These Air Fryer Pork Chops are coated in an extra-crispy bread crumb crust and served with fresh chimichurri sauce for an easy dinner.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Thin-cut pork chops cook up quickly and to golden, crispy perfection in the air fryer. The easy chimichurri sauce adds a bright fresh flavor.
How to Make Air Fryer Chimichurri Pork Chops
I recommend using thin-cut pork chops for this recipe. They will cook faster, so the meat will stay moist. My chops were cut about ½ inch thick. If yours are a bit thinner or thicker, simply adjust the cook time accordingly if needed.
The breading for the crispiest pork chops is a mixture of Italian bread crumbs, panko and flour. Panko provides a wonderful crunch while the Italian bread crumbs add flavor. Flour helps absorb extra moisture while air-frying.
A one-ingredient shortcut for the pork chop breading is Shake and Bake Seasoned Coating Mix.
You may notice there is no salt in the ingredients. That’s because most garlic powders include salt. If you’re using a salt-free seasoning, you can salt the pork chops before breading.
Tip: Don’t forget to spray the coated pork chops before air frying. This helps the coating crisp up and not dry out during cooking.
How Long to Air Fry Pork Chops?
Every air-fryer is slightly different. So cook times and temperature could vary slightly. Start checking the pork chops at 5 minutes to see their progress and make sure they don’t dry out. You want to cook them to 145°F.
Also, you may have to work in batches. Most air-fryers will not hold all the pork chops at once. It’s important to leave space between pork chops so the air circulates for even cooking.
Chimichurri Sauce
Chimichurri is a herb-based condiment that adds a bright and fresh flavor to these air-fryer pork chops. It also tastes great on steamed vegetables as a nice side dish. I use red pepper in my chimichurri, which is not a traditional ingredient. I think it adds a lot of flavor and not too much heat. Plus the pop of red looks nice with all the green.
This chimichurri comes together in one bowl. For the best flavor, let the mixture marinate for at least 30 minutes before serving.
If you’d like to limit the spice level in your chimichurri, you can omit, use less, or remove the seeds from the jalapeño.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To serve, reheat the chops in the air fryer. Note that the coating could soften and it may not be as crispy the second time around.
The pork chops will take about 5 minutes to reheat in the air fryer and should have an internal temperature of 165 °F.
More Air Fryer Recipes
While you have your air fryer out and ready, try these other crispy and easy recipes:
- Baked Potatoes get crispy on the outside and tender on the inside in the air fryer.
- Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies are incredibly soft, gooey and delicious.
- Chicken Tenders have a super-crisp breadcrumb coating like these pork chops.
- Air Fryer Boneless Pork Chops, from Melanie Cooks
Air Fryer Pork Chops
Equipment
Ingredients
Pork Chops:
- 4-6 thin cut pork chops 2 lbs
- ½ cup Italian bread crumbs
- ½ cup Panko bread crumbs
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 2 eggs
- Spray oil
Chimichurri:
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup white wine vinegar
- ½ cup parsley finely chopped
- ½ cup cilantro finely chopped
- 3 clove garlic pressed of finely minced
- 1 jalapeño finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp red pepper finely minced
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch pepper
Instructions
- Pork Chops:Rinse and dry pork chops and let sit at room temp for 30 minutes.
- Spray your air-fryer tray with spray oil and set aside.
- In medium saute pan add your oil and bread crumbs and Panko crumbs. Sauté until they are golden brown. Move them continuously as they will begin the brown quickly once they start. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Once the crumb mixture is cooled place in a shallow dish good for dredging, like a pie plate. Mix in your flour, pepper and garlic powder to the crumbs until completely combined.
- Whisk eggs in a shallow dish good for dredging, again like a pie plate
- Salt and pepper the pork chops.
- Set up your ingredients like an assembly line. Moving from left to right, first the pork chops, second the egg wash, third the crumbs, fourth the air-fryer tray.
- Working with one pork chop at a time, dip the pork chop into the egg wash. Coat both sides and make sure to wipe off any excess on the side of the dish.
- Move to the crumbs and dredge the pork chop into the crumb mixture, flip and coat the other side.
- Transfer to the air-fryer tray and spray with spray oil.
- Repeat the process with as many pork chops as your air-fryer tray will hold.
- Air-fry at 400 ºF for 8-10 minutes or until pork is done and the crumbs are a nice golden brown. Pork is done at 145 ºF internal temperature, so if you are not sure use a meat thermometer.
- Serve with chimichurri if using.
- Chimichurri:Place all ingredients into a medium bowl and stir to mix. Let mixture sit for at least 30 minutes to marinate all the flavors together.
- Refrigerate any leftovers.
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