Pork Chops With Baked Beans -- The Kitchen Remembers What It Was Made For

First week of April and the preparations for Easter have begun with the energy of a woman who has not hosted a proper holiday in a year and whose kitchen has been underperforming, like a sports car driven exclusively in parking lots. The kitchen was built for twenty. The kitchen has been cooking for two. The kitchen is about to remember what it was made for.

I went grocery shopping on Monday — a real grocery trip, not the pandemic minimum, not the survival run, but the full Carmen Delgado-Ortiz Easter procurement operation: pernil shoulder from Don Rafael at the carnicería (he looked at me and said, Doña Carmen, it has been too long, and I said, The pork is the same weight, and he said, It was always waiting for you); twenty pounds of rice; ten pounds of dried beans; three dozen eggs; four plantain bunches; the gandules, the olives, the capers, the sofrito ingredients, the whole inventory of a kitchen returning to full capacity.

The refrigerator is full. The chest freezer is full. The pantry is stocked. Eduardo looked at the supplies and said, Carmen, how many people are coming for Easter? I said, Eight, maybe ten. He said, You have food for forty. I said, Eduardo, there is no such thing as too much food. Only too few chairs. He went to check the extra chairs. He is a good man.

Mami is coming. Mami is coming to Easter dinner at my house, sitting at my table, eating my food, being in my kitchen for the first time in a year — the first time the kitchen will hold her since Nochebuena, and this time without masks, without the open windows, without the compromise, just Mami at the head of the table where she belongs, criticizing the flan and correcting the sofrito and being alive and present and here, here, here.

With a pork shoulder already spoken for at Don Rafael’s and a refrigerator that could feed a small village, I wanted something I could put on the table earlier in the week — something that honored the season without waiting for Easter Sunday, something that let the kitchen stretch its legs again. Pork chops with baked beans is not fancy, but it is serious: it is pork that means something, beans that carry weight, a plate that says this kitchen is open and it is not going to apologize for how good it smells. Mami will correct the sofrito on Sunday. Tonight, this is enough.

Pork Chops With Baked Beans

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (15 oz each) baked beans
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup

Instructions

1. Season the pork. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. Combine garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub seasoning evenly over both sides of each chop.
2. Sear the chops. Heat olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Sear pork chops 3–4 minutes per side until a deep golden crust forms. Remove chops and set aside; do not wipe the pan.
3. Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add sliced onion to the same skillet and cook 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
4. Make the bean mixture. Stir in baked beans, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup. Mix well and bring to a gentle simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Nestle and bake. Return pork chops to the skillet, pressing them gently into the bean mixture. Transfer skillet to a 375°F (190°C) oven and bake uncovered for 20–25 minutes, until pork is cooked through and registers 145°F internally.
6. Rest and serve. Let the skillet rest 5 minutes before serving. Spoon the baked beans generously over each chop directly from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 42g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 45g | Fiber: 8g | Sodium: 890mg