Honey Mustard Sheet Pan Baked Pork Chops Recipe

Is there anything better than a one-pan meal for a midweek dinner? Healthy, delicious, and simple to throw together, this honey mustard sheet pan baked pork chops recipe is an absolute winner for those days when you want an affordable, flavorful, and warming meal to feed the whole family.

We know that some of you may have had a bad introduction to pork chops; there was a time when meat was often served unseasoned and overcooked, making it tough, flavorless and dry. Hopefully, those days are long gone now, and we know all the great tips and tricks to make sure your pork chops are perfectly cooked. Recipe developer Jennine Rye recommends seasoning and searing these chops in a pan before roasting them; this will help to seal in the moisture, and result in beautifully juicy pork.

Roasting root vegetables alongside meat is a wonderful and easy way to prepare and cook a variety of different vegetables, and really helps their flavors to shine through. They caramelize beautifully in the oven, and also absorb some of those delicious meat juices. The addition of apple, a classic pairing with pork, adds both sweetness and sharpness to this dish, making it the perfect finishing touch to a great dish. 

To begin this honey mustard sheet pan baked pork chops recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. You will need potatoes, parsnips, carrots, red onion, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and oil for roasting. To make the glaze you will need honey and mustard, and you will also need apples and thick-cut pork chops.

Rye recommends allowing the pork chops to warm up to room temperature before cooking them. While it is important from a safety perspective for meat to not stand at room temperature too long, allowing the meat to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes to remove the chill is perfectly safe, and will result in better cooked meat.

To start, preheat the oven to 400 F. Allow your pork chops to sit out for 20 minutes at room temperature. Then, peel the potatoes, parsnips, and carrots. Chop the root vegetables into large, bite-sized chunks, then, similarly, peel the dry layers from the red onion, before chopping it into bite-sized chunks.

Bring a large saucepan to a boil, and then add the chopped potatoes, parsnips, and carrots to the water. Parboil the vegetables for 8 to 10 minutes before draining them in a colander. Parboiling root vegetables softens them slightly, so they need to be boiled for a specific length of time. This process shortens the overall cooking time, and also allows the vegetables to get lovely and crunchy when roasted.

Then, put 3 tablespoons of oil into a large baking tray or sheet pan, and place it into the warm oven for a few minutes. When the oil is hot, remove it from the oven, and add the parboiled vegetables, along with the red onion, crushed garlic cloves, and rosemary. Season everything well with salt and pepper, and place it in the oven for 25 minutes.

While the vegetables roast, it is time to prepare the other elements of the dish. Peel and then chop the apple into bite-sized chunks, and set aside. In a small bowl, add the wholegrain mustard and honey, and mix it together to create a glaze. Set this aside.

Season the pork chops liberally with salt and pepper, and heat up a large frying pan with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. When it is hot, add the pork chops to the pan, and allow them to sear for 1 to 2 minutes on either side. Once seared, remove the pork chops from the frying pan.

When the root vegetables have been roasting for 25 minutes, remove the sheet pan from the oven. Place the seared pork chops and chopped apple into the tray with the vegetables. Drizzle the pork chops and the vegetables with the prepared honey mustard glaze, making sure that everything has a light coating, before returning the sheet pan to the oven. Allow everything to roast for a further 25 minutes, until the vegetables are crunchy, and the pork chops are cooked through. Serve hot, and store any leftovers in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 3 days.