Paleo Plan

Cacao Nib Pork Chops

Serves 2 for dinner, with leftovers for lunch.

Approximate cooking time: 40 minutes

Related Posts:

Ingredients

  • 4 (4-6 oz) boneless pork chops, trimmed of all fat
  • 1/3 cup raw cacao nibs, chopped
  • butternut squash (about 1-1/2 lbs), peeled and diced
  • 2 Tbs raw honey (optional)
  • 3 tsp coconut oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 handfuls (cups) spinach
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Pound both sides of each pork chop to tenderize the meat.
  2. Whisk egg in a small bowl. Coat pork chops with egg mixture and season each side with 1 tsp chopped cacao nibs. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired. Set aside.
  3. Heat 2 tsp of coconut oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Once hot, add diced butternut squash, stirring often.
  4. After about 5 minutes, place 1 tsp coconut oil in a different pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, place coated pork chops in skillet and cook to desired temperature (165° F recommended).
  5. Meanwhile, add honey to the butternut squash as it cooks, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired.
  6. When squash is tender, serve over a handful of spinach, and serve pork chops on the side.

This recipe inspired in part or in whole from here.

Stay Connected!

Sign up for the free Paleo Plan newsletter and stay
up-to-date with new recipes and great Paleo information.

Paleo is simple.

But following it without a plan is difficult.

That's why there's Paleo Plan.

Get started now!

9 Comments

  1. In the above recipe, I subbed honey for agave and chopped 100% cocoa pieces (from a bar) for the cocoa nibs–both worked brilliantly.

    Holly

  2. I don’t understand what”season the cacao nibs” means. Can someone enlighten me?

    mklbushn

  3. Season “with” the cacao nibs on both sides. The cacao nibs will be small and you should add them to both sides of the meat.

    Jason G.

  4. Surprisingly good!

    Clear Lake CrossFit

  5. I cannot find the cacao nibs. Are there any substitutions that a person can use?

    da89yota

  6. My wife uses 100% Cacao dark chocolate bars when we can’t find nibs and they seem to be just fine. http://www.ghirardelli.com/products/bars_unsweetened.aspx

    Jason G.

  7. I have made this 3 times and have never gotten it to taste good at all (once it was basically not edible for me). This might be my least favorite recipe on the site. We’ve been doing other pork chop recipes instead because we dislike this so much.

    paulandsteph

  8. I love this recipe. The second time I made it, I didn’t have any cacao nibs so I use raw carob powder that I had in the freezer. I liked it even better!

    marioni

  9. I love this recipe. The second time I made it, I didn’t have any cacao nibs so I used raw carob powder that I had in the freezer. I liked it even better!

    marioni

Leave a Comment