" It's Too Easy" Pork Chops & Rice Casserole

Mareesme's Note:

When I made this (my husband's favorite) the other night I was asked if I'd ever submitted this recipe to Zaar. I had to answer, "What recipe?" So, after throwing this together for over 20 years, I'm writing down this "no-brainer" recipe for you to try, which only takes around 10 minutes to prepare. Optional: You may add fresh or canned sliced mushrooms to the pan if you wish. (2/1/08:Note: Using creamed soups will totally change the texture of this dish.)

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 thicker cut boneless pork chops
• 1 ½ cups long-grain rice
• black pepper
• 1 ½ ounces dry onion soup mix (One-half envelope)
• 3 ½ cups water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and spray baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In frying pan on medium to high heat, sear to brown pork chops in oil on both sides.
3. While pork chops are browning, take baking pan and layer rice, then sprinkle with black pepper,then dry onion soup mix over all.
4. In small saucepan, bring water to boiling and stir into rice mixture in baking pan just as pork chops are browned.
5. Place browned pork chops over all, cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, until tender.
6. Note: Check after 30 minutes to see if rice is done or if it's drying out. Lift up pork chops to stir rice mix in pan and taste. Add more water if needed. When the rice is done, the pork chops are usually very tender. I've found that over the years (with the 4 different stoves I've had!) cooking times may sometimes vary.

Reviews

[Candyhal]

I will not make this again. It was very bland. I knew it was not good when my husband asked for the ketsup.

[Insanitycase]

Simple and tasty! I've been using a similar one for years. You can toss in some sliced onions if you like too, and if you like extra flavor like I do, use the whole packet of onion soup mix. Ignore 709785's one-star review. The truth is, when you substitute TWO of the MAJOR ingredients in a recipe, you don't get to complain that the original is no good. An "accomplished" cook should know that.

[thothep]

Had this tonight with minor modifications based on what we already had in the kitchen... so we had a double layer of thin chops over basmati rice, and I did lightly season the chops for browning (plus the suggested mushrooms). My roommate stuffed herself silly, but I'd personally like to tweak it a little further to suit my tastes. But this is certainly a very good base to work from. I also look forward to trying it again with a better cut of chop. What did surprise me was how much longer I had to cook it for to get the rice cooked and most of the water absorbed. So, basmati tastes quite nice for this, but takes a lot longer to cook (our oven normally needs less time than called for).