The Best Type Of Apple To Give Your Pork Dish A Sweet Lift

Adding a bit of sweetness to your pork, whether it is in chop, tenderloin, or rib form, can balance out the flavors of the meat and seasonings to create a richer and more savory dish. Sweeteners like honey, brown sugar, and apples can enhance the depth of the dish's flavor profile as well as improve browning and tenderness. Using apples in a pork dish is a classic way to add natural sugars that improve flavor without making the dish overly sweet. 

The apple variety you choose will have a big effect on the final flavor of your dish, as not all of them are ideal for cooking. You want to choose a type of apple that is sweet and firm so it can stand up to being used in a chutney or grilled with onions alongside your pork chop. The sweetest apple varieties are Ambrosia, Evercrisp, Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp, Nittany, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, and Jazz. Of those varieties, the best apples for baking and cooking are ones that are firm and hold their shape well when cooked. This includes Fuji, Honeycrisp, Jazz, and Pink Lady.

For our balsamic-glazed pork tenderloin with roasted apples recipe, we recommend Fuji or Pink Lady apples. This recipe was created with recipe developer Julianne De Witt, who makes the balsamic glaze from scratch. You'll need three medium-sized apples along with about a pound of lean pork tenderloin and avocado oil, salt, and pepper. For the balsamic glaze, you'll need balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, and thyme.

Apple chutney-stuffed pork chops are perfect if you need to prepare a meal ahead of time. According to our recipe developer, Petar Marshall, you can prep this dish in about two hours, but the actual baking time is only 20 minutes of active baking and 10 minutes of resting in the warm oven. You'll need about five small-sized apples, like Fuji or Gala apples, and two 6-ounce boneless pork chops that are about 1 ½ inches thick. You'll also need a white onion, garlic cloves, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and spices.

Our third method involves making a caramelized apple and onion topping for pan-grilled, oven-roasted, or air fryer pork chops. You can use our foolproof caramelized onion recipe, but along with the yellow onions, you'll also thinly slice two or three Pink Lady or Honeycrisp apples, leaving the skin on. When the onions have been cooking for about five minutes, add the apple slices. Then, you can incorporate other add-ins like dried cranberries or golden raisins.