Whether you follow a strict KETO diet or just want to watch your carb intake, pork rinds make for a great breading substitute when frying or baking various meats. They give you the traditional crispy exterior crunchy bite without altering the flavor like you might expect. Sticking with the healthy theme, Air Frying is a great option to cut excess fats and oils from your diet while still providing the fried food experience we all crave. Today's recipe, KETO Air Fryer Pork Chops, is a great way to enjoy a traditionally somewhat unhealthy meal by cutting those excess carbs and oils yet still getting a crispy exterior and juicy interior bite! Stick around if you want to feel less guilty the next time you have a hankering for a fried pork chop....Let's Get Cooking!
The first step to making these delicious, yet simple, KETO Air Fryer Pork Chops is to prepare the coating. Obviously, if you don't care about low carb or KETO restrictions, you can use a mix of AP flour and cornstarch, but for today's recipe we will be using pork rinds. Place about 4 ounces of pork rinds into a food processor and pulse until they break down into a breadcrumb-like consistency. You could use flavored pork rinds if you want, but I think plain is the way to go as a standard breading. Once you have pulverized your pork rinds, place them in a shallow tray or dish along with the Italian Seasoning, granulated garlic, and granulated onion. A small 8x8 or so baking pan works great for a breading/dredging station setup! This is just a base breading recipe so feel free to improvise and add cayenne pepper or anything else you want to alter your final pork chop flavor profile!
The main ingredient in this recipe, of course, is the pork chops themselves. Don't skimp out and get those cheap thin chops you find all over every grocery store. Splurge just a little and go after those bone-in 1-inch thick big boys that will fill up and satisfy your hunger even without any sides! The nice thing is that even the big pork chops are still relatively inexpensive, so you don't have to break the bank to put a hearty meal on the table.
I highly suggest setting up a breading/dredging station for this next step, but it isn't 100% necessary. I set up pork chops to my far left and the pork rind mixture to my right. Since everything is still raw, I decided to just put the pork chops back on the original sheet tray and wire rack. Anyway, drizzle some olive oil on each pork chop and rub till they are completely covered. Transfer a single pork chop at a time over to the pork rind coating and make sure they get completely covered on all sides. It should stick fairly well to the olive oil with minimal effort. Simply repeat the process until all your pork chops have been coated. One quick tip, before moving on, is to stir the pork rind mixture between chops so it doesn't get too pressed down and compact. This helps to make an even layer of coating with much hassle.
Preheat your Air Fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. When it is hot and ready, transfer the pork chops to the Air Fryer, give the top a quick spray of nonstick oil, and cook for 7 minutes. Once the initial 7 minutes is up, carefully flip the pork chops over, spray the other side, and cook an additional 7 minutes until the internal temperature reaches at least 145 degrees. The cook timing may need to be slightly adjusted if your pork chops are slightly thinner or thicker than 1-inch. I could only fit 2 pork chops at a time in my Air Fryer, so I completed this step in a couple batches. When they were done, I transferred them to a clean wire rack to cool and allow the pork rind breading to fully set up and become crispy.
Some of the breading may come off, but otherwise it really is that simple to make a KETO Air Fryer Pork Chop! Mine were quite large so I ate 1 as a meal in itself, but otherwise, you could serve these up with some mashed cauliflower or a salad to complete the meal. The high temperature of the Air Fryer combined with the pork rinds makes for a crunchy exterior that seals in a juicy interior! You get the best of both worlds and save a few calories and carbs along the way! Leftovers can be refrigerated but will likely lose their crispy exterior unless you reheat them in the Air Fryer. I'll admit I was lazy and just used a microwave, but they were still delicious a day or two later. The quick preparation and cook time make these KETO Air Fryer Pork Chops the perfect weeknight dinner for you and your family so give them a try and let me know if you adjusted the coating seasonings and how they turned out. Meals like this make it easy for anyone to get in the kitchen and make delicious food....Just Keep Cooking!
KETO AIR FRYER PORK CHOPS
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