Elevate Your Pork Chops With A Canned Ingredient You Probably Already Have

One of the mistakes people make when cooking pork chops is thinking that this versatile protein needs an elaborate recipe to make a great meal. Using a few pantry staples, chief among them the weeknight dinner superstar that's canned cream of mushroom soup, you can make a simple, hearty dinner that's ultra-customizable and great for feeding a family. The steps aren't complicated, and there are no esoteric ingredients that will require a special trip to the grocery store. Dinner will come together in under an hour, making this the perfect entrée to serve on a night when work runs late or you just don't feel like taking on labor-intensive cooking.

For your purposes, you want boneless pork chops no more than an inch thick. Season as desired, and brown the chops in a frying pan — don't worry about cooking them through. After, cook up chopped mushrooms and onions in the meat juices, then add your can of cream of mushroom soup mixed with some broth. Cook the chops the rest of the way in the gravy you have just made, and voilà! You have a delicious, saucy dinner that is just begging to be served alongside buttered egg noodles or mash (we usually choose a creamy milk substitute that makes the ultimate mashed potatoes) with your favorite veggie on the side. Your accompaniments can be as simple or as fancy as you like, because these pork chops will taste like they were far more complicated to make than they actually were.

As long as you follow the basic two-step procedure of first browning the chops and then finishing them in your gravy, there is a whole world of variation that you can play with when it comes to making this easy yet elevated main dish. We previously covered the best substitutes for cream of mushroom soup, and many of them work wonders here, including a from-scratch béchamel, sour cream, or any other "cream of" soup that you happen to have lying around. If you want to make your sauce a little richer, consider subbing white wine for the broth to mix in your canned soup. If you want to really amp up the flavors, add a heaping spoon of Dijon mustard or a glug of Worcestershire sauce to the mix! We've also seen home cooks finish the gravy component with a little bit of heavy cream, which not only thins out a viscous sauce, but also adds a fresh richness that only dairy can achieve.

If you want to turn your pork chops into a more rounded meal, you can add a few handfuls of fresh spinach to the sauce right before serving. The heat of the gravy will cook and wilt the spinach, adding nutrients and vegetal savor to what can be a bit of a salty dish. If you dump the whole concoction over a pile of couscous or brown rice, you have an all-in-one dinner that even the pickiest eaters will love!