Elevate Your Pork Chops With This Flavor-Packed Mayo

When prepared correctly, a pork chop should always have a beautiful crust packed with flavor from your seasonings. While it can be challenging to nail this balance without burning your herbs and spices, a bit of chipotle mayo can save not only your dish but also a ton of your time.

The same way you can use mayo for the crispiest grilled cheese, you can also lean on it to develop the perfect crust on your chops. Mayo comes packed with oils, providing your meat with heat protection on par with most high smoke point cooking fats. However, unlike those fats, it's also a perfect, thick emulsion, so you can apply a thicker coating that won't just drip off before your meat touches the cooking surface. This allows other ingredients like breadcrumbs to adhere to the surface and stay put when you start flipping your chops.

Even without spices, mayo tends to be more flavorful than other high smoke point fats, adding subtle notes of tart and umami. But, since the spices are mixed directly into it, they've got a generous amount of fat to prevent them from burning. Combined with the sugars and proteins present in the condiment, your crust browns quite gradually, letting the heat release the flavor of the spices in a controlled manner. It also couldn't be easier to make, all it takes is three ingredients to make the chipotle mayo of your pork chop's dreams.

While chipotle mayonnaise may be a miracle ingredient for pork chops, it can still burn or grow sloppy without the right heat. Bringing out the ingredient's maximum potential is all about pairing the right cut and cooking method, so you'll want a moderately thick cut prepared over high heat.

Mayonnaise needs a good amount of heat, applied quickly, to develop a great crust, so avoid any slow methods like smoking or low baking temperatures. When preparing chops in a pan, anything around a half to one inch is perfect, as you can use a high enough heat to flavor the mayo without leaving the center raw. However, if you love especially thick ones, you can always try to cook a perfectly juicy pork chop by using a sous-vide machine first. This ensures the interior is already the perfect temperature, allowing you to focus solely on the crust itself.

You don't have to cook pork well-done anymore and some people have grown to appreciate the new USDA recommendation of preparing chops to only 145 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if you're working with particularly thin, mayo-covered chops, you might have to sacrifice your favorite medium-rare status. While mayo has a smoke point of 450 degrees Fahrenheit, your blistering hot sear in a cast-iron may be too hot even for this sturdy condiment. While you can speed the cooking process by making sure your chop is room temperature first, you don't want to risk burning either the cooking fat or the spices.