By Kaitlyn Lai
This recipe for Asian Baked Pork Chops was handed down from my maternal Grandmother, Polly. She learned to make this dish as a new bride from her older brother, Ben, who was the chef of their family-owned restaurant in Oakland, California: the Royal Cafe.
It became a favorite of mine while growing up because it tastes similar to Peking pork chops. The juices from the pork chop would flavor the rice which would also create a little crispy layer while baking.
The perfect bite is rice topped with a piece of pork chop with onion and sauce!
Here’s my recipe:
Servings: 6 Prep time: 40 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 6 Pork chops
- 1 Whole Onion, sliced
- 1-1½ cup All Purpose Flour (Seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder)
- 6 cups Cooked Rice
- ¼ cup Ketchup
- ¼ cup Hoisin Sauce
- ½-1 cup Frozen Green Peas (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons Oil (any type)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare the pork by slicing small cuts with the fat on the side to avoid the pork from curling when frying. Season the pieces with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a large pan on medium-high heat, drizzle in 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté onion slices until caramelized. Set aside in a dish.
- Coat the pork with seasoned rice flour or flour of your choice and dust off excess flour.
- In the same large pan on medium-high heat, drizzle in 1 tablespoon of oil, and fry 2-3 pork chops till 80% cooked and golden brown on both sides.
- Repeat with the rest of the pork chops; add 1 tablespoon of oil each time if needed. (Do not crowd pork chops in the pan.)
- In a small bowl, mix together equal parts ketchup and hoisin sauce to make about ½ cup total sauce (can adjust to make more or less); set aside.
- Lightly oil a 9×13” baking pan. Evenly spread cooked rice in the bottom of the pan; should be about ½” of rice. Sprinkle on the frozen peas if using. Top with browned pork chops (they can slightly overlap each other to fit them all in the pan).
- Now spread the ketchup and hoisin mixture over each pork chop.
- Put some caramelized onions on each pork chop.
- Cover with foil.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
- When the pork chops are 145 degrees F, take them out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- While pork chops are resting, saute some leafy green vegetables of choice with a little oil and garlic.
Then eat and enjoy!!
Kaitlyn Lai was presented the 2025 Gim Hong and Sun Woo Lee Memorial Scholarship for the top college senior. After graduating from California State University Sacramento, she is studying nursing at Concordia University. She is the granddaughter of Frances Lai.
