The most common reason for your oven baked pork chops to be tough is because the pork chops were overcooked and cooked too long.
Pork chops are a lean cut of meat which can very quickly become tough and dry if they are cooked too long even at a lower temperature in the oven.
Think pork chops will dry out faster and make them more prone to toughness.
Also failing to let your pork chops rest after cooking allows the juices in the pork chops to escape and results in a tougher texture.
Cooking at too high of a temperature and not using a brine or marinade can also lead to oven baked pork chops being tough.
Marinating the pork chops before baking them helps the pork chops retain moisture when it's cooked.
And cooking at a very high heat temperature for too long can lead to the pork chops being too tough.
The temperature that pork chops are the most tender is when the pork chops are cooked to a temperature of 145 F degrees.
The secret to making juicy and tender pork chops is to only cook the pork chops until the internal temperature of the pork chops regardless of thickness is 145 F.
When cooking pork chops in the oven you should flip the pork chops in the oven to ensure even cooking of the pork chops.
When the pork chops are cooked evenly by flipping them over in the oven it ensures that the pork chops come out tender instead of being overcooked in one spot.
When baking your pork chops, flip the pork chops in the oven halfway through cooking.
When you flip the pork chops halfway through cooking in the oven it will result in pork chops with a tender, browned crust on both sides of the pork chops instead of having a soggy bottom crust on the pork chops.
Baking pork chops at a lower temperature of 350 F helps keep the pork chops juicy and moist.
While the pork chops will cook much faster at 400 F it's best to bake the pork chops at 350 F because it guarantees that you will have juicy pork chops every time you bake them.
Also for best results the pork chops should be at room temperature before baking them.
Bringing the pork chops up to room temperature helps to ensure that the pork chops are cooked more evenly throughout the meat.
Brining the pork chops before baking is also one of the secrets to most pork chops which also ensures that you have juicy cooked pork chops.
You can brine the pork chops in a 30 minute quick brine or up to 4 hours which makes a huge difference in how the pork chops turn out.