Easy Grilled Pork Chops with Lemonade BBQ Sauce Recipe

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Pork chops are such a quick and easy meal and you can cook them in such a variety of ways! During the summer months, this Easy Grilled Pork Chops with Lemonade BBQ Sauce Recipe is amazing! The tart and tangy lemonade mixed with the smoky BBQ sauce is absolutely delicious and will be an instant hit at your house, too!

Grilled boneless pork chops covered in bbq sauce, on brown crinkled parchment paper with fresh chives as a garnish

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I adore a good pork chop on the grill, especially a BBQ pork chop. I like to play around with different barbeque sauces, especially during the summer months when it’s grilling season! And I know this combination of Lemonade BBQ Pork Chops might sound a little crazy, but stick with me, these pork chops are SO good. They are tart and tangy and sweet and smoky and ALL the flavors you’d expect from lemonade and barbeque sauce, all at the same time. I got the idea from an article in a magazine and I decided to give it a whirl and put my own spin on it, and boom, here we are! This is a favorite during the summer months at our house and is a hit with the whole family! Add this to your pork recipes rotation today! I can’t wait to hear what you think about it, too!

All About Cuts of Pork

So, what cut of meat should you use? It’s easy to get all the cuts of pork and which part of the pig the come from confused, so let’s touch on that subject of pork cuts before we actually dive into the recipe. I love a pork tenderloin for grilling, and I also love boneless pork chops (or bone-in pork chops) on the grill, too! Let’s just have a quick lesson on the different cuts of pork before we continue.

***NOTE – All pork product should be cooked to a MINIMUM internal temperature of 145*. I prefer 160*.

Pork Chops VS. Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin

First, pork tenderloin is very lean meat and it comes from the muscle along the backbone of the pig. It’s usually more expensive than pork loin, by the pound, but still goes on sale often. And even though it’s more expensive, it’s still totally affordable. This cut of meat is narrow and long and is a boneless cut of meat. There isn’t a lot of excess fat on a pork tenderloin.

To prepare for cooking, remove the silver skin and then you can sautee, bake, roast, or grill. You can slice it into smaller pieces or cut down the middle and flatten it for even cooking times. There are SO many possibilities! I love pork tenderloin on the grill with barbeque sauce.

Pork Loin

A Pork Loin is the same cut of meat as a pork loin roast, which is the same as a pork roast. It’s the area of the pig between the shoulder and the beginning of the leg on the back of the pig. They can be boneless pork loin or they can have a bone in the loin. The pork loin does have a visible fat cap across the top of the loin. This is such a versatile cut it’s one of the most popular cuts of pork. Also, pork cutlet comes from pork loin. Loin meat is so versatile!

One of the key differences between pork tenderloin and pork loin is the size of the meat. Pork tenderloin is much smaller and more tender with a milder flavor, whereas pork loin is a lot bigger and has more fat content, and therefore more flavor, making it a popular choice.

Pork Loin vs Pork Tenderloin

For me, I’ll choose pork tenderloin every time, it’s my favorite piece of meat for pork. It’s just less fatty and I think it’s more flavorful meat that gets really tender when cooked well!

Pork Chops

Pork Chops are simply sliced pork loin. They can have a bone or be boneless chops. And they can cut in a really thick cut or a really thin cut. You might see them called pork loin chops, but a pork chop is always cut from the loin of the pig.

Center-cut chops are bone-in pork chops that have the rib bone in them.

Pork Shoulder

Pork Shoulder is… you guessed it… from the pig’s shoulder. This will take a long time to cook because it’s a tough cut of meat with a lot of connective tissues and for best results you have to cook it low and slow. Pork shoulder is also the same as a pork butt or a Boston Butt roast. All those cuts come from the shoulder portion of the pig. These are VERY fatty cuts of meat. When you hear “Pulled Pork” this is the cut of meat that it usually comes from! Also, pork steaks come from the pork shoulder. The best way to cook pork shoulder is a slow cooker or at a low temperature with a slow cooking method.

Ingredients:

Frozen Lemonade concentrate
Bottle of BBQ Sauce – Your choice of sauce is fine. Because the lemonade is sweet, I usually don’t go for a sauce that already says “Sweet” in any way – for example, sweet heat, sweet and sticky, sweet and spicy, etc, because the lemonade is going to provide a lot of sugar to sweeten the sauce up!
Pork Loin or pork chops, roughly 2 pounds
Salt
Black Pepper

Cooking Instructions

Before we begin, let me just say that this easy pork chop recipe could be done on an indoor grill and finished in the oven or on the outdoor grill entirely. I did the indoor oven version!

pork chops in a glass baking dish and a bowl full of bbq sauce with a whisk

Step 1

Cut pork loin into chops, the thickness of your choice, and season with salt and pepper and if they are cold, let them come up to room temperature before you put them on the grill.

Step 2

Combine melted lemonade concentrate with the bottle of BBQ sauce in a shallow dish. Put the pork chops in the sauce and cover with plastic wrap, and marinade the pork chops in the sauce for 4-12 hours.

Step 3

Marinading pork chops in a baking dish with bbq sauce marinade and tongs with a grill pan heating on the stove

When you are ready to cook, boil the sauce on the stove to thicken it up (and to kill any germs from the raw pork) over medium-high heat and use this as your basting/cooking sauce. I let mine simmer for about 20-30 minutes. If you aren’t comfortable with just cooking the sauce, feel free to just double your sauce ingredients and have a separate pan that’s never touched the uncooked pork. You’ll still want to simmer it and let it thicken up on the stove for a good while! (If the sauce gets too thick on you, just thin it out with some chicken broth, chicken stock, or water.)

Step 4

Boneless pork chops on a grill pan with a pot on the stove in the background

Place chops on a preheated grill pan on medium-high heat and let sit for 3 minutes. Flip to the other side and let cook for an additional 3 minutes. It only takes a couple of minutes to get the wonderful char on the outside of the chops. Depending on what kind of indoor grill pan you are using, you may want to rub in a little olive oil so your chops don’t stick to the grill pan.

Step 5

Raw pork chops marinating and covered in bbq sauce in a glass dish

Place chops in a baking dish, top with a few tablespoons of the BBQ sauce on each top of the pork chop, and finish cooking in the oven. My pork chops were thick and took about 15 more minutes in the oven. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the chops. Thicker chops will take longer, thinner chops will cook more quickly. The best way to make sure your pork chops are done is to use a meat thermometer and make sure the pork has reached an internal temperature of a minimum of 145*. Personally, I prefer 160* and no pink in the meat at all. I like juicy pork chops, but I also like them totally done.

Step 6

Grilled pork chops put in a glass baking dish and covered in bbq to finish cooking in the oven

Additionally, at the end of cooking, I like to turn the broiler on to get the sauce all kinds of ooey and gooey and sticky and delicious!

Step 7

Pork chops in a baking dish covered in lemonade bbq sauce and are fully cooked

I pull the chops out of the oven and cover the dish with aluminum foil for a few minutes to let the meat have a few minute rest and the juices redistribute before I cut the pork and serve it.

Recommended Equipment

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Cooking Equipment

Indoor Grill Pan – This is the Le Creuset grill pan I have. You certainly don’t need one this expensive, but I do have to say, you get what you pay for, and this pan never misses, it’s amazing!
Instant Read Meat Thermometer – You really need a meat thermometer to know when larger cuts of meat are done cooking. This one is my favorite that I’ve had so far!
Tongs – I really like these tongs! Especially for slow cooker or instant pot meals. The rubber on the ends of the tongs prevents the tongs from cutting right through tender meat and vegetables.
Oven Mitts – This is a heavy and hot dish! Make sure you have good oven mitts to protect your hands!

Prep Equipment

9×13 baking casserole dish – I have this dish and I adore it because it comes with a lid that fits it. No more fooling with aluminum foil or plastic wrap! Plus it keeps the smells of your dish inside the dish and not in your refrigerator as foil and plastic wrap do!
Santoku Knife – You don’t have to go out and buy a nice knife. BUT, if you were in the market for a knife, this is the one I couldn’t do without, and the one I go for time and time again. It’s wonderfully and beautifully made. I’ve had this knife for over 10 years and it’s my favorite thing in my entire kitchen. You truly do get what you pay for in knives. These are made in Germany but are widely sold in the United States now. You can go way higher in quality as well, this is just a starting point.
Cutting Board – I’ve had these for years and I love them. Mine are red! They are the perfect sizes, easy to store, and have a little groove around the edges to stop juices from flowing all over. This is the cutting board I go to time and time again when I’m cooking.
Glass Mixing Bowls – This is a nesting set of glass bowls. I find I can’t have enough glass bowls in my kitchen!

Substitutions, Modifications, and Variations

Substitutions

Feel free to use whatever kind of BBQ sauce you have on hand. We’ve tried this recipe with several different brands and it’s been delicious every time. I really enjoyed it with a spicy BBQ sauce! You can always add spices to the sauce to amp it up a little, like cayenne pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Modifications

Excellent news! Usually, I give modifications in this section on how to make a dish gluten or dairy-free, and this dish is already gluten-free and dairy-free! Just make sure your sauce and lemonade are gluten-free! (They should be, but always double-check!)

Variations

This recipe is also delicious with chicken, particularly chicken wings and chicken legs! Give that a try for sure, you won’t be sorry!

Storage Tips

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Leftover Tips

I generally don’t warm the leftover backup for this recipe. Pork can get really tough when it’s reheated. If I was going to warm it up, I’d probably do so in the oven so it doesn’t get dried out in the microwave. But I prefer to slice it up and add it to a salad or a wrap if there are leftovers, and I just leave the meat cold for those meals.

Freezer Tips

I have never frozen this recipe after it’s been cooked. But I have frozen the pork chops in the marinade when I had leftover pork or had gotten a bunch of pork on sale. I’ll go ahead and cut the chops, put them in the marinade in a plastic bag, and freeze it all together. That way when the pork dethaws at a later date, it marinades at the same time and it’s ready to be my main dish for the night!

Serving Suggestions

We love to have this pork chops recipe with a side dish of baked potato and green beans, but you can have anything you’d like!! The side dishes possibilities are endless!

Here are some of my favorite Summer side dishes to serve alongside this dish:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

We aren’t pork chop people, can we use chicken in this recipe?

Absolutely! It’s really good with chicken too! Use whatever kind of chicken you have on hand, it’s good on thighs, breasts, wings and legs!

Can I use bone-in chops for this recipe?

Absolutely!! Use whatever cut of pork you prefer. The pork chops with bones have a ton of flavor and usually result in a tender chop. Remember, cooking pork chops with bones in them will take a little longer, so watch your cook time, but it’s worth it!

Wrap-Up – Lemonade BBQ Pork Chops

These Lemonade BBQ Pork Chops are just the epitome of summer grilling and they are such an easy recipe. There are so many different cuts of meat and so many different ways to prepare them, and this delicious pork recipe would work for all of them! You don’t have to limit yourself to pork either! I used thicker pork chops for this recipe, but it would work perfectly with whatever thin cut of meat you have also. I can’t wait to hear what you think about this recipe. The ingredients sound a little crazy, but trust me and give it a try!! Happy Cooking & Grilling! Until next time… Just Keep Shuffling!