Cooking Frozen Pork Chops

Cooking frozen pork chops is possible! How to cook them moist, tender and juicy right out of the freezer baked in the oven, air fryer, slow cooker or Instant Pot.

Cooking Frozen Pork Chops in Oven

Below we have a recipe card explaining this “old fashioned” method. It is something everyone has in their home so we will start with the basics here. If you are a lover of small kitchen appliances I will offer links to those methods as well below. All of them use the same meat. You can use bone-in pork chops or boneless.

I prefer the latter just because they are easier to eat but are more expensive, so I buy whatever is on sale. The best thing about this post is once you understand how it is done you can buy them in bulk when you find a deal. Load up your freezer and you’ll know how to save dinner next time you forgot to defrost something the night before.

I’ve been there y’all, like a lot. There’s just a lot to coordinate as an adult, let’s be honest. I am not always totally with it thinking about what we are going to eat the next night. SO because of that I have come up with methods of cooking meat from frozen, all of them.

Can you cook pork chops from frozen

Yep, we will show you how right here. Let’s start with the quickest method. If you have a pressure cooker at home you should try our Instant Pot frozen pork chops directions. We use a pork chops dry rub on those and even included some vegetables underneath the trivet. Talk about a complete one pot meal y’all.

Next to that with ease would be air fryer frozen pork chops. If you do like a bit of crispy texture on the outside of your meat you might prefer this method to the other. You can really get those seasonings to stick well and kinda’ caramelize a bit as a crust…..and OMG I can taste them again already…..

Third, before we share how to cook frozen pork chops in the oven would be if you love your slow cooker. I am definitely with you during those winter months. I love to set it and forget it in the morning and my family never knowing that I had a duhhhhh moment. Follow our Crockpot frozen pork chops steps for that one.

Let’s talk for a minute about how you should be storing these first. To ensure your food doesn’t get freezer burn you should store in freezer bags with ALL the air sucked out. Make sure they are in 1 layer so they don’t stick together and become a really thick piece that won’t cook thru. For this you’ll need;

Ingredients

• 4 frozen pork chops, these were center cut, about 1″ thick
  • you may be able to use up to 6 in the same dish
  • must be in one single layer without overlapping
• Garlic powder and onion powder
• Salt and pepper are basics
• Paprika works too
• 1 packet Gravy mix

What if they are stuck together in one big hunk? Run them under some cold water until they loosen and use your hands to break them apart.

Of course depending on how thick your pieces are, the cooking time may vary slightly. If you thaw the meat like with our baked pork chops with dry rub it only takes about 12 – 15 minutes. When I made our 2 inch thick pork chops, they needed longer to cook, like 50 percent longer to get them done in the center.

Baking Frozen Pork Chops

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and grease baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
• Separate meat and place frozen pork chops in a single layer into the baking dish and top with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, paprika and pepper.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes or until internal temperature measures 145 degrees. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving topped with gravy.

* Prepare gravy according to package directions on the back. I like the mushroom style but there are ton of varieties out there. You can find bottled as well if you don’t want to mix anything together. Our Instant Pot gravy is outstanding for from scratch.

How long are frozen pork chops good for?

If frozen in foil or freezer bags sealed they should last for 4-6 months easily before you really need to use them up. Now that you know it is not a necessity to thaw the pork chops you have a number of different ways to make them.

Keep in mind that since these start off rock solid you won’t be able to bread. If you do think ahead you can dip in a beaten egg, then dip into some breadcrumbs and make some breaded pork chops air fryer like this. These take closer to 30 minutes to make and will have a crispy crust. Sprayed with olive oil in your air fryer is the best way texture-wise.