Pork Chops in Lemon-Caper Sauce

Recipe from Toni Tipton-Martin

Adapted by Sam Sifton

Updated March 16, 2026

Pork Chops in Lemon-Caper Sauce
Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Total Time
35 minutes
Rating
5(7,689)
Comments
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Here’s my favorite recipe in Toni Tipton-Martin’s excellent and invaluable “Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking” (2019). It’s a remix of one that the chef Nathaniel Burton collected into his 1978 opus, “Creole Feast: Fifteen Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets,” and one that Tipton-Martin glossed-up with lemon zest, juice and extra butter, a technique she learned from the restaurateur B. Smith’s 2009 collection of recipes, “B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style.” It’s a dish of smothered pork chops, essentially, made into something glorious and elegant. “The food history of Blacks in America has been a story of the food of survival,” she told me in an interview. “We need to start celebrating the food they made at work." —Sam Sifton

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 4bone-in pork chops (about 8 ounces each)
  • Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
  • ½teaspoon dried thyme leaves
  • 2tablespoons olive oil
  • 4tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1very small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 2garlic cloves, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
  • 2teaspoons all-purpose flour
  • 1cup dry white wine
  • 1½cups chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium, if store-bought
  • 2tablespoons drained capers
  • 2tablespoons minced fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
  • 1teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons juice
  • Hot sauce (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

545 calories; 40 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 50 grams protein; 988 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Dry the chops with paper towels, and season aggressively with salt, pepper and the thyme. Swirl the olive oil into a large skillet, and heat over medium until the oil begins to shimmer. Add chops, and cook until well browned on each side and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chops to a plate, and cover to keep warm.

  2. Step 2

    Drain the fat from the skillet, then melt 2 tablespoons of butter in it over medium heat until sizzling. Add the shallot and garlic, and sauté until the aromatics soften, reducing the heat if necessary, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in the flour, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Whisk in the wine and chicken stock, raise heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, until the liquid is reduced by half, 7 to 10 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Stir in the capers, parsley, lemon zest and juice and hot sauce to taste (if you’re using it), and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until it’s melted and the sauce looks smooth. Nestle the pork chops into the sauce, and allow them to warm up for a couple of minutes, then serve, pouring sauce over each pork chop to taste. Garnish with more fresh parsley.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
7,689 user ratings
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Comments

Stu

Searing aggressively for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes per side, and finishing cooking in the sauce until an internal temperature of 143-145°F is reached is definitely the way to go. Don't go by time; use temperature to determine when cooked through. The interior should be pink and juicy, not grey. Use an accurate, instant-read thermometer for consistent results every time. Clocks are for telling time. Thermometers are for telling when food is cooked properly.

mjan

In response to Vanessa: 2 teaspoons create a sauce. 2 tablespoons (in conjunction with 1 1/2 cups of stock and 1 cup of white wine would create more of a gravy.

Paulo

Sounds good, but the thing is: Pork chops sold today are almost fat free, You can cook them any way you want, and you'd still have tasteless meat (and if well done, then they're really hideous, tasteless cardboard). Switch to Pork shoulder (aka pork butt), cut it into 1 inch slices / steaks and cook / grill them with some oil, salt and pepper (or cook them according to this recipe but only 2 minutes per side). You'll never touch pork chops again. PS: Costco has them for about $2/lb

Deb T.

A little tricky to scale down for one, but this was pretty tasty. Cooked only 4 minutes per side, which seemed right for an 8 oz. chop. It was tender and not dried out. Not a big fan of "warming" meat on a platter until ready to reheat, but it worked out decently. I would make this again. Served with roasted Brussels sprouts and balsamic and the timing worked out well.

Madelyn Fullilove Thompson

I made this two weeks ago, and could not wait to make it again. The flavors are scrumptious. Tonight I'm using bone-in chops.

Trevan

Tried this last night. My only feedback is that 35 minutes is absolutely not correct, and like Stu said, you should base it on your thermometer for the meat anyway.

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Credits

Adapted from “Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking,” by Toni Tipton-Martin

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