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This authentic pork chile verde recipe will rival any you find in a Mexican restaurant! Tender pieces of pork slow cooked with a fantastic homemade green chile sauce (salsa verde). Serve this delicious stew alongside warm tortillas, rice and beans.
If you love chile verde, I know you'll love my Chile Colorado, Beef Birria and Chilaquiles.
Start with trimming your pork of fat and cutting it into 1” pieces. Season with salt and pepper, and sear it in a very hot pan until browned on all sides. Set aside.
Brown the onion. Add garlic, spices, pork and chicken broth to the pot. Cover with lid and simmer everything for 2-4 hours. Slow cooking the pork makes it extra tender and delicious.
I prefer cooking everything in a cast iron pan because I think it preserves the flavor better, from sautéing everything in the same pan. But, you could place the browned pork, onions, spices, chicken broth into your slow cooker and cook on low for several hours, if you'd like.
While the pork cooks, make the salsa verde. This is my favorite part. This sauce is SO incredible. I love all of the fresh ingredients that blend together to make such bold flavor.
Wash the peppers and tomatillos, and slice them all in half. Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers. If you like things spicier, you could leave one of the jalapeños with seeds in it.
Place all of the peppers, face down, on a baking sheet and broil them. This was a tip I learned in Mexico for creating that great “roasted pepper” flavor.
When the peppers are browned on the top, remove them from the oven and tie them in a plastic bag. This allows them to steam, which softens their outer layer of skin. After they steam you should be able to easily peel off the very outer layer of skin, and discard it.
Broil the tomatillos in the same way. You can peel the skin off after, or just leave it (I usually leave the skin on the tomatillos. It purees easily in the blender).
Add the tomatillos and both types of peppers to the blender, along with fresh cilantro. Blend until no large chunks remain.
Add the sauce to the pot with the pork, and cook everything together for another 30-45 minutes. This allows the delicious flavors from the sauce to blend and simmer into the tender pork.
Now give yourself a huge pat on the back for making such an incredible, flavorful Mexican stew, right in your own kitchen.
I like to serve chile verde with warm flour tortillas, a side of beans and authentic Mexican rice. WOW…sooo good. Hope you all enjoy it as much as me!
If you love Authentic Mexican food, be sure to try:
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Chile Verde Pork
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pork loin or pork shoulder, , trimmed of fat and cut into 1’’ pieces
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons oil, (vegetable or canola oil)
- 1 large yellow onion, , chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, , minced
- 1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 1/2 Tablespoon Dried oregano
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 fresh poblano chiles, , seeded and sliced in half
- 2 fresh jalapeño peppers, , seeded and sliced in half (*see note)
- 1.5 pounds fresh tomatillos, , husks removed
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, , coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Season pork pieces on all sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large stock pot over high heat. Add oil. Once hot, sear the pork pieces until browned on all sides.
- Remove the pork from the pot. Add a little additional oil to pan, if needed.
- Add onion and saute until tender. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the cumin and oregano. Return pork to the pot and add the chicken broth.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 2-4 hours.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce.
- Place rack on second to top level of oven and turn the oven to high broil.
- Lightly spray a jelly roll pan with cooking oil. Wash the poblano peppers, jalapeños and tomatillos.
- Slice the tomatillo and both types of peppers in half, and remove stems. Seed the peppers and remove the white veins inside if if you do not want the chile verde to be very spicy. (See my note below about spice level). Do not seed the tomatillos.
- Place the poblano peppers, jalapeño and tomatillos on baking sheets cut side down. Broil for about 7-10 minutes or until browned.
- Immediately place peppers in a plastic bag and tie the bag. Allow them to steam for 5 minutes, and then peel off their outer layer of skin. (It should come off easily)
- Add the peppers, tomatillos and cilantro to a blender and puree.
- Add mixture to the pot with the pork and cook everything together for an additional 30 to 45 minutes.
- Serve with tortillas, and a side of Mexican rice and beans.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This is the best thing I have ever eaten. And now I am trying to figure out lots of recipes that could use this pork green chili. To me there is no superior dish on earth.
I live in central California and I am a chile verde junkie. I order it all the time and am usually disappointed. This recipe rocks! I hate water, bland chili and this is chunky and gorgeous. Along with the avocado I add some Oaxaca cheese.
Absolutely delicious and recipe was exactly as described. Served with traditional Spanish rice, refried beans, tortillas and crema Fresca. Ricisimo!!!
I very rarely if ever, write reviews. I usually see a recipe and if I like it, I’ll read on to see the ingredients and instructions, then if I like that, then I’ll go ahead and make it, end of story…but This Pork Chile Verde was “THE BOMB”, I am so serious. Flavor was THE BOMB…Spicy-ness was just right for me, THE BOMB…Easy to make and Easy instructions, THE BOMB. Me and my family REALLY LOVED this dish. Ty for sharing such an awesome recipe. A keeper for sure!!!
That means so much that you took the time to share your feedback! Thank you Wayne!
Can Anaheim chilies be used instead of poblano?
Yes, it would just change the flavor, and they are smaller so you’d need to use a few more.
Can you use green tomatoes instead of tomatillos?
They would work similarly from a texture standpoint, but they are more acidic and less sweet than tomatillos, so Im not sure how the flavor would be…
Best batch I have ever made. I used a Crock pot. Came out perfect!!
I just wanted to say thank you for making this as simple as possible with the most amazing flavor! We will never eat out to our favorite Mexican restaurant down the road and probably saved us $50 tonight with left overs to boot! I had left over pork in the fridge and we didn’t want bbq pork AGAIN lol Pork was tender and just over-all delicious!
wonderful and easy! made it for family then friends and all thumbs up! still working on the jalapeno heat lol
thank you for a delicious meal!
ps I made the rice also…another winner!
This was amazing! Hubby said to make sure I saved the recipe. He raved over it. I did seeds and veins on only one jalapeno because I am a light weight in the heat dept. but still enough heat for my husband (He would have me use all the seeds and toss in a couple of extra jalapenos). The heat was perfect for me. I did mess up and only had 12 oz of tomatillos. Grandson was napping so unable to run out for more and not enough time when he woke up. It was a little runny until I added a can of sweet corn. Thickened right up, Also used fresh parsley instead of cilantro because neither of us likes it.
Sorry not to review the recipe quite ‘as written’ but recipe to good not to rate. I just altered a little for our tastes.
My best chili verde yet!
I diced two (1/2″) pieces of pork belly into 1/2″-3/4″ rectangles, sautéed them over medium high heat until the fat was rendered and the pieces were browned (milliard reaction). My hope was to do this to the rest of the lean pork that I had cut up but since I was in a one-pot dutch oven, there was too much moisture released and I was not able to “milliard” the rest. I added the onions without taking the meat out and fairly closely followed the recipe out. It was a fabulous birthday meal for me and my friends!
Another trick that I stumbled upon was to use a baking mat on my grill to roast the chilis. I laid them out skin down close together on one end of my grill, butted up the mat to the edge of the peppers, and had the burners on medium both under the mat and under the peppers. They were perfectly charred after a few minutes ready to be steamed in the bag…the easiest peppers to be skinned ever!
Any suggestions on making this in my Instant Pot?
I have made this several times and my people love it. But, Tonight I was short on pork so I added diced russett potatoes when I added the salsa verde and this was the best it’s ever been. Thank you for sharing this recipe, it’s a make ahead favorite for us
This is so delicious ! Mine is still on the stove on the last step. I had to add one more cup of broth and it turned out perfectly. I can’t wait to fill my tamales ! Thanks so much !
Any thoughts on freezing this?
Yes, it freezes really well! Let it thaw overnight in the fridge, then rewarm on the stove or in the oven.
This was delicious !1