Cider Brined Smoked Pork Chops
This recipe is a much improved version of the cider brined pork chops that we used to sell on my meat team. As always, I recommend using a bone-in pork chop that is at least 1” thick. 1.5”-2” is even better. Brine the chops in a simple mix of cider, salt, and brown sugar for 4 hours. Pat them dry and season them with a thick coating of the dry rub. Let the chops rest for an hour at room temperature before smoking.Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. I used applewood and pecan wood chips for the smoking process. Both work great with pork. Maintain the smoking temperature between 225-250 degrees. At the 90 minute mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature. You want the thermometer to read 150 degrees. Depending on the size of your pork chops, they could be done now or need another 30 minutes of smoking. Once finished, let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 6 bone in pork chops 1” thick
Cider Brine
- 1/2 gallon apple cider
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Dry Rub
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Wood Chips
- applewood chips
- pecan wood chips
Instructions
- Mix the brining ingredients together.
- Brine the pork chops in a gallon sized storage bag for 4 hours.
- Pat the chops dry with paper towel. Season with the dry rub on both sides of the pork chop. Let rest at room temperature for an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw in your pork chops. Monitor the internal temperature with a probe thermometer 90 minutes into smoking. The pork needs to read 150 degrees. The chops could be done at this point. They also might need another 30 minutes of smoking.
- Let the pork rest for 10 minutes before serving.
