Honey-Garlic Pork Chops with Mac and Cheese and Broccoli
August 29, 2026
Friday night dinner: sticky pork chops, mac and cheese and almost no complaints from the small people at the table. We call that success.
The whole thing is a single skillet and twenty-five minutes. The chops brown, then a three-ingredient glaze goes in and reduces around them until they’re lacquered and sticky. The mac and cheese comes out of our case ready to heat, and the broccoli is broccoli.
The trick to this dinner is entirely about when the glaze goes in the pan. More on that below.
145°F Is the Number, and It’s Lower Than You Think
If you’ve ever decided you don’t much like pork chops, there’s a good chance you’ve only ever eaten them overcooked.
The USDA lowered the safe temperature for whole cuts of pork to 145°F with a three-minute rest. The same as beef. Most people still cook pork the way their grandmother did, to 160°F or beyond, because that’s what was required decades ago when trichinosis was a genuine concern. It isn’t anymore.
At 145°F, a pork chop is juicy and faintly pink at the center. That’s correct, and it’s a completely different eating experience from the gray, tight chop most of us grew up on.
These are 4 oz. chops, which means they’re thin, which also means they cook fast. Three or four minutes a side is often all it takes. A thermometer is worth more here than a timer since the window between perfect and disappointing on a thin chop is about ninety seconds wide.
And rest them. Three minutes minimum, on the plate, before anybody cuts in. The temperature keeps climbing a few degrees and the juices settle back into the meat.
Our pork is cut fresh in the shop, and five chops come in the $59.99 Butcher Special.
How a Pan Glaze Actually Works
A glaze is just a sauce that lost most of its water. Honey and soy sauce go into a hot pan, the water cooks off, and what’s left behind is concentrated, syrupy and clings to whatever’s in the pan.
Two rules make it work:
Brown the chops first, glaze second. Meat browns on a dry surface. Put a sugary sauce in the pan at the start and the chops poach in it instead of searing, and you lose the crust that makes the glaze taste like anything.
Turn the heat down before the honey goes in. This is the one people get wrong. Honey scorches fast. It goes from golden to acrid in under a minute over high heat, and burnt honey is bitter in a way nothing can fix. Reduce the heat, add the butter, then the glaze, and let it bubble gently.
Then keep turning the chops. Every turn lays down another thin coat that reduces onto the meat. Four or five turns over two or three minutes is what builds that sticky, layered finish instead of a puddle of sauce sitting under the chops.
Honey-Garlic Pork Chops with Mac and Cheese and Broccoli
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4 to 5
You’ll Need
- 5 Lil Butcher Shoppe 4 oz. Pork Chops
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Lil Butcher Shoppe White Cheddar Mac and Cheese, enough for approximately 4 servings
- 1 lb. fresh or frozen broccoli
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
Let’s Cook
- Whisk together the honey, soy sauce and garlic powder.
- Season the pork chops lightly with salt and black pepper.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add the pork chops.
- Cook until browned on both sides and nearly cooked through.
- Reduce the heat and add the butter followed by the honey-garlic mixture.
- Turn the pork chops several times as the sauce bubbles and thickens, coating them in the glaze.
- Cook until the chops reach an internal temperature of 145°F, then let them rest for at least three minutes.
- Heat the White Cheddar Mac and Cheese according to the instructions provided with it.
- Steam or roast the broccoli and season with salt and black pepper.
The Mac and Cheese Is Ours Too
The White Cheddar Mac and Cheese on this plate is made in the shop, not poured out of a box — and on a night when you’re already standing at a hot skillet turning pork chops, a side dish that only needs heating is worth something.
It sits in the homemade case with the rest of the cooking we’ve already done for you:
- White Cheddar Mac and Cheese
- Stuffed Potatoes — six flavors
- Meatloaf, Chicken Pot Pies and Crawfish Pies
- Gumbo, Casseroles and Stuffed Bell Peppers
- Boudin, Stuffed Jalapeños and Stuffed Mushrooms
Any of them will swap onto this plate with no extra effort on your part.
Tips from Behind the Counter
Pat the chops dry before they go in the pan. Wet pork steams. Thirty seconds with a paper towel is the whole difference between browned and gray.
Don’t crowd the skillet. Five chops in one pan drops the temperature and traps steam. Do them in two batches and glaze them all together at the end.
Taste the glaze before it goes in. Soy sauces vary a lot in saltiness. If yours is on the salty side, cut it with a splash of water. You won’t need extra salt on the chops at all.
Roast the broccoli instead of steaming it if the oven’s on anyway. 425°F for 18–22 minutes with a little olive oil, and the browned edges make it a vegetable people go back for.
Spoon the leftover glaze from the pan over everything. It’s the best thing on the plate and there’s never quite enough.
Ways to Change It Up
- Add a splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to the glaze to cut the sweetness.
- Add red pepper flakes or a spoonful of Cajun seasoning for heat against the honey.
- Use fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder — add it with the butter, and watch it, because it burns just as fast as the honey.
- Swap the broccoli for green beans or asparagus.
- Trade the mac and cheese for a stuffed potato if you want the plate to feel like a bigger deal.
One Stop for Friday Dinner in Hattiesburg
The pork chops, the mac and cheese, the broccoli and the honey: All one trip. Our shop at 1910 Broadway Drive is a butcher counter and a grocery, so Friday dinner is a single stop.
We’ve been family owned and operated in Hattiesburg since 1991. Along with the fresh meat counter — fresh local pork, hand-cut steaks, chicken cut in-house and ground chuck ground daily — the case is full of homemade cooking that’s already done for you.
Want the specials before everybody else? Text Butcher to 601-281-6633 to join our VIP text program.
Hours: Monday–Tuesday and Thursday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Closed Wednesday and Sunday.
Phone: 601-261-2765
Address: 1910 Broadway Drive, Hattiesburg, MS 39401 — get directions or reach out
Outside the area? Our smoked sausage ships nationwide, and you can find us on the shelf at stores across Mississippi and the Gulf South.