Classic Pork Chops And Apples Pair With This Seasonal Flavor For A Unique Twist

As a kid, my best friend's mom used to make pork chops with apple sauce as a side dish, and I would dip my pork chops in the apple sauce — I've never looked back on believing in that flavor pairing. Apples and pork chops belong together, and they are one of those fall recipes we should all be making. After graduating from taking my pork chop bites for a dip into my applesauce, I embraced the grown-up version of this flavor combo and started baking pork chops with apple slices and a dash of cinnamon. But there's a more interesting take on the traditional recipe that leans fully into fall: caramel apple pork chops.

Instead of fussing over getting caramel to stick to your apple for dessert, try embracing the dynamic duo of ingredients at dinnertime. Caramel is surprisingly simple to make — brown sugar, butter, and cream are all you need (and salt if you're after a salted caramel sauce) — and it delivers in both the taste and texture departments, infusing the pork chops with warm, buttery sweetness that melts in your mouth.

To make the most of your caramel apple pork chops, add chopped pecans in as a finisher — giving nuttiness that elevates the caramel and adding a touch of crunchy texture. This dish can be as homemade or as hacked as you want it to be. To keep the dish from being too indulgent (and to tame the caramel a bit), you can make your caramel by melting butter and adding brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the mix, omitting the cream that's typically used to make a caramel sauce that you'd put on a sundae. From there, you can simmer the apples until they are cooked to the desired, tender texture.

If you're looking for a quicker, easier way to land on the same flavor pairing for your pork chops, you can find canned caramel apple pie filling at the grocery store and add it as a topping to seared pork chops. Serve them alongside maple-roasted butternut squash or baked sweet potatoes, and you've got yourself the ultimate fall dinner.