Smoked Pork Chops Recipe

If you enjoy smoked meats you have try this delicious and easy smoked pork chops recipe. Using a tasty rub over thick meaty chops and cooked in a smoker to get juicy, tender delicious pork chops. There are virtually no carbs in this recipe so it’s perfect for those on a keto diet. The depth of flavor from the smoker is so good you have to give it a try.

You might also like these smoked BBQ short ribs recipe.

The other day my son in law made some smoked pork chops that were out of this word. So the next day my husband and I set off and bought a couple thick chops and experimented with our smoker. It’s not half as nice as my son in laws but it’s what we had.

And they were excellent. We have been talking about them for days and will definitely be adding this smoked pork chops recipe to the dinner rotation. The pork chops were tender and juicy and the tasty bbq rub added even more to the smoky flavor.

And as a bonus, they were naturally low carb and the meat was fairly inexpensive. So I have to give thanks to Jason for introducing us to this awesome recipe.

What kind of pork chops to use.

To smoke pork chops I think it’s important to get nice, thick bone-in chops. You can see above how thick they are (about 1 inch thick) and below what a rib chop looks like. Note that each pork chop was almost of pound of meat so one could feed two people.

They are much like a T-bone steak. You can see the bone and there is a bit of filet on one side and the leaner meat on the other side.

While you could use a regular boneless chop or thinner ones, for maximum flavor try a thick rib chop. They are not very expensive but you might have to ask the butcher for them or go to a big grocery store where they have more meat selection.

What’s in my keto pork chop rub.

I used the rub similar to my air fryer baby back ribs recipe. It contained paprika, salt, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne powder and Lakanto or Swerve brown sugar sweetener.

Since I’m only making two large chops I just made enough to heavy coat both them. If you are making more you might want to double the recipe. But like I said I really covered both sides and the edges of the pork chops.

How to cook smoked pork chops.

1. Let your meat come to room temperature as you get your smoker ready according to the manufacturer’s instructions. We use wood chips for our smoker. 
2. Mix the spices together in a small bowl to make the rub. Generously rub the spices all over the meat. I like to do both sides and the edges of the chops.
3. Place in the smoker and cook until the internal temperature is 140°F when using a meat thermometer.
   It’s hard to control the temperature in our smoker so the temperature was roughly 260°F and it took a little over an hour to reach 140°F. If you have a better smoker, set it to 250°F and plan for it to be cooked in 1-1.5 hours. If you have a meat thermometer that you can place in the meat so you can read it while the meat cooks, this works great. If you look below you can see the thermometer lead in the meat in the picture below.
4. Before taking them out of the smoker, heat up a cast iron skillet to high heat. Add a tablespoon of butter then sear the pork chops on both sides for just 1-2 minutes. Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
5. The sear keeps the juices in and adds extra flavor but if you skip this part, just make sure the pork chops have a final temperature of 145°F. They will rise a few degrees after you take them out of the smoker and when you sear them.
6. Because these are such large chops, we slices the 2 chops and served to 4 people. You can use a bbq sauce if you want but they really don’t need it as they have lots of flavor on their own. (Please scroll down to view and print the recipe card.)

Above you can see our lovely crusty smoker. As you can see we use it a lot! We have a Masterbuilt propane smoker which we bought on Amazon but they sell them at Home Depot.

We also have a very inexpensive electric smoker that we use for salmon. Since we love that smoke flavor and use our smoker so much we are going to upgrade soon but not just yet.

Keto side dishes to eat with these.

These are really meaty and naturally low carb. So if you are on a low carb diet, some keto side dishes to complete this meal would be these delicious scalloped potatoes using turnips or this cheesy cauliflower casserole.

Other ideas would be this slow cooker creamed spinach, feta & sautéed zucchini, southwest coleslaw or avocado coleslaw. All are very easy to make and low carb. The meat is dense and lean so I think this creamy dishes would work well.

Other smoker recipes to try.

Below are a few more recipes that I’ve made in our smoker. The smoking really adds flavor to meats. We make the salmon at least once a month as the whole family loves it.

• brined smoked turkey
• smoked salmon
• smoked burnt ends
• bbq brisket
• smoked beef jerky

I hope you give these smoked pork chops a try. I can’t wait to make them again as they make the perfect weeknight meal. My hubby has been making his own hot sauces and bbq sauce from peppers in the garden and they go great with these. I’ll link to them if he ever get them up on his website.

The nutritional information for 1 serving is 348 calories / 9.1g fat / 1.3g carbs / 0.3g fiber / 46.2g protein = 1g net carbs