St. Louis Style BBQ Pork Chops

Pork chops baked with a generous amount of tomato BBQ sauce, for an easy and delicious pork chop dinner!

📝 Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon (diced)
• 1-2 teaspoons chili powder (to taste)
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1/2 small onion (chopped)
• 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes (or if you only have whole canned tomatoes, you can puree and measure out instead)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup whole-grain mustard (or Dijon mustard)
• 1 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon kosher salt (plus more to taste (less if using fine salt))
• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• 6 thick bone-in pork chops (about 3 lb., 3/4-1 inch thick with some fat cap and marbling of fat)
• 2 Tablespoons cooking oil

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Heat oven to 350 F.
2. 2In a large saucepan, heat bacon over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until just starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, garlic and onions and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Taste and add additional salt and pepper, as needed, then remove from heat and set aside.
3. 3Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add meat and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.
4. 4Transfer pork to a 9 × 13-inch baking dish and pour sauce on top of pork, to cover pork chops. Bake, uncovered, about 30-40 minutes, or until pork is cooked through (140F when tested with thermometer). *NOTE: Baking time will be totally dependent on the thickness of the chops you start with. Thicker pork will take longer. Thinner will take less.
5. 5Remove from oven and heat the broiler in your oven, with a rack at about 6-8 inches away from the heat source. Return baking dish to oven under the broiler for a 3-5 minutes to caramelize the sauce on the chops slightly.