optional
• 6 ounces caramel, optional

How to Stuff Pork Chops

Begin with a long skinny knife and insert in the side of the pork chop all the way to the bone in the middle and create a pouch for the candy corn by working the knife back and forth

Once the pouch is created in all three chops, stuff them with the candy corn.

The chocolate ones work too as do the little candy pumpkins.

As you can see below, I wasn’t to sure about this one:

Next up, season with the BBQ rub and salt. If the BBQ rub has a lot of salt in it, the extra salt may not be needed:

Now prepare the grill for indirect or two zone grilling.

What is Indirect Grilling?

That means hot coals on one side of the grill and nothing on the other. Or burners hot on one side of the grill and off on the other side. Put the meat on the side of the grill with no heat and put smoke wood on the coals or hot burners and BOOM, a standard grill is now a smoker. 

How to Grill Stuffed Pork Chops

Cut a pocket in the side of the chops and stuff with candy corn. Season the pork chops and smoke indirect until the pork reaches an internal temp of 135F then crank up the grill and sear those chops to get a nice flavor char and bring them to 145F. Yes, that’s all you need to cook pork to according to the USDA. Then remove the reverse seared pork chops from the grill, allow to rest and the candy corn to cool a bit before serving.

Here’s a shot from above showing the grill set up and coal placement in relation to the chops:

Smoke the chops until they reach 135F at which point they are ready to sear and take them up the final 10F to 145F. We recommend a remote probe thermometer to make sure you nail these rather than guessing.

Pro Tip ~ When taking the temperature, make sure the top of the thermometer isn’t in the pouch of candy corn. Make sure it’s in the middle of the meat. In this case, we have essentially two pork chops with some candy corn in between. So just poke the probe in about half an inch from the top. 

These chops are ready for the sear. 

With this grill, I can raise and lower the coal bed so I cranked the bed to right below the grill grates and slapped the stuffed pork chops down over that wicked hot Rockwood charcoal to finish up these candied grilled pork chops:

The candy corn is melting inside:

Once there is char all the way around the chop, including the edges, just don’t let the candy melt and leak out any more, we can pull these from the grill:

What temp do you have to cook pork to?

Some of you are worried about me saying that pork only needs to be cooked to 145F. That’s because the USDA has determined that medium rare is all we need to cook pork to. A little pink is OK for pork which means it is juicier than you might remember. 

After a five minute rest, slice the candy corn stuffed pork chops:

Candy eyes go a long way here:

Also, this is how I eat the excess candy corn, but don’t recommend this at home. First I stab the candy corn:

Then I eat the candy corn (again, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!):

Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops Run Down

The candied grilled pork chops were sweet and savory and salty with a lovely hint of smoke that really combined together so well. If you really want to kick up the sweet factor, drizzle some caramel over the top. I highly recommend giving these a try.

Also, if I were to do this again, I would stand the chops up so the slit for the pouch would be along the top and not allow the melted candy corn to leak out.

We didn’t drizzle any caramel over these but we did on the caramel apple stuffed pork chops we also did when we cooked these.

Here’s a pic of that:

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Further, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!

Also, I am not paid to create recipes for Rockwood Charcoal. It’s just a product I use all the time because of the high quality and it’s made in the USA, particularly in my home state of Missouri. 

Print Recipe

Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops Recipe

Two inch thick, bone in pork chops, stuffed with candy corn then reverse seared to sugary pork perfection or Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American Fare, BBQ, Grilling

Keyword: Candy Corn, Charcoal, Chops, Halloween, Hasty-Bake, Pork, Pork Chops, reverse seared, Smoke Wood

Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

• 3 bone In pork chops 2 inches thick, each
• 8-12 ounces candy corn divided
• your favorite BBQ rub
• salt to taste optional
• 6 ounces caramel optional

Instructions

• With a long skinny knife, create a pouch on the side of the chop by inserting the knife into the bone and sliding the knife back and forth
• Fill each pouch with candy corn (or candy pumpkins)
• Season all sides of the chops with BBQ rub and salt if desired
• Prepare the grill for two zone or indirect grilling with coals on one side and nothing on the other, target temp inside the grill is 275F (+/- 25F)
• Place the chops on the side with no heat and drop a chunk of smoke wood on the coals
• Close the lid and smoke until the candy corn stuffed pork chops reach 135F
• You may need to add more candy corn because it might melt and leak out the crevice in the side
• Crank up the heat to above 500F at the grill grate
• Sear the chops all the way around to get some char and raise the temp above 145F
• Remove from the heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes and serve
• Drizzle caramel over the top if you wish for more sweetness

Video

Here are more pics of my Candy Corn Stuffed Pork Chops:

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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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: November 3, 2022