Plenty of families count on pork chops for easy weeknight meals, but the decision about what to serve with them can be a head-scratcher. If you’re wondering what goes great with pork chops, this recipe collection will inspire you to think outside the box.
You'll find great ideas here for sides that need minimal prep or hands-on cooking time to deliver plenty of flavors—from smashed potatoes, Southern-fried apples, and one-pan macaroni and cheese to easy vegetable dishes that even picky eaters will like.
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Shredded Brussels Sprouts With Bacon
Bacon, onion, and garlic are all you need to add massive flavor to shredded Brussels sprouts. This incredibly tasty vegetable side dish for pork needs only five ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and not much cooking time, so it’s great when you’re rushing to get dinner on the table.
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Classic Baked Corn Pudding
Corn pudding is a classic, comforting, Southern-style side dish. Sweet, fluffy, and custard-like, it is an excellent accompaniment to porky mains. Bake it up in about an hour for your holiday table or any time of year, thanks to canned or frozen corn kernels.
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Potato and Butternut Squash Latkes
Latkes are traditional Jewish potato pancakes, but these fried bundles of goodness are not your grandmother’s version. With butternut squash, za’atar seasoning, and a suggested topping of creamy labneh, these latkes are full of fantastic Middle Eastern flavors. Serve them with maple-glazed pork chops for a homey and satisfying autumn meal.
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Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
Gorgeously sweet and sticky roasted carrots glazed with brown sugar and butter are a delicious side dish for your weekday skillet pork chops or a holiday pork tenderloin. You can use multicolored carrots for a fantastic visual appeal if they are available at your local market, but regular orange ones are great, too.
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Instant Pot Scalloped Potatoes
The Instant Pot makes the tender, cheesy scalloped potatoes of your dreams so easy to achieve with minimal effort. Simply layer the simple ingredients in a baking dish sized to fit inside your Instant Pot and set the timer. After 30 minutes, sprinkle the dish with some extra cheese and pop it under the broiler briefly to achieve a beautifully browned crust.
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Southern Fried Apples
If you enjoy sweet and savory tastes together, you’re sure to love the classic flavor combination of pork and apples. These Southern-style fried apples are quick and easy to whip up on busy weeknights, and will magically transform basic pork chops into a special dinner.
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Roasted Broccoli Rabe
Broccoli rabe (also called rapini) is a great choice to feed your family. Oven-roasting this cruciferous vegetable at a high temperature with just a little olive oil and salt helps to tame its famously bitter taste—and it adds an appealing crispness around the edges.
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Easy French Onion Soup
Experience French bistro dining at home when you begin a pork chop dinner with French onion soup. Rich, beefy, and complex, this traditional soup matches well with mild-tasting pork chops for an ultra-comforting meal on colder days. Top bowls with toasted baguette slices smothered in melting Gruyère cheese for the full experience.
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Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
Round out a meaty meal with a nutritious, fresh-tasting salad that goes beyond the usual greens. Tender, roasted sweet potatoes top an easy-to-assemble lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and radish salad, for a lovely combination of warm and cool elements. It’s an easy side that makes your whole dinner feel more special.
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Baked Acorn Squash With Cornbread Stuffing
Turn plain pork chops into a holiday-worthy meal by pairing them with elegant stuffed acorn squash. Filled with a savory cornbread dressing that starts with a prepared mix and adds fresh chopped apples and lots of dried pantry spices for extra flavor, it makes a hearty side dish for pork or a satisfying vegan and vegetarian entrée on its own.
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Green Beans With Onions and Za'atar Breadcrumbs
Great-tasting green beans are always welcome at the dinner table. Spruced up with crunchy za’atar breadcrumbs and sweet and tangy caramelized onion slices, these pan-sautéed string beans have loads of flavor and texture and take just 30 minutes to prepare.
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Roasted Celery Root
The humble celery root (aka celeriac) is a much-overlooked root vegetable, possibly because it’s not the prettiest. But roasted with just a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, the flesh takes on a lovely sweet and creamy flavor. Add it to your dinner plate with pork chops whenever you crave a rustic meal.
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Sautéed Collard Greens and Kale
Garlic, olive oil, and simple seasonings are all that’s needed to flavor collard greens and kale. Stir-fry them quickly in a pan, finishing with a little lemon juice to add brightness, for a quick and easy side dish that goes great with Southern-style smothered pork chops.
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One-Pan Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese
You need only one pan and fewer than 10 ingredients for this easy broccoli macaroni and cheese. Lots of sharp cheddar cheese gives it great flavor, and it won’t leave you with a pile of dishes to clean up. Serve it with simply broiled or grilled pork chops for a delicious weeknight dinner you can pull off in less than 30 minutes.
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Baked Vidalia Onions With Parmesan Cheese
Soft, buttery baked sweet onions topped with Parmesan cheese are a mouth-watering side dish for grilled or broiled pork chops and steaks. You won’t believe the incredible amount of flavor in these onions—they’re a cinch to prepare and bake up to perfection in about an hour.
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Apple Salad With Pecans and Raisins
Apples are a popular pairing for pork chops, and this refreshing salad makes a great first course for any menu that includes pork. Deliciously fresh, creamy, and crunchy, with fabulous autumn flavor from apples, raisins, and pecans, it also makes a great light lunch option piled atop crisp romaine lettuce leaves.
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Pilaf Rice
When you’re hurrying to get dinner out, consider pairing broiled or pan-fried pork chops with this easy pilaf rice. With the pilaf method, you start the rice on the stovetop with chicken broth and aromatics before transferring it to the oven to finish cooking hands-free.
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Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Garlicky side dishes add awesome flavor to milder-tasting mains, from crock pot pork chops to baked chicken breasts. These roasted garlic mashed potatoes are sure to be a big hit with the whole family and are extra delicious paired with pork.
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Creamed Spinach With Parmesan Cheese
Frozen spinach makes this creamed spinach dish an absolute cinch to prepare. Creamy and rich-tasting with Parmesan cheese, garlic, and nutmeg, but still ultra-nutritious, it’s a side you will make again and again. It may even convert some picky eaters to spinach.
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Granny Smith Apple Slaw
Vibrant and light with a delicious creamy dressing, this fresh apple and cabbage coleslaw is great for balancing out heavier pork dishes like chicken-fried pork chops. If you don’t have Granny Smith apples on hand, use another tart and crisp variety, such as Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Empire, or Jonathan apples.
