Ninja Foodi notes: Lemon honey dijon pork chops

Tonight I tweaked a Giada recipe for lemon honey dijon chicken, instead making it with pork chops and in the Ninja Foodi.

Cooking process used: Roast, 400 degrees, started timer at 25 minutes (just a starting point — I’ll use a different time next time).

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon lemon zest from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice from ½ a lemon
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt divided
3 boneless pork chops
3 sprigs rosemary
1 large fennel halved and sliced
1/2 onion sliced

For the marinade, from Giada’s recipe: In a large resealable bag, combine the honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the chicken thighs to the marinade. Seal the bag and massage the chicken [again, I substituted pork chops] with the marinade to coat well. Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.

Modifying the rest of the recipe for the Ninja Foodi: I set the NF to roast, 400 degrees for 25 minutes. When it preheated and said “Add Food,” I put fennel, onion and rosemary (spritzed with canola oil) in the bottom of the NF roasting pan and laid the pork chops on top.

I monitored it closely during cooking, since this was my first time doing this. When 10 minutes had elapsed, I removed the rosemary, which was getting a little dry and dropping needles. At 12 minutes, I removed the veggies. When about 16 minutes had passed, I pulled the pork chops and let them rest for 5 minutes.

Per Giada’s suggestion, I served this with cannellini beans, with another sprig of rosemary added during cooking for flavor (remove before serving).

Notes for next time: I would like to try this again with chicken (per the recipe) or with thicker pork chops. The chops I used ended up tougher than I prefer, though the flavor was great. With thicker ones, I could use the temperature probe and cook that way instead of by time. I would also cut the fennel thinner than I did. But considering I don’t usually like fennel and have never cooked with it before, I would definitely try this again.

(Photo note: I promise I’ll get better at taking photos through the whole process, but tonight I only got this precooked photo.)

All of my Ninja Foodi notes are made using a Ninja Foodi Smart Grill 5-in-1 with a temperature probe. Other notes and recipes can be found on this page.