This recipe, which comes to us from Lancaster County Pennsylvania, was originally billed as “pork chops with filling." But, in today’s search engine-driven world, I find it very hard to believe that I would get much traffic of people searching for a “filling “in their pork chops. So, I changed the title to “stuffed pork chops “ I grew up hearing that term. That, however, glosses over the fact that different people have different words for the exact same thing… Stuffing, filling, and dressing are all kind of used interchangeably sometimes. Here is a good article that explains some of these regional differences in terms.
🙋 FAQ
Are there any substitutes for bread that can be used in stuffing?
If you don't have bread or are pursuing a gluten-free diet, believe it or not, rice makes a great alternative. Follow the recipe but use a couple cups of cooked rice in its place.
Can I use wheat bread instead of white in the stuffing?
Yes, you can use any kind of bread in this recipe: white, wheat, rye, cornbread, etc, whatever your favorite kind of bread is, or whatever kind you have on hand.
I'm not sure like the term "filling", I think of the creamy fluffy stuff found in a whoopie pie when I hear that term. But the Amish of Lancaster County call what we'd call dressing filling. At least I'd call this dressing. It is definitely interesting learning regional variations while going through Lancaster County cookbooks.
Most Amish have a healthy and large supply of pork from their annual home-butchering of hogs. And if they don't have their own meat, they have plenty of Amish friends, family, and farmers to give it to them. So thick-cut pork chops are a slice of popular meat among the Amish. You can use bone-in or boneless pork chops. SIGH, as a child I always loved the pork chops but that pesky bone always got in the way.
Place the pork chops in a shallow skillet or baking pan on the stove-top to begin browning the meat.
Sear them on each side just like you see in our photo, until they are nice and golden brown. You aren't trying to cook the insides, you are just trying to get the outsides brown.
The stuffing, er filling, is a mix of bread cubes, onion, butter, 1 /4 cup water and seasoning. Most Amish, for something like this, would probably have a loaf of just past-its-prime homemade bread on hand to use. You can always double the recipe of the stuffing so that you have extra stuffing on hand to eat on the side or as leftovers. You can never have too much stuffing as far as I am concerned!
Put a mound of filling or stuffing on each chop before baking.
Stir cream of mushroom soup and a ⅓ cup water together and then spoon this mixture over each filling/stuffing-topped chop and then put in the oven and bake it for a good hour at 350, uncovered.
The chops will come out with a thickly covered layer of mushroom soup mixture and bread stuffing.
You can see the layers on different flavors on the chops. Makes for a very filling and hearty meal, pairs well with a vegetable, like corn, spinach, or potatoes.
While the recipe doesn't call for it, seasoning stuffed pork chops with a little pepper goes a long way. You could also grate some Parmesan cheese into the bread stuffing, that always adds a nice zip. So does some minced garlic or garlic powder, fresh sage, and kosher salt into the bread stuffing. Some people like some "crunch" to their stuffing, some so chopped celery would do that. True to Amish cooking, this bread stuffing is very, very basic, there are not many ingredients, but that leaves you room to add your own touches to it without wrecking the recipe.
🐖 Classic Amish Stuffed Pork Chops
- 4 pork chops
- 3 cups soft bread crumbs
- 1 /4 cup melted butter or margarine
- 1 /4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons onion, chopped
- 1 /4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 can mushroom soup
- 1 /3 cup water
📋 Instructions
- Brown chops on both sides and place in shallow baking dish.
- Lightly mix bread cubes, onion, butter, 1 /4 cup water and seasoning.
- Place a mound of filling on each chop.
- Blend soup and 1 /3 cup water and our over chops and filling.
- Bake at 350 for 1 hour uncovered.
🐖 More Amish Pork Recipes
Baked and Barbecued Pork Chops
Easy Pork Chops
🖨️ Full Recipe
Amish Stuffed Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops
- 3 cups soft bread crumbs
- 1 /4 cup melted butter or margarine
- 1 /4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons onion , chopped
- 1 /4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- ⅓ cup water
Instructions
- Brown chops on both sides and place in shallow baking dish.
- Lightly mix bread cubes, onion, butter, 1 /4 cup water and seasoning.
- Place a mound of filling on each chop.
- Blend soup and 1 /3 cup water and our over chops and filling.
- Bake at 350 for 1 hour uncovered.
Judy Goodwin
Growing up in a PA Dutch family we never dressed our food- put clothing on it? We stuffed our turkeys with filling. We made a bread filling for turkeys, mainly and sometimes for pork chops. I never heard it called stuffing until we moved to CA when i was 11 and I was a lot older before i ever heard it called dressing.
Connie May
I love this recipe , I added apples to my stuffing it puts a little bit of sweetness to the dish and celery as well . And I get thick chops and slice them so I can stuff them with the stuffing . My husband loved it
Kevin Williams
Good idea about the apples!
Linda Kline
I live in the heart of PA Dutch country, Berks/ Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania. If you say filling here, it's potato based. Think mashed potatoes with added bread cubes or torn pieces. Stuffing usually equals bread based. Stuffing is cooked inside the bird. It's called dressing if it's baked on the side.
Kevin Williams
Thank you, Linda, for that clarification, I like potato based!