Pork Chops and Sauerkraut Recipe (Fried)

Recipe updated: May 5th, 2024

Have you ever fried some pork chops, then added sauerkraut to it for dinner? If you haven’t, you’re going to love this pork chops and sauerkraut recipe combination. This is a delicious meal, and it’s also a super easy recipe to make.

These pork chops are sprinkled with a little bit of salt and black pepper and cooked so tender that you won’t need a knife to cut them. They are melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

Sometimes for an easy meal, we have just pork chops and sauerkraut for dinner, but at other times, we make Polish potato dumplings as a side dish. Whenever my mother-in-law made this recipe, she always made the two together, but she called it pork chops and sauerkraut with potato noodles.

🍴 Key Ingredients

• 12 boneless pork chops
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil such as canola oil or olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon of table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• One 32-ounce jar of Steinfeld’s home style sauerkraut

👩‍🍳 How to Make Pork Chops with Sauerkraut

These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.

Step 1. Put the Oil in the Skittle

Cover the bottom of a large skillet with about 1/4 cup of Canola cooking oil, but it’s okay for you to use any vegetable oil you have in your kitchen pantry.

Step 2. Add the Pork Chops

Put about twelve pork chops in the large frying pan with the oil and brown on medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper on the pork chops. Rotate the pork chops in the frying pan until browned. If medium-high is a bit hot for your pan, turn the burner down a bit. Also, watch out for splattering oil while cooking the pork chops.

I figure about two pork chops per person. However, you can use fewer pork chops for a smaller family, or have leftovers the next night. I always love leftovers, especially when there’s no major cooking involved. Just heat and serve.

Step 3. Fry the Pork Chops

Flip the pork chops over as they fry to brown both sides. While the pork chops are frying in the skillet, little pieces of fat will accumulate in the frying pan. Remove the fat with a spoon. It’s not necessary to remove every little, tiny piece of fat, though. That would be too much extra work.

Step 4. Turn Heat Down and Continue Browning

Keep frying the pork chops on medium heat for this browning step until they are nice and crispy brown. See how nicely these pork chops look after they have been browned and most of the fat removed.

To achieve brown pork chops, the cooking time is approximately 20 minutes, but that can vary depending on your level of heat and how brown you like your pork chops. It is now time to add the sauerkraut in the next couple of steps.

Step 5. Add the Sauerkraut

Pour a 32-ounce jar of Steinfeld’s home style sauerkraut on the top of the pork chops, including the liquid. Do not mix sauerkraut into the pork chops. We like this brand of sauerkraut, but you can certainly use whichever brand of sauerkraut that is your favorite.

Step 6. Spread Sauerkraut over Pork Chops

The sauerkraut is spread across the top of the pork chops, so leave the sauerkraut on top, and the pork chops below. Remember to not mix or stir, just spread the sauerkraut around in the frying pan to cover all the pork chops.

Step 7. Add Water and Simmer the Pork Chops and Sauerkraut

Fill the empty sauerkraut jar with water, then pour the water in the frying pan, covering just about to the top of the sauerkraut. After that, reduce the heat to medium-low.

This is where the 3 to 4 hour cooking time begins. Keep adding water while the pork chops and sauerkraut simmer. The longer the pork chops simmer, the more tender they will be.

Step 8. Stop Adding Water

When it’s just about dinner time, stop adding water and let it simmer until almost all the water has evaporated. The pork chops will be so tender that your mouth and taste buds will thank you.

Note: You don’t need to worry about using an instant-read thermometer, also known as a meat thermometer, to check the internal temperature of the pork chops because they are thoroughly cooked during the browning and long simmer time.

🌟 Recipe Variations

• If you like hot and spicy food, then sprinkle some red pepper flakes on your serving.
• We bought thin pork chops, but you can use thick pork chops, which will require the cooking time to be a bit longer to achieve tender pork chops.
• Add any of your favorite seasonings to the pork chops while they are browning in the frying pan.

🙋 FAQs

📌 Final Thoughts

This is one of our favorite meals, not only because it tastes great, but it’s a one-pot meal to prepare. Spoon out a generous serving of this delicious dinner onto everyone’s plate right out of the skillet, then sit down and enjoy this stress-free dinner with the whole family.

This pork chop and sauerkraut dinner can be served with garlic bread and hot buttered green beans with black pepper added.

🗂️ Printable Recipe Card

🥰 More Pork Chop Recipes You Will Love

• Do you love Southern fried cooking? We have a super yummy recipe for Southern fried pork chops with gravy you are going to love.