30 Pork Recipes Perfect for Dinner

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Updated on October 8, 2021

Pork Chops with Sunflower Seed Gremolata — Photo: David Cicconi

You can't go wrong with pork. It's versatile, tender, flavorful, and works with spices from ginger to mustard to cumin. These pork recipes are perfect for dinner, and whether you've picked up pork loin or pork belly, we've got you covered. From Balsamic Pork Chops to Pork Bakso Dumplings, here are some delicious pork dishes. Let's dig in!

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Pork Bakso Dumplings

Pork Bakso Dumplings — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell

An aromatic blend of ground coriander, ginger, and lemongrass pairs with umami-rich fish sauce to season these delicate pork dumplings. "The first thing I think about when I dream of my visits to Indonesia are kaki lima, the multicolored carts selling noodles, snacks, and very often bakso (Indonesian meatballs)," says chef Tom Pisha-Duffly of Gado Gado in Portland, Oregon, a Food & Wine Best New Restaurant in 2020.

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Braised Pork Belly with Pickled Radishes

Gail Simmons marinates the pork belly overnight and braises it in a savory soy and mirin broth, while the radishes cut through the savory, fatty texture. This dish also pairs well with a red wine from the Rhône Valley.

03 of 30

Toulouse-Style Cassoulet

Toulouse-Style Cassoulet — Tina Rupp

Although there are innumerable versions of cassoulet, most are based on a stew of white beans and various forms of pork. The dish gets its name from the pot it's traditionally baked in, the cassole (see Note), which is often shaped like a wide inverted cone to insure the greatest amount of luscious crust. This version includes duck confit and the French garlic sausages that are a specialty of Toulouse.

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Ginger-Sesame Pork Burgers with Slaw

Asian-Style Pork Burgers

Melissa Rubel adds scallions, fresh ginger, garlic, and sesame oil to ground pork for a juicy alternative to hamburger.

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Balinese Sticky Glazed Pork Ribs

Balinese Sticky Glazed Pork Ribs — Louise Hagger

Sweet, hot, and tangy, these ribs from chef Lara Lee are seriously delicious, and easy to make indoors — no grill or smoker required. Kecap manis is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce that forms the foundational sweet, tangy flavor and sticky texture of the glaze that coats each bite of these tender ribs.

06 of 30

Balsamic Pork Chops

Balsamic Pork Chops — Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Kathleen Varner / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey

Balsamic vinegar simmers with caramelized onions for a velvety sweet and sour sauce on these pork chops. Pounded to tenderize rather than flatten, the pork is seasoned boldly with black pepper before crisping in a skillet. Quick enough to pull off on a weeknight, this main course will impress guests, too.

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Coffee-Cured Pulled Pork

Coffee-Cured Pulled Pork — John Kernick

Linton Hopkins turns this slow-roasted pork shoulder into sliders. "Why are we so obsessed with the 30-minute meal?" he says. "I want to create a TV show called The 36-Hour Meal. The best things take a little bit of time."

08 of 30

Pork Belly Burnt Ends with Barbecue Sauce

Pork Belly Burnt Ends with pickles and white bread — Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Kathleen Varner / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey

Burnt ends are typically the extra-dark, chewy, extremely delicious ends of a barbecued beef brisket. If you find burnt ends irresistible, then this recipe is for you. Slow-smoking chunks of spice-rubbed pork belly, then tossing them in a quick, not-too-sweet barbecue sauce and smoking them some more yields a crispy-chewy pile of pork that will win over the most passionate burnt-ends purists.

09 of 30

Grilled Pork Chops with Burst Blueberry Sauce

Grilled Pork Chops with Burst Blueberry Sauce — Photo by Jessica Pettway / Food Styling by Micah Morton / Prop Styling by Paola Andrea

Writer Nicole A. Taylor takes blueberries for a savory spin, blending them with shallots, thyme, and chipotles in adobo to create a sauce that showcases the floral notes of the fruit, while red wine and balsamic vinegar add a tart backbone that brings the flavors into focus. This sauce pairs beautifully with almost any grilled meat; here Taylor spoons it over juicy grilled pork rib chops.

10 of 30

Babi Panggang Karo (North Sumatran Grilled Pork)

Babi Panggang Karo (North Sumatran Grilled Pork) and Sambal Andaliman — Photo by Eva Kolenko / Food Styling by Marian Cooper Cairns / Prop Styling by Natasha Kolenko

Batak chef and adventurer Rahung Nasution shared this recipe for a fatty marinated pork dish beloved by the Batak tribes of North Sumatra, Indonesia. A simple but flavorful marinade of lemongrass, garlic, lime juice, and soy sauce holds up to high-heat grilling and helps the pork shoulder caramelize beautifully over the hot coals. Nasution pairs the smoky, rich pork with North Sumatran Sambal Andaliman, a powerfully refreshing condiment of green chiles, salt, and andaliman — the juicy green local relative of numbing Szechuan peppercorns — pounded together.

11 of 30

Schweinebraten (German Roast Pork Shoulder)

Schweinebraten — Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Missie Crawford

This classic German dish is all about the contrast between savory, fork-tender meat and a crispy, tender crust of pork crackling flavored with cumin, caraway, and mustard seeds. It's worth your time to seek out a boneless pork shoulder with a nice, even fat cap, which is key to the dish.

12 of 30

Herb-Basted Pork Chops

Herb Basted Pork Chops — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Hot pan drippings and melted butter tease the essential oils out of rosemary, thyme, and sage, creating rich juices for basting pork chops during the final minutes of cooking. Thai chiles add heat to the dish (or, to dial back the spiciness, try cutting a slit in the chiles instead of halving them). Serve over mashed or roasted potatoes to help sop up the flavorful juices.

13 of 30

Crispy Pork Cutlets with Tonnato Sauce

Crispy Pork Cutlets with Tonnato Sauce — Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Prissy Lee Montiel

Creamy and rich tonnato sauce, thickened and flavored with oil-packed tuna fillets, gets a balancing lift from fresh lemon and pickled caperberries.

14 of 30

Thit Kho (Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly)

Kho (Braised Vietnamese Minced Pork) with Cabbage — Anna Stockwell

This savory pork braise is beloved across Vietnam. In the north, the dish is usually saltier, says chef Diep Tran, R&D chef for Red Boat Fish Sauce, while in the south, the braise tends to be sweeter. The blanched cabbage is a good accompaniment for the fall and winter months. During spring, blanched snap peas and green beans are great options, and in the summer, pair it with fresh slices of Persian cucumbers.

15 of 30

Pork Chop au Poivre with Red Wine–Shallot Sauce

Pork Chop au Poivre with Red Wine Shallot Sauce — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

Steak who? This bone-in pork chop riff on the classic French au poivre preparation is so good, you may never go back to beef. Using a blend of peppercorns, not just classic black, adds notes of floral and vegetal spice to this simple dish. Splurge on the Pierre Poivre N.7 from La Boîte master spice blender Lior Lev Sercarz, or grind your own. Be sure to grind the peppercorns just before cooking to release the fresh aroma and oils.

16 of 30

Crispy Pork Tacos with Red Chile Salsa

Winemakers Carnitas Tacos — David Malosh

These hearty tacos, piled high with braised pork and topped with thinly sliced cabbage and cilantro, are a love letter to the Mexican cooking traditions that shape California cuisine. Fried in pork fat after cooking low and slow, the pork gets extra crispy without being dry. Dried chiles bring a mild, sweet heat to the salsa and their slight bitterness cuts through rich, fatty pork.

17 of 30

Busiate with Pork Ragù

Busiate with Pork Ragu — Aubrie Pick

Marinating the pork overnight results in an almost meltingly tender meat sauce. If you can't source shank, trotter, or pork belly, season 70-percent lean ground pork and skip the grinding step.

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Spicy Cumin-Braised Pork

Spicy Cumin-Braised Pork Recipe — Photo by Greg DuPree / Prop Styling by Christine Keely / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer

Just a tablespoon of Onwuachi's Pepper Sauce brings plenty of heat, and tenderizing flavor, to this reverse braised pork shoulder. As the liquid and delicious fat from the pork cook off, the resulting Geera Pork is coated in a richly seasoned paste, perfect for eating with rice or leftover bara flatbreads.

19 of 30

Pork Loin Stuffed with Pesto and Prosciutto

Stuffed Pork Loin Recipe | FWCooks — Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food styling by Rishon Hanners / Prop styling by Audrey Davis

This pork loin is stuffed with herb pesto made with tarragon, chives, basil, parsley, scallions, and lemon zest which flavors the loin from the inside. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand. A delicious addition is prosciutto.

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Yunnan-Style Spicy Pork–Stuffed Eggplant

Yunnan Style Spicy Pork Stuffed Eggplant — Greg DuPree

This dish is a specialty of shaokao, or barbecue, cooks in China's Yunnan province, and it leans on a fragrant spice mixture that includes dried chiles; Szechuan peppercorns; and the piny, fragrant black cardamom that is so important in central Yunnan cooking.

21 of 30

Pork Tenderloin with Charred Tomatillo Salsa

Pork Tenderloin with Charred Tomatillo Sauce — Antonis Achilleos

In this recipe, grilled pork tenderloin is paired with one of our favorite supporting players: a tangy green salsa made from blistered tomatillos, onion, garlic, and serranos, which takes on a complex, caramelized depth from all of the charred and blackened bits. Finishing the sauce with a splash of thickened cream isn't essential, but it pulls the tart, bitter, and spicy flavors together beautifully.

22 of 30

Mustard-and-Lemon-Glazed Pork with Roasted Vegetables

Mustard-and-Lemon-Glazed Pork with Roasted Vegetables. Photo © Tina Rupp — © Tina Rupp

"I like that all of the ingredients in this dish get a chance to meet each other," says Alexandra Guarnaschelli. She roasts the carrots and shallots along with the mustard-coated pork loin; then she uses the drippings to make a sauce. "The idea is that you never throw flavor away," Guarnaschelli says. "In fact, you collect flavor. It's a good philosophy for healthy cooking."

23 of 30

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Hazelnut Vinaigrette — © Reed Davis

In the late 1990s, Octavio Becerra fell in love with Middle Eastern flavors while helping his friend Nayla Audi open Atlas Café in Beirut, Lebanon. The rub on this pork is his take on za'atar, a spice blend that gets its pungency from ground sumac. Becerra remembers, "Everyone in Beirut had his or her own version of za'atar," so he suggests experimenting with the ratios of spices to see what tastes best.

24 of 30

Portuguese Braised Pork and Clams (Porco à Alentejana)

Portugese Braised Pork and Clams — Greg DuPree

This simple braise is a mainstay along the coast of Portugal. With clams from the sea and pork from the nearby mountains, it speaks to the landscape, and diet, of Portugal itself. Its garlicky broth pairs well with crusty bread and dry Portuguese wine.

25 of 30

Soba Bukkake with Chashu Pork and Sesame Vinaigrette

Soba Bukkake with Chashu Pork and Sesame Vinaigrette — Greg DuPree

This recipe from Food & Wine Best New Chef Mutsuko Soma features chilled soba noodles with just a splash of rich broth, called mentsuyu, in the bottom of the bowl. Topped with pork chashu and marinated eggs (steeped in the flavorful pork braising liquid), the dish comes together quickly using dried soba (with Soma's blessing — look for Shirakiku Hana Tororo Soba), and easily scales up for a crowd.

26 of 30

Cold Saimin Salad with Soy-Ginger Grilled Pork

Cold Saimin Salad with Soy Ginger Grilled Pork — Victor Protasio

This Hawaiian-style cold ramen noodle salad recipe is topped with slices of savory, crispy pork shoulder, crunchy bean sprouts, tender ribbons of egg, shredded nori, and slices of Japanese pickled cucumber. A cooling dressing of dashi, rice wine vinegar, and sake ties it all together.

27 of 30

Miso-Crusted Pork Roast with Apples

Miso Crusted Pork Roast With Apples — Greg DuPree

Apples and pork are a classic combination, but the onions and nuttiness of miso keeps things from getting too sweet. After marinating overnight, the roast goes into the oven for a few hours to get tender while the crisp apples cook up in the last 45 minutes.

28 of 30

Slow Cooker Barbecued Pulled Pork

Slow Cooker Barbecued Pulled Pork — HANNAH QUEEN

Serve the pulled pork with coleslaw and pickles, or mound it on hamburger buns and top with coleslaw and thinly sliced onion and dill pickles.

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Pork Chops with Sunflower Seed Gremolata

Pork Chops with Sunflower Seed Gremolata — David Cicconi

To jazz up his juicy pork chops, Food & Wine's Justin Chapple tops them with a crunchy, bright gremolata made with a quick mix of sunflower seeds, parsley, garlic, and lemon.

30 of 30

Pork Loin Roast with Caramelized Onions and White Wine–Dijon Sauce

Pork Loin Roast with Caramelized Onions and White Wine-Dijon Sauce — Charissa Fay

It's important to make sure that the pork roast has enough air circulating around it (especially underneath) as it cooks, so use a roasting pan fitted with a rack to elevate the meat as it cooks.

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