30 Minute Chuletas Fritas (Puerto Rican Pork Chops)
Chuletas Fritas (aka Puerto Rican Fried Pork Chops) are seasoned with a blend of classic Puerto Rican spices and come together in under 30 minutes. They develop that deliciously flavorful crust on the outside, while staying juicy and moist on the inside. Served with your favorite veggies and a simple salad, they make an easy weeknight meal.
Pork is an important staple in Latin cuisine and in many Puerto Rican recipes.
These fried pork chops are marinated with a blend of vinegar, adobo seasoning and sazon seasoning, then fried in hot oil until they develop a golden brown crust all over. From there, they’re baked in the oven until they come to temperature, resulting in that perfectly moist and juicy interior.
This recipe is an easy one to throw together and is perfect for serving with arroz con gandules, ensalada verde, or your favorite roasted veggies. I also love serving this with a simple cilantro lime sauce.
Grocery List
Here’s everything you will need to make chuletas fritas:
- pork chops (about 1lb bone in chuletas)
- olive oil
- white vinegar
- adobo seasoning (can be homemade or store bought)
- sazon seasoning (can be homemade or store bought)
See recipe card for quantities.
Step by Step Instructions
Serve the chuletas with ensalada verde, arroz con gandules, and/or your favorite roasted veggies.
Variations
Like many traditional recipes, every family has their own way of making it special. Here are a few common variations you can try to mix up your pork chops:
- Sofrito – Many traditional chuletas fritas recipes call for sofrito in the marinade. If you choose to do so, add a tablespoon of sofrito and marinate the pork overnight to infuse with that flavor.
- Fresh garlic – While our spice blends incorporate a generous dose of ground garlic, many recipes also include fresh garlic in the marinade. I recommend mashing the garlic using a pilon (mortar & pestle) and marinating over night to prevent the bits of garlic from burning during the frying process.
- Pique – Pique is a Puerto Rican hot sauce made with vinegar, hot peppers, garlic, and herbs. This sauce makes an excellent substitute for white vinegar if you’re looking to add a bit of spice to your chops.
What to Eat it With
Chuletas fritas are a great blank canvas to build a meal off of.
You can’t really go wrong when it comes to sides, but here are a few of my favorite Puerto Rican sides that really help to transform this entree into a complete meal:
- Ensalada Verde: Any protein is best accompanied by some veggies, and this classic green salad with cucumbers, onion, and tomato adds that necessary bright, acidic crunch.
- Arroz con Gandules: This classic Puerto Rican rice & beans dish adds that hearty element and pairs deliciously with the flavors of this pork.
- Habichuelas Negras: These stewed black beans are equally delicious and require less effort to throw together.
- Cilantro Lime Sauce: This zingy herbaceous sauce is the perfect thing to serve alongside your chuletas as it complements the flavors in a unique way.
If you don’t have time to throw together these sides, a plate of your favorite roasted veggies will work just fine. And if you like things on the spicy side, don’t forget to top everything off with some Pique!
Special Equipment
This recipe is pretty straight forward and doesn’t require any special equipment. What you will need is an oven safe skillet and some kind of container to let the pork marinate.
I like using my All-Clad pans because they’re easy to clean and nearly impossible to damage. They’re stovetop and oven safe to extremely high temperatures.
Feel free to use a plate and some plastic wrap to marinate the pork, or you can use whatever Tupperware with a lid you have at home.
Storage
Chuletas make wonderful leftovers that can be reheated whole or diced up and added to rice dishes and more.
Store any leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
This recipe doesn’t stand up well to freezing.
Buen provecho,
30 Minute Chuletas Fritas (Puerto Rican Fried Pork Chops)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Entree, Dinner, Lunch
- Method: Fried
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican, Latin
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Chuletas Fritas (aka Puerto Rican Fried Pork Chops) are seasoned with a blend of classic Puerto Rican spices and come together in under 30 minutes. They develop that deliciously flavorful crust on the outside, while staying juicy and moist on the inside. Served with your favorite rice dish, veggies and a simple salad, they make an easy weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 2 pork chops (about 1lb bone in chuletas)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp adobo seasoning (can be homemade or store bought)
- 1 tsp sazon seasoning (can be homemade or store bought)
Instructions
- Marinate the chuletas. Mix half of the olive oil, all of the vinegar, adobo seasoning and sazon seasoning together in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the pork chops, cover and set aside for about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven and prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the remaining olive oil to an oven safe skillet and heat to medium high.
- Sear the chuletas. Add the marinated pork chops to the hot pan and sear for a 2-3 minutes on each side, or until a crust begins to form and the pork lifts easily off the pan.
- Bake the chuletas. Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
- Serve. Serve the chuletas with ensalada verde, arroz con gandules, and/or your favorite roasted veggies.
Can you airfry?
Hi Victor, I don’t see why not! Just make sure they come to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F before serving.
After marinating pork chops in garlic (using a pilón and adding onion olive oil and vinegar then add sazón, even add a packet of jamón) these pork chops are delicious BBQ. God bless. Maratha
Thank you for your comment Maratha. Grilling them BBQ style is a fantastic idea, I will definitely be trying the addition of onion next time, too!
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Hello! Wondering if omitting the vinegar in this recipe makes too big of a difference?
Hi Sierra! The vinegar helps to tenderize the pork while also adding flavor, but you can definitely omit it if desired. Enjoy!