Spiking up your everyday cooking doesn’t have to be difficult at all. It’s the little things that make a really big difference. Even when you can’t afford expensive foods like steak, seafood or brisket on a regular basis, you can still turn simple things into something really special. This easy and fast marinade turns a regular ole pork chop (or chicken) into something extraordinary.

I’m using my favorite boneless “cook for only a minute or two and they’re done” kinda pork chops. Gotta love fast cooking! Pork really benefits from a little sweetness and honey benefits from a little thyme. You got yourself a classic win-win situation.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp coarse mustard
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pinch cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
thyme

Directions:

Pour 4 tbsp honey in a bowl. This will be the basis of your marinade. I like how honey literally sticks to the meat. Now things tend to burn easy with honey in the marinade, but you’ll be perfectly safe when you use pork chops that require very little cooking time or when you flatten the chicken before grilling it.

Add 1 tbsp orange juice (you can also use lemon juice), 1 tbsp oil, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp coarse mustard, 1/2 tsp salt and a small pinch of cayenne.

Beautiful, fragrant thyme. There’s something comforting about the combination of honey, thyme and orange juice to me. Probably a scent I subconsciously associate with something from my childhood. Lemon thyme also works really well for this. Add as much thyme as you like. Just run your fingers down the stem from top to bottom to strip it.

Now whisk until you a have beautiful amber-colored syrup.

The pork chops! I always buy chops that still have a tiny bit of fat along the edge. It definitely adds to the flavor. Normally when you pierce meat with a fork you let its natural juices escape, but in this case I do pierce it here and there, not only to tenderize the meat but also to make sure the marinade seeps into the meat a little.

Cover the pork chops with a generous amount of marinade and sprinkle a little black pepper on top. Let the flavors incorporate for roughly 5 minutes. Just enough time to heat up the grill and set the table.

Get your grill as hot as you can, no need to oil it because there’s oil in the marinade. Now place the meat on top. It should really sizzle.

Flip over the pork chops after a minute or two and cook the other side for an additional 2 minutes. Don’t overcook them! Nothing worse than overcooked pork chops.

I just love grill stripes, especially honey induced grill stripes look great. You know how this smells right now, don’t you? Close your eyes and envision it! Nah, that’s mean.

The juices that ooze out are infused with sweet honey and thyme, creating the most perfect gravy. It doesn’t need anything else. Serve with a few thyme sprigs on top and you’re done.

These are so good and so quick! If you’ll excuse me, I really have to go sink my teeth into one of these before it gets cold :)

Tags: cayenne, garlic powder, grilling, honey, honey thyme chops, onion powder, orange juice, pepper, pork chops, salt, thyme