Chipotle pork chops with fresh peach salsa

For the oven or the grill!

Hi and happy Thursday!

We are winding down from a busy ten days with family visiting. It was so much fun to hear conversations between cousins and see them enjoy fun experiences together. There’s something so sweet about watching kids be kids, soaking up the best of summer: late-night swims and popsicles and sleepovers. There were countless burger nights and lots of grilling and way too much gaming. Long live summer. ☀️😉

But family visiting means more people, which means more cooking, and this week’s dinner recipe was a result of needing something quick and easy to prep, that was also flavor-packed and could work for all eaters. A family meal with bold, summery flavors.

The details

Thick, chipotle-seasoned pork chops are cooked on the grill or in the oven (I’m including instructions for both!), then topped with a fresh peach salsa and an optional yogurt-cilantro-avocado sauce. The combination is that classic contrast of sweet and spicy, with some smokiness and heat from the chipotle seasoning and the natural sweetness of juicy peaches with bits of fresh jalapeño thrown into the mix.

I LOVE a fruity salsa, do you? Pineapple salsa or avocado mango salsa (even better, that mango salsa on salmon) or pomegranate salsa with halibut. If there’s a way to incorporate a fruit salsa into a dish, I am all about it.

If you’re totally averse to the idea, you can definitely skip it and serve these chipotle pork chops with just the creamy, avocado cilantro sauce. But I really encourage giving the peach salsa/pork chop combination a try because the flavors are unexpectedly refreshing together. You’ll most likely end up with a little leftover salsa too, and it’s tasty as a dip or tossed onto a salad or served on top of some roasted chicken.

This recipe makes a high-protein, low-carb and keto-friendly meal which you can easily adapt to suit your own taste, and your own macro goals. If peaches are a little too high in sugar for you, swap out one of the peaches for cubed avocado to up the fat and reduce the carbs. The sauce is optional but with its Greek yogurt and avocado base, it adds a little bit more fat and protein to this dish.

If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll be able to view that recipe below, along with the printable PDF. If you’re not and you’d love the recipe (plus access to the entire archive of easy, low-carb meals), you can upgrade your subscription and start receiving a healthy dinner recipe in your inbox every Thursday, plus occasional bonus recipes!

Low-carb summer baking

I’ve been working on a few desserts and I hope to share them with you soon. Fruit crisps/cobblers are some of my favorites this time of year and I’m currently testing a keto blackberry crumble recipe to get it just right.

I have a few others in the works and some that are nearly ready— what would you like to see most?

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite sweet summer recipes from the blog:

• Keto Chocolate Chia Mousse

• Sugar-free Blueberry Jam

• Keto Strawberry Mousse

• Sugar-free Limeade

• Keto Key Lime Pie (also vegan and no-bake!)

Blueberry jam and keto key lime pie.

Chipotle pork chops with peach salsa and a creamy cilantro-avocado sauce

It’s summer and peaches are a must, and this recipe is a refreshing way to enjoy them in a main meal. I’ve also been tossing peaches into this BBQ chicken chopped salad and adding in crumbled blue cheese instead of cheddar. The combination is so good.

And if you’re on a stone fruit kick, this peach avocado salad with prosciutto and basil is also tasty!

Here’s the recipe for the pork chops, along with lots of substitution ideas and two different ways to cook them. This time of year I prefer grilling pork chops (these were wonderful cooked on the pellet grill) but I also wanted to make sure you had an option for cooking them in the oven.

p.s. If you are serving little eaters, simply skip the spicy rub on one of the pork chops and season it with salt and pepper instead. My kids will eat the meat but if there’s a combination of food items like this, they typically prefer a deconstructed version (everything served separate) since no two foods can touch each other (and how dare I even ask about a fruit-on-meat situation).