Are you trying to eat healthier and have a goal of a “New Year New You”? We have decided that’s our mission this year in our house! Our plan is to eat healthier and incorporate it as part of our family’s lifestyle and not make it a regimented plan that leaves us feeling deprived and restricted. Dinner time is especially important for us to make better choices in our New Year New You plan. That is where we seem especially vulnerable to make bad choices (ie phoning pizza delivery or rolling through a drive through) because that seems easiest after my husband is tired from working all day or my two small kiddos have zapped the last of my energy and we can’t face the effort of cooking a nutritious dinner. But what if we didn’t have to make a decision when we are exhausted? What if we had made a healthy choice that morning when we were fresh and dinner was already made for us in the evening? And what if that healthy choice that we could feel good about was also delicious? Enter an easy but amazing slow cooker pork recipe- Italian Pork Chops!
I have been experimenting doing my own healthy recipes and I decided to steer away from the usual chicken breast and try to make a healthy alternative from something that is usually viewed as comfort food. I wanted to be able to do the pork chops in the slow cooker so I could put them in during the morning and they would be ready by dinner so that required a sauce. Our family are big tomato sauce lovers and use it several times per month so I came up with an Italian tomato sauce to go with the pork chops and went to my local Walmart for my ingredients. I selected Heinz Classico crushed tomatoes and Heinz tomato sauce (sauce is also available in Classico but my local Walmart was out of it when I shopped). Not only did they have a great Walmart price, but they were also preservative free (another thing I am watching out for this year) and 100% all natural. I already had most of the herbs at home so grabbed the pork chops and brown rice to serve it with and I had everything I needed for a healthy delicious dinner. My recipe for Italian pork chops is below.
Ingredients:
1 package of pork chops (bone in or out doesn’t matter)
1 can Heinz Tomato sauce
1/2 can Heinz Classico crushed tomatoes
1 cup Italian salad dressing
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 small onion chopped
Cooking Instructions
Add all ingredients to slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours.
Suggested to serve with mashed cauliflower or brown rice.
That’s it- other than chopping the onion which is completely optional, dinner is literally dumping some things in a slow cooker! The tomato sauce had a delicious tomato flavor without being overpowering and had a wonderful smooth consistency. The crushed tomatoes took on the flavors of the oregano and Italian dressing and the porkchops were cut with a fork tender! We served ours over a bed of brown rice with baby carrots on the side. Best of all this zesty flavorful dish was under 450 calories per serving including the rice and carrots! Though what we were eating was so healthy, we didn’t feel the least bit deprived and it was easily comparable to anything I could order in an Italian restaraunt. The Classico tomatoes really made the dish and I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with the recipe on my own (It doesn’t happen that often!). The ease of the slow cooker and dinner being ready for us also took away the temptation to dial pizza when we asked “What’s for dinner?”. I’m looking forward to coming up with more recipes and using Classico again on our mission for New Year New You!
What are your favorite tomato dishes? What are your health and fitness goals this year?
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Classico #cbias #SocialFabric #CookClassico All opinions expressed here are my own.
Twitter: TheBusyMomsDiet
says:
This looks amazing! I must try this for my pork loving husband! PS Happy SITS Day!
Thank you so much! The pork chops were really easy…and deceptively healthy!
I work at night so basically my family would probably starve or live on pizza if it weren’t for my slow cooker. Thanks for a new one..I think I’ll try it at the end of the week after I’ve gone to Kroger.
I hope your family likes it! It’s an easy recipe and can be spiced up or down to any taste.
Delicious! I love that you made these in the slow cooker!
Thank you! They were really good. A new go to for us. Love your blog!
I like cooking with my slow cooker and will definitely try this recipe
I absolutely love my slow cooker. I think we’d have a lot less home cooked meals without it.
Twitter: Robinsnestful
says:
Must try these. We just purchased a new slow cooker. I’m about to have surgery soon and I’m looking for slow cooker recipes to help with post-surgery meals.
It was so easy- just dump the sauce, herbs, and chops in and let the cooker do it’s work. I hope your surgery goes well! All the best!
GOTTA TRY THESE FOR SURE–THANKS FOR THE RECIPE
Thanks! And the slow cooker made them easy peasy!
Twitter: alilablonde
says:
Oh my yum! I just bought a slow cooker for myself as I plan to move out and I’m so excited to use it. This will be tried out for sure
Thanks for stopping by! So easy just put in the chops, add the sauce and herbs and go! Perfect for someone on the go!
wow, its about time I got a new recipe for pork chops in the slow cooker, I’m getting tired of barbeque or pulled pork recipes
sibabe64 at ptd dot net
Thanks for stopping by! I do love my pulled pork sandwiches but the porkchops were a nice change!
Yum! I already have most of these ingredients on hand! I just need to go grab some pork chops and I’m ready to go. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks for stopping by. This is definitely going to become a go to for use. It’s easy and as you said you have most of the ingredients on hand!
Twitter: SweetSpot_Blog
says:
I think I will make this for dinner today! Thanks for the recipe!
Hope it turned out great! Thanks for stopping by!
Twitter: meganr
says:
This sounds great – I wonder what it is that makes the pork chops stay intact but get tender…usually when I do pork chops in the slow cooker they either completely break down in the liquid, or they get tough if there’s not enough liquid…maybe because the tomatoes and onion were there to absorb some of the moisture, that helped?