Marinate Pork Chops In This Classic Steak Sauce For Tangy, Savory Flavor

Pork chops are an easy, convenient dinner, but they can taste pretty bland on their own and easily become dried out if they're even slightly overcooked. One way to build flavor and prevent dry pork chops is to marinate them in liquid, letting the ingredients of another sauce or mixture infuse flavor while also tenderizing the meat and helping prevent dryness when the pork chops bake (pro tip: use a meat thermometer to make sure they don't overcook). And for a tangy, robust profile on this mild-flavored meat, reach for none other than A.1. Steak Sauce.

A.1. isn't something we often think of applying to pork chops (it's called steak sauce, after all), but it can reinvent so many meats, from chicken wings to pork. It gets its sweet-yet-savory and tangy flavor from an interesting ingredients list containing vinegar, raisin paste, and crushed orange puree, along with tomatoes and spices. 

To marinate pork chops in this sauce, just add the pork chops to a deep dish or a sealable bag. Then coat them in A.1., and let them sit overnight in the fridge to give that flavor plenty of time to make its way into the meat.

In addition to marinating the chops, you can season them with anything you want — but you may wish to avoid salt. In most cases, salt is an essential meat seasoning, but A.1. is high in sodium. With 290 milligrams per tablespoon, the sauce has plenty of salt to go around; adding any extra will likely leave the meat too salty, though this does ultimately come down to personal preference.

When removing the pork chops from the marinade, don't brush the marinade off. Leaving it on helps act as a binder for adding your seasonings, plus it creates that necessary layer to keep the meat moist. 

After the pork chops are cooked, remove some of the A.1.-infused juices that have gathered in the pan (this won't work if you're grilling the chops, so it's a better trick for baking or stovetop cooking). Mix them in with whatever side dish you're serving — roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, etc. — for extra flavor. A.1. is still the best steak sauce on the market, but it works to add flavor to so much more than just steak.