Instant Pot Pork Chops with Onion Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Just 20 minutes is all you need to transform simple pork chops, potatoes, and onions into a SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS meal!  We’re talking fork-tender thick chops, oniony mashed potatoes, and a thick, rich pork gravy!

So this dish kinda just ‘happened’. Mr. Fantabulous was at some concert, and I had the house all to myself.  I had it all planned out for my bachelorette night in. I’d make myself a great dinner, take a bubble bath, shut off my computer, and watch chick flicks while lounging in the recliner eating copious amounts of seriously bad food.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen quite like that.

He had already left to go meet up with his buddy, and I started to go make dinner.  What I came to find out was that when I opened up my fridge, it was bare!  I mean we’re talking no milk, BUT my loving husband left me the empty container (seriously, who does this? Write a friggen note!), no meat, no eggs, and no cheese. WTH dude!

Now normally I’d be ok with this, but this was MY “date” night with myself, and I wanted real food. And what made it worse is that I was already in my lounge clothes (aka no bra!) and was mad I had to get re-dressed and put that damn thing back on just to go to the store.  Oh no, trust me, I did think twice about just throwing a hoodie on over top of everything and heading to the store in those clothes, but with my luck, I’d end up as one of those “People of Walmart” memes.  And while it’s funny when it’s other people, it’s not so funny when it’s you.

Begrudgingly, I got re-dressed and went down the hill to my local butcher shop.  As I was walking through the meat section, I spied some seriously awesome-looking thick-cut chops.  We’re talking pink with that fat edge just begging to be taken home.  So into my buggy, it went along with some pepperoni, Italian bread, and other snacky stuff.  And for snacky stuff, I mean potato chips and Fritos.  God, I love Fritos!  When I got home, I figured since I was going to make it a junk food kinda night, I might as well keep with the theme and make a bacon & pepperoni French bread pizza; however, I could not take my eyes off of those chips.

Normally when I make thick-cut chops I either pan sear and roast them or I’ll braise them; however, I honestly didn’t want to spend my free night in the kitchen. Yes, even doing something I positively love, even I need a break from cooking and baking. Then I remembered… INSTANT POT!!!

Pressure cooking is a godsend to the working person or for the person that honestly just doesn’t have that much free time to cook BUT still wants a “real meal” and not that pre-packaged crap.

Since I’ve made potatoes in the pressure cooker before, I knew this would work out well.  What I didn’t know was just how well! Into the pot went the potatoes and onions – if you have an apple, chop that up and toss it in – trust me on this! Unfortunately, I didn’t have one on hand, and there was no way in hell I was putting a bra back on and heading back down the store.   Now the spice rub is pretty basic. The only thing that I would strongly suggest you adding/buying is the Montreal Chicken Seasoning.  Yes, I know I have my own steak version of it, but their chicken version has dried veggies in it, and it’s not something most folks have at home.  It really adds such a beautiful depth of flavor and richness to the dish.

Once everything was seasoned, the chops went into the pot, and the lid went on.  15 minutes later, then another 5 minutes of natural release, and these chops and potatoes were ready!  Now I could have left the taters as-is, but I love me some mashed potatoes with pork.  It’s a requirement that they are together on every bite. As I was scooping out the potatoes, I could see the pieces of onions in with them. 

Now the old me would have sat there and picked out every single onion bit while squinching up my face; however, I have grown not only to appreciate cooked onions in a dish but also love them. Since they were already so tender and falling apart, all I used was a fork to finish mashing them.  A quick taste, then in went some butter and salt.  Plus, since I felt it needed a bit of cream, I threw in some milk to make it that true creamy mashed tater texture.

Then I stood there, looking at that luscious liquid left in the pot.  The only thing that could make this already awesome dish better was gravy.  Gravy makes everything better.  Well, except French fries. That’s yucky (at least to me). A little slurry went into the bubbling liquid, a few turns of the whisk, and Voila!  PORK gravy! Now, this is where I found that Montreal Chicken Seasoning made the most difference.  I didn’t originally add any. The gravy was good, but it was a bit flat.  But when I added some of that seasoning… OMG people!  I could have drunk that stuff it was so good! Like we’re talking LEGIT!

Finally, when I sat down to eat, I sat there with the biggest smile on my face.  This was good, folks.  Like really, really good!  This is one of those dishes where, if my Mom was still alive, I would have called her to tell her all about it. So I did.. sort of.

I called Mama Fantabulous to tell her about this dish.  As I was eating, I was snapping pics and posting them on social media.  Within minutes I was getting “recipe? Oh share that!  That looks amazing”.  Since I still had some great natural lighting left, I quickly grabbed my camera, made up another plate of food, and started snapping away. 

Later that night, I got a text: “On my way home. Tired and hungry. Love you,” which, if you’re in any relationship for a long period of time, is code for “baby, I love you, can you please make me some food and have it ready for when I come home?”  About 30 minutes later, he walked in the door looking like he was in a mosh pit all night.  LOL 

As I pulled the plate out of the oven and set it in front of him, he started telling me about the concert.  About 3-4 bites into his dish, he said, “Hey, what is this anyway?  This is really, really good.”  I chuckled and said “pork chops”.  Now the reason why I chuckled is he’s not a huge fan of pork.  He stopped and said, “Really? I don’t really care much for pork, but man, this is good. Is there any more?”

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