This slow cooker pork chops recipe only takes 4 hours to cook, so you will want to make it on a day when that works with your schedule. An obvious first choice would be to cook it on a day when you are home and can start cooking the pork chops 4 hours from the time you would normally eat dinner, but if that is not an option you might consider doing one of the following four things instead:

1. Cook it when you get home from work and make it a later dinner. For me, I get home at 3:00 so we would eat this around 7:30, which is late for us but not for most people.
2. Cook it at night, refrigerate, and heat it back up the next day for dinner. This recipe reheats wonderfully so you could basically cook it anytime and heat it up later!!
3. Get a slow cooker with a timer. I don’t have one but it seems like a nice convenience. This one on Amazon looks awesome!
4. Follow the directions for the recipe and then when it says to cook the pork in the slow cooker cook the pork on the stove-top instead. This will produce a different texture to the pork chops (won’t be fork tender and won’t shred easily) but the flavor would still be there.

We ate this with potatoes, but you could also eat it with brown rice. If you are counting Weight Watcher smart points here are some sides with smart point values to take into consideration:

– 1 medium baked potato is 5 WW SP
– 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes is 4 WW SP
– 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice is 3 WW SP

You may have seen already that we are doing a giveaway this week. This recipe is one of 50 slow cooker recipes in the “50 Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes eCookbook for Weight Watchers: SmartPoints Edition”. Martha McKinnon from Simple Nourished Living is offering one of our readers a FREE ecookbook that includes 50 of her favorite slow cooker recipes. Each recipe includes Weight Watcher smart points and nutritional information.

If you have not already signed up for our giveaway you need to do that! Go here to enter into the giveaway for a free copy of Martha’s ecookbook.

Now for the “Mel’s Pork Chops” recipe…

Here is what you need:

4 pork chops, about 1-inch thick (5 oz. each)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
¼ c. reduced-sodium soy sauce
¼ c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 T. packed light brown sugar
¼ t. red pepper flakes
1 T. instant tapioca

Here is what you do:

1. Coat a large skillet with nonstick spray.
2. Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Brown the pork chops for 1 to 2 minutes on each side until golden.
3. Transfer the pork chops to the slow cooker.
4. Add the garlic to the drippings in the skillet and stir constantly over the medium low heat until the garlic is aromatic and golden (but not burned or it will be bitter!).
   
   Stir in the soy sauce, broth, brown sugar and red pepper flakes.
   Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in tapioca and pour over the chops.
   
   
5. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours or until the meat is fork tender.
   (I shredded ours with a fork and served it with mashed potatoes… delish!)

Makes 4 servings.
One serving is 1 pork chop and 1/4 of the sauce.
One serving is 6 WW FreeStyle SP or 6 WW Smart Points with the old program.