These pork chops coated in a sweet pumpkin tea glaze and served with apple slices that have been poached in the same sweet tea. It’s a deliciously flavorful and healthy fall meal.
In preparation for this trip to the middle of nowhere, NC (seriously, there’s no place with milk, eggs and real butter, although we’ve found two places selling Country Crock, within 35 minutes) I made lists. Lots of lists. Lists of clothes to pack, lists of computer/technology things to pack, lists of hiking paraphenalia to pack and of course, lists of food to pack. When you’re headed to a house for a week that isn’t stocked with any of your pantry staples you take for granted at home, you need to bring a few things or face a $500 food bill buying stupid necessities like salt, pepper, oil, etc.
If you couldn’t of already guessed, the longest of the lists was the one for food.
And topping that list?
Tea.
If there’s anything a log cabin in the woods with a huge fireplace and an entertainment center filled with board games screams for, it’s a big mug of after dinner tea. Which for me, comes with a huge side of losing miserably at Monopoly. Multiple times.
I’m a huge winter tea drinker. It’s warm, its comforting and you don’t feel bad drinking it in the middle of the day because there’s nothing in it to feel guilty about (I’m looking at you, pumpkin spice latte). I have a tea selection in my kitchen cabinets like most women would have for their nail polish collection. You want green tea? I have it (even though I’m not even a huge fan of the green stuff). You want pepperminty Christmas kind of teas? No problem. Spicy chai? That’s Ulysses’ favorite. Fun flavors like sweet pumpkin, gingerbread and sugar cookie for an almost dessert-like fix? Those are the best! And of course, there’s regular and decaf on hand for entertaining purposes.
Something I’ve never really thought to do with my tea though is actually cook with it. And I have NO idea why.
Celestial Seasonings Sweet Harvest Pumpkin® Black Tea is one of my fall favorites. It’s sweet enough to fill a dessert craving but it’s pumpkin-y enough to totally work in a savory element too. And that’s exactly what I did with these tea glazed pork chops and apples.
If you think a tea glaze sounds complicated, I can assure you it’s as simple as steeping some tea and then simmering it in a hot skillet to reduce. With apples cooked in it first and then coating a thick juicy pork chop, it’s pretty much a healthy fall flavor explosion and a whole different way to enjoy tea.
Pumpkin Tea Glazed Pork Chops and Apples
Ingredients
- 2 Celestial Seasonings Sweet Harvest Pumpkin® Black Tea bags
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 pounds bone-in pork chops
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place tea bags in a medium sauce pot and pour boiling water over them. Let steep for 5 minutes. Squeeze and remove tea bags.
- Add the apple slices to the sauce pot with the tea and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, gently stirring once or twice. Remove apples from the sauce pot with a slotted spoon, place in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season the pork chops generously with salt and pepper.
- Once hot, add the pork to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes per side until nicely browned.
- Transfer the pork to a dish, cover loosely with foil and set aside.
- Pour the tea into the hot skillet and simmer on medium-high for 3-5 minutes without stirring until reduced and thickened.
- Add the pork and the apples back into to the skillet and turn to coat in the tea glaze.
- Serve immediately with greens.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
*This post is sponsored by Celestial Seasonings. All content and opinions are my own.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
That pork chop is just what I need right now! Looks perfect!
K, best looking pork ever. Seriously, just beautiful!
A tea glaze?! over the pork chops? Wow. . brilliant!!! love this! and I must say, you do the most beautiful styling. . love all of your photos!
Thank you :)
I’m a big tea drinker, especially when I feel like my body has had wayyy too much coffee. I love the idea of cooking with it! There are so many intoxicating flavors out there, it only makes sense to cook with it as well! There are so many interesting flavors here, and the photos are just stunningly beautiful!
What a terrific meal…pork, sage and apples makes for a heavenly entree! And simmering the apples in tea? Genius!
While I have to be honest, I’m not much of a tea drinker, I do love cooking with it. I’ve done sweet tea-marinated chicken, and tea-infused homemade ice cream before. But a tea glaze? On a huge, delicious looking pork chop. SOLD. This will definitely be my next cooking-with-tea adventure!
Using tea is cooking is the best! I love making rice and grains with tea!
That looks like an awesome recipe. I never make pork chops (just not sure what to do with them), totally going to try this out!
Yeah, I seldom do pork too and then when I do, I always wonder why the heck I don’t cook it more often!
Using pumpkin tea as a glaze is basically the most genius thing EVER! This meal is Autumn all over a plate! Pinned!
I have used tea to cook with only out of sheer laziness.. Drinking a cup of tea while cooking and so not motivated enough to open a new chicken stock container or get some water … just add a little tea! This looks great though- I will try:)