The next time you want Grilled Pork Chops, take them to the next level by making this super easy, yet elegant, Wine Brown Butter Sauce. Pair it with a bottle of delicious Prosecco Superiore, and you’ve got yourself an incredible meal for date night or entertaining guests.
![A grilled pork chop topped with a wine brown butter sauce on a serving plate](https://www.vindulge.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Grilled-Pork-Chops-with-Wine-Brown-Butter-Sauce.jpg)
Table of Contents
Grilled Pork Chop Recipe Highlights
- Pork Chops can be any pork steak, from the T-Bone to the Pork Tomahawk. This recipe works for them all.
- Adding Prosecco wine to the brown butter sauce adds incredible flavor.
- You can also use this sauce if reverse searing your steaks.
I’m passionate about our bubbly around here. And ever since traveling to the Conegliano Valdobbiadene region of Northeast Italy, home of the best Prosecco, I’ve been preaching my love non-stop for the sparkling wines from this region.
And one of the things I love most about sparkling wine, especially Prosecco, is how well it pairs with a diverse variety of foods. And this brown butter sauce recipe was inspired by my trip there.
Sourcing Pork Chops
Since we’re grilling, and you want it to cook evenly, you want thick chops. I mean like 1 ½ – 2 inches thick. Having thicker chops helps prevent overcooking your pork. You can go bone-in or boneless.
This is a good recipe for any type of pork chops. They come available just like beef steaks, meaning they can be ribeye, T-Bone, loin, tenderloin steaks, or even Tomahawks. Just look for thick chops for this. And adjust the timing of the grill to the desired internal temperature you want to achieve.
Pork Chop Seasoning
Next we’re going to season it with our herbed dry rub. This is going to add great flavor as the grilled pork chop sears.
- kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- dried sage
We avoid sugar when grilling to avoid the rub from burning over high heat. See recipe card for portions.
How to Grill Pork Chops
We often love to do a reverse sear on our pork chops. But for a quicker cook we’re sticking to grilling hot and fast for this recipe.
- Prepare your grill for two-zone grilling targeting 400 – 450 degrees Fahrenheit in the cooking chamber.
- Place the seasoned pork chops over direct heat for 5 minutes per side or until you see a nice flavor crust on the outside.
- Move the pork chops to indirect heat and finish until the reach your desired internal temperature. We like our pork medium rare and pull them when the internal temperature is 135 degrees F.
- Let rest for 10 minutes and then serve. After you pull the pork it will continue cooking another 5 degrees with carry over cooking.
If you don’t have a grill you can mimic these same instructions over a searing hot cast iron pan on your stovetop.
Note: The USDA recommends cooking pork to 145 degrees F, however we like to cook it to medium rare because we know and trust the pork we source. Cook to your desired temperature versus time. Use a good quality instant read thermometer like the Thermoworks Thermapen One.
Once they are resting, make your wine brown butter sauce.
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How to Make Wine Brown Butter Sauce
You can do this on a cast iron pan directly on your grill, or on the stovetop. Your choice.
- Start by melting butter in a pan (use a cast iron skillet if doing this directly on your grill). Let the butter slowly simmer for about 5-6 minutes, until you start to see the butter start to turn a darker shade of brown.
- Next add your chopped shallots, garlic, sage, and salt. Let it mix until the vegetables soften and the sage starts to fry (about two minutes). If the skillet is too hot move it to indirect heat or reduce flame. You don’t want to burn the shallots.
- Then pour in the wine and let it simmer one more minute. That’s it! So simple and it adds incredible flavor to your pork chops. Total time is about 9 minutes.
The last thing you need to do is to be sure to pour yourself a glass of wine to pair with this simple, yet elegant dish to find out for yourself how great sparkling wines from this region can pair with grilled meat!
A good substitution for the Prosecco Superiore for the brown butter sauce is a Brut (dry) sparkling wine.
Wine Pairing with Pork Chops
There are a million pairing options for Prosecco Superiore, but one of my favorite things to debunk is the idea of pairing sparkling wine with meat. If you are wondering is a red wine or white wine with pork chops better the answer is both. Most folks will default to red wine or a rich white wine for a meat pairing (especially grilled meat).
But sparkling, and Prosecco Superiore in particular, have both the richness and acidity to handle so many cuts of meat. Pork chops have a great natural sweetness to them, and when grilled take on a fantastic smoky char. The brown butter sauce we use is finished off with some of the Prosecco Superiore giving it a depth of flavor and acidity to brighten up the grilled meat and bring everything together.
Alternatively you can use any dry sparkling wine, oaked Chardonnay, or lighter style red wine like Pinot Noir.
Other Recipes
For more grilled pork chop and roast recipe inspirations check out our collection.
- Reverse Seared Pork Chops (Smoked and Seared)
- Maple and Soy Marinated Pork Chops on the Grill
- Tomahawk Pork Chops
- Grilled Pork Chops with Red Wine Pan Sauce
- Grilled and Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Best Sides for Grilled Pork Chops
We love a good parsnip puree to soak up the sauce. Alternatively you can make the following side dishes:
- Roasted Potatoes
- Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes
- Grilled Broccolini
- Grilled Asparagus
- Hasselback style potato au gratin
This recipe was originally published in December 2018, and updated in May 2022 with more details. The recipe remains the same.
f you like this recipe we’d truly appreciate it if you would give this recipe a star review! And if you share any of your pics on Instagram use the hashtag #vindulge. We LOVE to see it when you cook our recipes.
About Vindulge
Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.
Grilled Pork Chops Recipe with Wine Brown Butter Sauce
Ingredients
For the Pork Chops:
- 2 thick cut pork chops, , at least 1 ½ – 2 inches thick
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
For the Rub:
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
For the Prosecco Brown Butter Sauce:
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon shallots, diced
- 1 garlic clove, finely diced
- 2 large fresh sage leaves, julienned
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme
- ¼ cup Prosecco (or other white wine)
Instructions
- Preheat Grill: set grill for direct/indirect cooking. Target the grill's internal temperature from 400 to 450 degrees F.
- Season Pork Chops: Coat pork chops with olive oil and then liberally apply dry rub to all sides.
- Grill: Place the seasoned pork chops over direct heat for 5 minutes per side or until you see a nice flavor crust on the outside. Move the pork chops to indirect heat and finish until the reach your desired internal temperature. We like our pork medium rare and pull them when the internal temperature is 135 degrees F.
- Rest and Serve: Let rest for 10 minutes and then serve. After you pull the pork it will continue cooking another 5 degrees with carryover cooking.
For the Brown Butter Sauce
- Over medium-high heat add butter to a cast iron pan. Let simmer for about six minutes, and then add salt, shallots, garlic, sage, and thyme for another two minutes. Finally add the wine to finish for one minute and remove from heat. Serve warm.
For the Pork Chop Seasoning
- Mix the salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, and sage together in a bowl and set aside.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My fiancรฉ and I were very skeptical about this given the sweet nature of Prosecco. But HOLY COW we were impressed. The seasoning is on point well rounded. I donโt make sauces often But this brown butter sauce is fantastic we roasted broccoli with the left over dry rub and diced shallots and garlic and the sauce paired very well with the broccoli. This is going to be our goto pork chop dish. Bravissimo
Can I make the sauce ahead
Yes, you can. When the sauce cools, it will thicken. Simply place into a container before it hardens and add to a heated pan to liquefy again. It will last a few days in the refrigerator.
Very good. I made one adjustment — I brined the pork chops in a kosher salt/sugar solution (1 qt water, 6 TBS Morton’s kosher salt, and 6 TBS sugar) for 10 hrs. Because of brining I did not include salt in the rub. Other than that, I followed the directions as published. Came out great — good sear, great flavor and very moist. I’ll do it again.
Omg, this sounds divine! I would have NEVER thought to consider Prosecco, as all the ones I’ve had in the past were terribly sweet. I may have to make this dish for New Years Eve!
Loving this website…wine, gourmet food, AND grilling/smoking?? Be still my heart!
Kathy thank you!!!!! And yes Prosecco Superiore is a great quality to check out.
OMG, I DID make this last night and it was transcendent! I used a Chard instead of Prosecco, as it wasn’t chilled enough for us to enjoy with dinner, but still….no other words for how amazeballs this was!
Yeah Kathy!!!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to share….and love that you modified it.
I seriously need to give this a try! Looks amazingly good!
I love the sound of that wine brown butter sauce Mary!!!! And bubbles always make everything even better!!! I definitely want to give this one a try – Pinning!
I bet most people just dollop on some store-bought applesauce and call it good. Making this sauce would definitely take pork chops to the next level!