The soup: I always use cream of mushroom. But honestly, cream of chicken works just as well and if someone in your house has a thing about mushrooms — and around here at least one person always does — swap it out without guilt.
The broth: low-sodium, because the soup already has plenty of salt. I learned this the hard way when I grabbed the wrong can once. The whole pan was edible but you needed a glass of water every three bites.
The pork chops: bone-in, a good inch thick. Don’t let them talk you into thin-cut boneless. Those will dry out and you’ll be disappointed.
Ingredients
4 bone-in pork chops, about 3/4 to 1 inch thick — closer to an inch if you can get it
8 oz dry wide egg noodles (Amish-style or whatever wide egg noodles you find)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup, condensed — don’t add water yet
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, maybe a little more if you like things extra saucy
Oven-Baked Amish Pork Chop Noodle Bake
How to Make It
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13-inch metal baking pan — I use a thin swipe of oil on a paper towel. Don’t use a glass dish if you can help it; metal heats more evenly for something like this.
Pour the dry noodles into the pan and spread them out. Just dry, right from the bag. I know it feels wrong. Every instinct says boil them first. Don’t. This is one of those things where you have to trust the process, and the process has not let me down.
In a bowl, whisk together both cans of soup and the two cups of broth. It won’t go totally smooth — there’ll be little lumps — but get it as combined as you can. Pour this over the noodles and use a spoon to push the noodles around so most of them are coated and submerged. Some will stick up at the edges. That’s fine. They’ll sort themselves out.
Pat the pork chops dry (I skip this sometimes, if I’m being honest, but it does help them brown a little at the end), season both sides lightly with pepper and just a small pinch of salt. Lay them in a single layer right on top of the noodles. They’ll be resting on the sauce.
Cover the pan tightly with foil. Seal the edges. This is important — the steam is what cooks the noodles and keeps the pork from turning into shoe leather. Bake for 45 minutes. Then take the foil off carefully because there will be a lot of steam and it will try to burn you, it always does, I don’t know why I’m still surprised by this.
Check the edges — you want to see the liquid bubbling, and the noodles should be softening up. Back into the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered, until the pork chops hit 145 degrees internally. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, now’s the time to get one. I put it off for years and I regret every one of those years.
Let it rest for about five minutes before you serve. I know, I know. But if you dig in right away the noodles will be soupy instead of Creamy. Just give it five minutes. Go set the table or argue with someone about what to watch tonight. Then dish it up.
Variations
Throw frozen peas in before pouring the soup mixture — you don’t even need to thaw them, they just disappear into the noodles and it’s an easy way to get some vegetables in.
I’ve tried it with cream of celery soup once. Tasty, but different — more herby somehow, lighter. Some people don’t like change.
If your chops are really thick — over an inch — add ten extra minutes covered before you take the foil off. Thinner chops, less time. Use the thermometer, not guesses. I’ve served undercooked pork exactly once and I still think about it.
Leftovers
This keeps in the fridge for three or four days. Maybe five if you’re optimistic and it smells fine. Reheat it in a small pan on the stove with a splash of broth or water to loosen the noodles back up — the microwave works in a pinch but dries it out. I usually eat the leftover noodles as a side the next day with whatever else I’m making, just because there’s always more noodles than chops and they’re too good to waste.
I meant to say earlier that this is the kind of recipe that’s good for nights when you don’t want to think. When it’s been a long day and you’re tired and dinner still has to happen regardless. You spend ten minutes putting it together and then the oven handles it for an hour and that’s one less thing.
Serve it with some green beans or a salad and bread if you have it — the sauce is the kind of thing you want something to soak it up. That’s really all it needs.
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