The Reason You Should Avoid Making Pork Chops On The Grill

If you've ever tried to cook raw chicken in the microwave — or any food for that matter — you know that it always results in an utter failure. The texture and flavor is completely zapped and it wastes more time than it saves. The same would happen if you tried to make pancakes in an air fryer or attempted to boil pasta in the oven. Some foods just don't do well with certain cooking mediums, and while many of these are quite obvious, not all are. Grilled pork chops happen to be one of them. Although cooking ribs on the grill is pretty common, according to Insider, pork chops are actually one of the worst foods to prepare on the grill. 

The reason is that pork is a lean meat and can dry out rather quickly, especially on a grill. Thinner cuts of pork, in general, don't tend to do well on the high direct heat of a grill because the meat cooks through before developing that crispy outer layer you typically see in pork chops.

Unless you want your pork chops to be dry and rubbery every time you serve them, the best course of action when cooking pork chops is to utilize both the stove and the oven and avoid the grill entirely. As The Kitchn explains, due to the fact that pork is tender and therefore cooks faster than other meats, controlled heat is essential for achieving the ideal texture. That's where the cooking combo of the stove and oven comes in. The Kitchn suggests starting your pork chop on the stove to sear on both sides until the crust forms, then once the outside is cooked properly, it's ready to be transferred to the oven. The oven's indirect heat allows the rest of the pork chop to cook through entirely without the outside getting any tougher. The entire cooking process should be dependent on preserving the natural tenderness of the protein, but if you use a grill, that's just not possible.