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Greek Pork Chops with Lemon Rice and Tzatziki
Serves 4 · Prep 20 min · Cook 25 min — Lemon-oregano bone-in pork chops with Greek lemon rice and tzatziki; marinate the chops at least 30 minutes and chill the tzatziki for 30 minutes or more.
- Tzatziki
- 500g Greek yoghurt (full-fat, strained if you can)
- 1 cucumber, grated and squeezed dry
- 2–3 garlic cloves, grated fine or crushed to a paste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
- Fresh dill or mint, chopped
- Salt
- Pork chops
- 4 bone-in pork chops
- Marinade: olive oil, lemon juice and zest, 3 garlic cloves crushed, 1 tbsp dried oregano, salt, pepper
- Greek lemon rice
- 300g long-grain rice (basmati works fine)
- 500ml chicken stock
- Juice of 1 lemon, plus zest
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Tzatziki first: grate the cucumber, salt lightly and leave 10 min in a sieve, then squeeze hard in a clean tea towel. Mix with everything else, taste for salt/acid, and refrigerate at least 30 min.
- Marinate the chops for 30 minutes to a few hours (not much longer — lemon can toughen the texture).
- Rice: sauté the onion in olive oil until soft, add the rice and stir for a minute to coat, then add the stock and lemon juice. Boil, cover, reduce to low and cook ~15 min until absorbed. Off the heat, stir through the zest and rest 5 min covered before fluffing.
- Pat the chops dry. Sear hard in a hot pan or on the grill, 3–4 min a side depending on thickness. Pull at 63°C internal and rest 5 min.
- Plate the chops over the rice with tzatziki alongside.
Squeezing the water out of the cucumber is the critical step — watery tzatziki is the most common failure.
Microwave rice works: sauté the onion in olive oil, toss the cooked rice through for 2–3 min, then stir in lemon juice, zest, salt and pepper off the heat. Start with half the lemon juice since it won't cook down.
A Greek salad (tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta, olives) rounds it out.
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