Traeger Smoked Pork Chops {Apple and Honey with ‘Que Sauce}
Smoking thick cut pork chops on your Traeger is a fast and easy way to make something great for dinner. There are several recipes for pork chops on the Traeger app and I combined aspects of a couple of them to put together a recipe of my own.
Not to brag, but I think these came out looking and tasting fantastic!
Prepare the Pork Chops for the Traeger
Getting the chops ready for the grill is pretty simple and only requires seasoning them with a dry rub.
One of the recipes on the Traeger app suggests brining he chops overnight but I skipped this step and they still came out juicy. I was working with chops that were a little over one inch thick which helped them stay juicy. If I was working with thin cut chops the they would have gotten a brine soak. FYI..this recipe for Traeger Pork Chops from This Mama Cooks has a nice brine recipe.
Season the Chops with Traeger’s Pork and Poultry Rub
Liberally coat both sides of the chops with Traeger’s Apple Honey Pork & Poultry Rub. If you don’t have this rub on hand then here is the ingredient list so you can whip up a batch of something similar:
Traeger Pork and Poultry Rub Ingredients
- Cane sugar
- Salt
- Paprika
- Dehydrated apple
- Onion
- “Spices”
- Maltodextrin
- Corn starch
- Chili pepper
- Honey
This rub has a sweet and savory flavor profile without much heat.
Choosing Wood Pellets
I was burning Traeger Signature Blend pellets that I got the other day at Home Depot. These pellets are a blend of cherry, hickory and other hardwoods.
I bought these pellets because I had a Home Depot gift card and wanted to see if they were really the exact same as the the “Gourmet” pellets that are sold at Costco for half the cost (I think they are).
These chops cook fast and as a result they don’t pick up a lot of smoke flavor from the pellets in the hopper so the choice of pellets is pretty wide open.
Set Your Traeger to 225F for Smoking
Start your grill and set the temperature to 225F and place the chops on the grate.
I wanted to get more smoke flavor than I did when I cooked a spatchcock chicken so I lit a smoke tube full of pellets and placed it on the cooking grate between the two chops.
Close the lid and let the chops cook until they reach an internal temperature of 145F. Depending upon the thickness of the chops it will take about 45-75 minutes for the chops to finish smoking.
After 45 minutes these chops were at an internal temperature of 130F and I went ahead and brushed the chops with Traeger’s ‘Que Sauce.
It took another 15 minutes, 60 minutes total, for the pork chops to reach 145F at which point they were taken off the grill.
How Did the Traeger Smoked Pork Chops Turn Out?
The smoked pork chops turned out perfect. The chops looked beautiful, the meat was juicy and the flavor profile from the rub and sauce matched perfectly. I am glad I added the smoke tube to the cook as the amount of smoke flavor was spot on.
If I absolutely had to change one thing about this cook then it would have been to add even more pork chops to the grill!
Traeger Smoked Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 2 Thick Cut Pork Chops 1 pound each
- 3 tbsp Traeger Pork and Chicken Rub
- 3 tbsp Traeger Que Barbecue Sauce
Instructions
- Heavily season both sides of the pork chops with the Traeger dry rub.
- Let the rub pull moisture out of the chops and melt into the meat for 30 minutes before smoking.
- Turn on your pellet grill and set the temperature to 225F.
- Add a smoke tube of lit pellets to the cooking grate.
- Place the pork chops on the grill and cook for 45 minutes.
- Baste the chops with barbecue sauce.
- Let the chops smoke for another 15 minutes or until an internal temperature of 145F is reached.
Post Comment