This pork chop is stuffed with bourbon soaked cherries and raisins, toasted walnuts, fresh sage and cornbread. It’s perfectly suited for Autumn, and for keeping your grill active during the holiday season.
WHAT YOU'LL LOVE
- A genuinely elegant fall recipe built around pantry-adjacent ingredients: Bourbon, dried cherries, walnuts, and cornbread are all either shelf-stable or easily made ahead — this is a special-occasion dish that doesn't require a specialty grocery run.
- The bourbon soak is doing real flavor work: Two hours of soaking dried cherries and raisins in bourbon before they go into the stuffing plumps the fruit and infuses it with warm, oaky notes that carry through the entire chop as it cooks.
- Stuffing from the inside out means flavor in every bite: Rather than serving a sauce or glaze on top, the cornbread-and-fruit filling seasons the pork from the inside — every slice reveals the stuffing, and every bite picks up both the grilled exterior and the savory-sweet interior.
- Diamond grill marks from a 45-degree rotation: Turning each chop 45 degrees halfway through each side produces proper crosshatch grill marks — a visual detail that turns a weeknight pork chop into something restaurant-worthy.
Stuffing and Grilling Pork Chops
Tom Jackson
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Entree
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Calories
535
Enjoy grilling made easy with our Stuffed and Grilled Pork Chops. Bursting with flavor, they are stuffed with bourbon-soaked cherries and raisins, toasted walnuts, fresh sage and cornbread, making them the perfect Autumn recipe.
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops
- 1 1/2 cup cornbread, crumbled
- 2 tbsp golden raisins
- 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup dried cherries, halved
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp fresh sage, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup bourbon
-
Smoke on Wheels Pork Marinade & Injection
-
John Henry Pecan Rub
Directions
Place the dried cherries and raisins in a small bowl. Pour the bourbon over the top. Place chops into container or bag and cover with Smoke on Wheels Pork Marinade & Injection. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Remove chops from container. Insert a 6" boning knife at one end of the chop. Cut a horizontal pocket, being careful not to cut all the way through. Keep the base of the knife in one place as you slice, so the opening in which you will stuff the filling stays small enough that the filling will not fall out while cooking. Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640 to 450°F, set up with GrillGrates.
Remove the fruits from the bourbon. Combine them with the rest of the ingredients, and put into piping bag. Pipe each chop full of the cornbread mixture. Alternatively, you can stuff the filling by hand, or use a zip top bag as a makeshift piping bag. Just put the filling in the bag, and cut off one corner. Once the chop is stuffed, dust with John Henry's Pecan Rub.
- Grill the chops for about 6 minutes on each side. Turn each chop 45 degrees after 3 minutes for diamond grill marks. Remove from the grill when the internal temperature reaches 145°F (check the temperature using an instant read thermometer). Rest 5-10 minutes before slicing.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
How thick should the pork chops be?
Choose bone-in pork chops about 1–1¼ inches thick. Thinner chops won't hold enough stuffing and will overcook before the filling has time to warm through; thicker chops give you a proper pocket and more margin for hitting 145°F without drying out the exterior.
Can I substitute the bourbon?
Yes — apple cider is the closest non-alcoholic substitute and keeps the autumn fruit flavor profile intact. White grape juice or a splash of apple cider vinegar diluted in water also works. The goal is liquid to rehydrate the dried fruit; the bourbon's warmth adds character but isn't essential to the stuffing's function.
Can I use fresh herbs instead of sage?
Thyme or rosemary both pair well with pork and cornbread and work as direct substitutes. Use the same quantity as the fresh sage — 2 tsp — since both herbs have a similar intensity level to sage in this application.
What is the best way to stuff the chop without tearing it?
Insert the boning knife at one end and keep the base of the knife anchored in place as you work the blade side to side to open the pocket. This creates a small opening with a large internal cavity — wide enough to pipe in the filling but narrow enough that the stuffing stays put on the grill rather than falling out through a large cut.
Can I bake instead of grill?
Yes — bake at 375°F for about 25–30 minutes until the pork reaches 145°F internal. You'll lose the GrillGrate sear marks and the live-fire char that comes from cooking at 450°F, but the stuffing, the pecan rub, and the overall flavor profile translate fully to the oven.
Can I cook these indoors?
4 out of 5 — Perfect for indoor, better on the grill. The oven method above replicates this recipe well. A cast iron skillet sear followed by finishing in the oven is the closest indoor approximation to the GrillGrate high-heat method — sear 2–3 minutes per side in a very hot skillet, then finish at 375°F until 145°F internal.
Recipe Highlights
Soak the fruit first, then prep everything else: The dried cherries and raisins need time in the bourbon before the rest of the stuffing comes together — starting with the soak while you prep and marinate the chops means you're not waiting at the end. The 2-hour marinade time and the fruit soak can run concurrently.
Pipe the filling rather than hand-stuffing when possible: A piping bag — or a zip-top bag with one corner cut — pushes the cornbread mixture all the way to the back of the pocket evenly, without compressing the outside of the chop. Hand-stuffing risks over-packing the front of the pocket while leaving the back hollow.
Dust with John Henry's Pecan Rub after stuffing, not before: Seasoning the outside of the chop after stuffing ensures the rub adheres to a dry surface and doesn't pick up moisture from the marinade step. Applying it too early can also cause the rub to migrate into the pocket opening during the stuffing step.
Pull at 145°F and rest 5–10 minutes before slicing: Pork is safe and juicy at 145°F — pushing past that to 160°F produces a noticeably drier chop, especially with a cornbread stuffing that will absorb any juices that escape. The rest period is critical: slicing immediately forces the juices into the stuffing rather than letting them redistribute through the meat.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 7.86 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 535
- Carbs
- 28 grams
- Protein
- 24 grams
- Fat
- 29 grams
- Sodium
- 602 milligrams
