Grilled Pork Chops with Honey Soy Glaze

I took local honey and combined it with umami-rich soy sauce in this recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with a Sticky Honey Soy Glaze. I also added lime for some tartness and a pinch of ground coriander to keep everyone’s tastebuds guessing.

Ground coriander is the ground-up seed of the cilantro plant. Don’t fear if you don’t like cilantro, though. Coriander tastes different and doesn’t have that off-putting taste to some folks. It’s lightly sweet with notes of citrus, and it’s often used in Indian cooking. Many curry powders are a mixture of spices, one of which is usually coriander. I think it complements the sweetness of the honey and the richness of the soy sauce.

When I’m shopping for pork chops, I usually choose a bone-in, thin-cut chop. The bones add more flavour to the finished product, and the thin-cut selection makes it easier to cook. If I were cooking with a massive, 1½-inch thick pork chop, I would grill it first and then transfer it to the oven to finish cooking through. With thin-cut pork chops (which are about ¾ of an inch thick), I can grill it on both sides and be done. It minimizes the risk of it drying out, too, since the cooking time is shorter.

There are all sorts of techniques for glazing pork chops out there. A popular one is to brush the pork chops with the glaze near the end of the cooking time. I happen to think that creates a massive mess of the grill or grill pan (here’s the one I use). Who wants to clean a sticky glaze off a hot grill, or worse, scrub it off a cold grill? Not me.

So I opt to cook them separately, boiling the glaze until it thickens. After the pork chops are finished cooking, I place them on a serving platter and then drizzle them with the glaze. This happens to make a more excellent presentation, too!

This is one of my favourite “pantry” meals—I always have the glaze ingredients on hand. If you’re out of limes, you could substitute red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar.