The Easy Way To Make Fried Pork Chops Taste Like Buffalo Wings

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Buffalo wings have come a long way since their creation. Once upon a time, chicken wings were considered a scrap meat, useful only for the making of stock. This all changed in the 1960s, when the idea of frying up these inexpensive, often-discarded meat morsels and serving them up drenched in a spicy sauce was hit upon by two Buffalo-based establishments often credited with inventing Buffalo wings — John Young's Wings & Things, which began serving them in 1963, and the Anchor Bar, where a year later co-owner Teressa Bellissimo also had the idea of serving them with a blue cheese dressing. Now, this classic bar snack is so beloved that many hunger for a way to transfer its flavor to heartier dishes. So if you want a juicy, fried pork chop that carries the distinctively spicy taste of Buffalo wings, there's an easy way to do it by simply adding Buffalo sauce to your batter.

First, make sure your pork chops are patted dry, as this will help the batter adhere to them during the frying process. Immerse your chops in a mixture of milk, buttermilk, Buffalo sauce, kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. As they soak, season all-purpose flour with whatever spices you prefer, then thoroughly dredge your chops. If you want a thicker coating, dredge them in the flour first, then dip them in the buttermilk mixture, and dredge the chops again. Next, fry them in a pan of oil spiked with melted butter; this will not only help the pork chops achieve a beautiful golden-brown crust, but further add to the Buffalo sauce flavor. To prevent them from getting tough, adopt our frequent flipping technique for perfect pork chops.

Now comes the inevitable question: What Buffalo sauce should you opt for when preparing your pork chops? While Cholula Wing Sauce made the top spot in our ranking of 12 store-bought buffalo sauces, our tester noted that although it's wonderfully flavorful, it isn't "overly spicy", so you may have to add a fairly liberal amount to your batter to give pork chops the kick you're after. For greater control over both taste and heat levels, you might be better off whipping up a batch of your own condiment. Check out our easily adaptable recipe for Buffalo wing sauce, which can be made with the hot sauce of your choice, from the perennial standby of Tabasco Original Red Pepper Sauce to the notorious Hot Ones The Last Dab Thermageddon, which our own courageous correspondent compared to kissing "red-hot coal."

To really double down on emulating the Buffalo wing experience, you could always serve your spicy pork chops with a simple but intense blue cheese gravy, which can easily be made in the same pan you've used to fry your meat. Once the chops are cooked and set aside, add 1 cup of whipping cream to the pan — making sure to scrape up any delicious, caramelized fond that's left over — and stir in 2 ounces of crumbled blue cheese, reducing for about 5 minutes. 

Of course, the problem (if you can call it that) with discovering Buffalo sauce's versatility is that you might find it hard to resist incorporating it into other dishes, from starting the day with spiced up scrambled eggs to cooking up an entire Buffalo-style roast chicken for dinner.