Grill50 — Practical Grilling & BBQ Guides

Pork Chops on the Grill: Thickness, Brining, and 145°F

The USDA gives 145 °F for pork chops, with a 3-minute rest. This guide also covers a thickness floor from SDSU Extension and what brining involves, using USDA guidance where it exists. Ribs and tenderloin are separate cuts with their own guides, so this article covers chops only.

The USDA minimum and rest

The USDA chart lists 160 °F for ground meat and sausage, including ground pork. Clemson Extension’s pork guide advises a 4-minute rest, but this article follows the USDA chart’s 3 minutes. The 3-minute rest is the figure for pork steaks, roasts, and chops, so it applies to chops.

Doneness labels

Clemson Extension’s pork guide labels 145 °F as medium rare. It labels 160 °F as medium and 170 °F as well done. The same guide says cooked muscle meats can be pink even when the meat has reached a safe internal temperature.

Thickness for the grill

SDSU Extension’s boneless pork loin guide says it is generally not recommended to cut loin chops any thinner than three-quarters of an inch. The reason it gives is to make sure they stay juicy when cooking. Practical advice: cut or buy chops to a similar thickness so they finish together.

Practical advice: use the thermometer, not the thickness, to decide doneness.

Brining chops

USDA defines brining as soaking a turkey in a water and salt solution. It also says brining can be used with a variety of poultry and meats. USDA says the purpose of a brine is to produce a more tender and flavorful turkey. This article applies brining to chops as practical advice, not as a USDA recommendation for pork.

USDA’s turkey guidance says to keep the turkey and brine refrigerated at 40 °F or less. This article applies the same cold-holding rule to chops as practical advice. The USDA article says to cool heated brine to room temperature before using it. Practical advice: do not leave chops in the brine longer than your recipe says. Practical advice: pat the chops dry before grilling so they brown. This guide gives no brine ratio or soak time.

Common mistakes

  • Practical advice: judging doneness by a pink center alone.
  • Practical advice: skipping the rest before cutting.
  • Practical advice: probing the edge of the chop instead of its thickest part.
  • Practical advice: buying thin chops and relying on the clock to tell you when they are done.

Limits

Clemson Extension’s pork guide says to use a meat thermometer to check for safe cooking and doneness of pork. Practical advice: keep the probe away from bone, and take a second reading on a thick bone-in chop. For probe technique, see grilling with a meat thermometer.

For brining in general, see marinades and brines. For ribs, see pork ribs on the grill. For tenderloin, see grilling pork tenderloin.

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