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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Recipe
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
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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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!
Great job Chef!! I followed the recipe exactly as written. I’ve made chile verde many times before, but only using New Mexico Hatch chiles. I learned new, practical techniques like halving the chiles and tomatillos before broiling and adding the chile after the meat has cooked a while. My only issue was something out of anyone’s control, the heat level of the jalapeños. Mine were too mild, so I added some of my salsa made of chiles de arbol, tomatillos, and garlic. Next time, I’m going to experiment with keeping the number of jalapeños, and also adding serranos to get it to the heat level my family enjoys.
Mine came out bitter. What could I have possibly done wrong??
Could be from over-roasting the tomatillos/peppers, leaving too much char, or using underripe tomatillos. Try peeling well and adding a pinch of sugar or lime!
-Stacy
I would recommend broiling the garlic with the tomatillos and peppers, and blending it into the verde sauce.
Absolutely superb! Had some pork stew meat in the freezer to get used up. I typically go the shortcut route and buy jarred salsa verde to make chile verde, but I had all day Sunday to make something tasty so I thought I’d give the real deal a go. So glad I did, it was worth it! It probably simmered for about 3.5hours. Served with crushed chicharrones on top for a little crunch!!
This is such a great recipe! Absolutely delicious and a great comfort food on a cold winter day. Laura is always my go to when I need a great meal that is quick! You never go wrong trying one of her recipes! thank you Laura!
The flavor was fine, but the sauce was very thin, and the dish was overall too saucy, not at all rich like it looks in the picture. Should I have drained the pork before adding the verde sauce?
No, you don’t need to drain the pork before adding the sauce, but you can drain some of the liquid if you want it thicker.
I just made this and it is perfect. It’s saucier than I expected, but if I wanted to change that I would just use more pork
The time requirements given are so ridiculous they’re laughable. 20 min prep time? Doubling the recipe didn’t change it either. And 2.5 hrs cook time when the recipe calls for 2-4 hrs just for the pork. Please fix that so that the info is useful.
It’s a very good recipe…. Don’t ya know?
My all time favorite recipe for dinner parties! It is unbelievably good. I play around with the chiles, depending on what is fresh in the store. It’s a great recipe for hatch chiles, for example. If you don’t have poblanos, for instance, green bell peppers can provide the pepper-without-intense-heat.
Truly one of the GREATEST recipes I have ever made. Tastes authentic and I make this recipe at least 5x a year. I throw in some of my local mexican market’s tomatillo and jalapeno salsa (in addition to the homemade salsa) and some green beans towards the end for some added veggies.