These smoked pork chops are seasoned with a simple Korean chile rub, smoked low at 225ºF, then reverse seared hot and fast to finish. They’re juicy and tender inside with a crispy crust on the exterior. Paired with an optional gochujang butter, all you need is a bit of rice and banchan for awesome rice bowls or sweet potato fries for a unique spin on steak frites.
An Easy Korean-Inspired Seasoning for Smoked Pork Chops
All you need for this rub is gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) or your choice of chile flakes, kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil. As always, season to your personal preference.
A lot of rubs for pork chops have brown sugar or other sweet components. I find gochugaru has a bit of sweetness (and not much heat) on its own. But if you like a sweet rub on pork, feel free to add a tablespoon or two. Just keep an eye on the hot and fast portion of the cook so you don’t burn the sugar.
The recipe calls for drizzling a bit of oil on the pork chops between smoking and searing. I would use olive oil for that step and reserve the toasted sesame oil for finishing, if you really like that flavor.
If you want to take your smoked thick cut pork chops in a different direction, I contemplated using a rub like my Tex-Mex pork tenderloin and serving with my chile garlic compound butter.
Slow Smoked vs Grilled vs Reverse Seared
I tested all three methods, taking the pork to an internal temperature of 145ºF across the board. Smoking the pork chops at 225ºF the entire time made the pork chops a bit dry and tough. Grilling only made perfectly juicy pork chops, but the flavor of the smoked and grilled was far better.
These results were slightly surprising, since it only takes an extra 30-45 minutes or so. Every minute on the grill counts, I guess!
My smoker of choice for testing was the Weber Searwood XL. I’m finding cook times and temperatures to be the same on my Weber as all my cooks on Traeger grills over the past few years. So if you’re using a Traeger or other pellet grill, this recipe should work the same across the board as long as your grill achieves a constant temperature.
As for pellets, I used the Weber Grillmaster Blend. It’s a blend of maple, hickory, and cherry. I would definitely stick with the fruit woods like cherry, apple, etc. for dishes like these reverse seared pork chops.
Serving
The recipe includes a gochujang butter, which might be the best part of the meal if we’re being honest. I served one batch with sweet potato fries like steak frites with a twist. With another, I made rice bowls with kimchi and pickled carrots, roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips, and ssamjang. My wife, being the potato enthusiast she is, made mashed potato bowls with grilled corn and the gochujang butter.
If you end up with leftovers, I like chopping the pork chops and making something like this leftover pork fried cauliflower rice or Texas fried rice (swapping leftover brisket for the pork chops).
That should be everything you need to know. If you have a question about any of the ingredients, smoker instructions, or anything else, leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Otherwise, I hope you love the recipe. If you do, I always appreciate recipe reviews!
Korean Inspired Smoked Pork Chops
Thick cut pork chops seasoned with a Korean chile rub are smoked and seared to finish on a pellet grill and topped with a gochujang compound butter.
Ingredients
- 4 12-ounce Pork Chops (Loin Chops 1.5" to 2" thick)*
- 2 teaspoons Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1/4 cup Korean Chile Flakes (Gochugaru)
- 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 2 teaspoons Black Pepper
- 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
For the Gochujang Butter
- 1 stick (4 oz) Salted Butter, room temp or softened
- 1 Tablespoon (18g) Gochujang
- 1/2 Tablespoon (11g) Honey
- 1-2 cloves Garlic
- 1 handful Chives
Instructions
- For the gochujang butter, mix all the ingredients together in a food processor or with a whisk. Add the blended butter to a piece of plastic wrap and roll it to seal. Place in the refrigerator to firm before serving.
- For the pork chops, pat the pork dry with a paper towel before rubbing the toasted sesame oil on all sides. Mix the gochugaru, salt, pepper, and garlic powder together before seasoning the pork on all sides. (For best results, you can season and place on a wire rack in the refrigerator the night before.)
- To smoke the pork chops, heat a smoker to 225ºF with the lid closed. Once the grill is up to temperature, add the pork chops and cook for 50-60 minutes until they reach an internal temperature of 110ºF.
- Transfer to a sheet pan and tent with foil off the smoker. Increase the temperature of your smoker to 500ºF or as hot as it can go.
- Once hot, drizzle or spray a little olive or vegetable oil on one side of the pork chops and place on the grill grates. Close the lid and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the pork chops develop a nice crust on one side. Flip and cook an additional 8-10 minutes or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145ºF.
- Transfer the pork chops to a wire rack and rest for 10 minutes before serving with a slice of the gochujang butter.
Notes
*It's very important to use thick cut pork chops for this recipe. The chops need to be at least 1.5" thick. Otherwise, you'll just want to grill them hot and fast. I buy a huge packs of thick pork loin chops from Costco for $2.79/pound.
I developed this recipe using a Weber Searwood XL with Weber Grillmaster blend pellets, which is a blend of maple, hickory, and cherry. I would recommend sweeter fruit woods for pork chops.
The nutrition facts are for the pork chops on their own. If you serve each half of a pork chop with about a tablespoon of the gochujang butter, it adds around 90 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 3 grams of carbs.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1/2 Pork Chop (about 4 oz)Amount Per Serving: Calories: 220Total Fat: 9gCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 35g