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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!
I adjusted ingredients a bit and followed the method — it’s superb! The next time I’ll add the sauce to the pork an hour before the pork is done. This is precisely what I sought.
This was also “Precisely what I sought”; Hence no disappointment and also a fun experiment with something I had not
Cooked before whilst living in New Mexico!
Can I freeze this? It looks amazing!
Yes, it freezes great! Thaw overnight in the fridge and rewarm on the stove.
Really good! I made this yesterday and put it in the slow cooker on low for about 10 hours. After 6 hours, I added the tomatillo mixture. I added a little more cumin and some chipotle chile spice as well as salt to taste. My friends took leftovers so that they could make breakfast burritos this morning. One thing of note, pork shoulder is really fatty. I got a 3 lb pork shoulder from my butcher. After trimming it, I had about 1.5 lbs of meat. Since this sauce is so good, you may want to ask for a 4 lb pork shoulder.
Awesome recipe. A few personal notes:
1. I tried the “medium-hot” version and it wasn’t spicy at all. Could’ve been the jalapeños, but next time I won’t deseed.
2. I don’t think I broiled the peppers long enough at 10 minutes—some skins were hard to remove. I’ll try 12 next time.
3. After simmering the pork for 2hrs., my broth was perfectly reduced and carmelized. Any longer and it would’ve started to burn. Glad I checked and didn’t leave it longer.
Aside from that, this recipe was cheap and delicious. Definitely a new staple, next time I want to try simmering in my smoker (Traegar) to see if that adds an extra dimension to the flavor.
Sounds so great to use the Traeger
I wish the recipe indicated how soft the tomatillos should be after broiling. Broiling could be on Hi or Lo, all of which effect how cooked they get before they brown. I think that I undercooked them even though they were slightly browned on top per the photo.
Broiling really doesn’t cook the tomatillos, it just is a way to remove peel. They get soft, like chilis, & blend perfectly when using a hand emerson blender for sauce. Using hand blender is so much easier (& less cleanup) than putting in blender or food processer.
Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe. I had chile verde over 20 years ago and loved it. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to try cooking it until today. The flavors were perfect and my family said it was a keeper. My husband is actually a French classical trained chef so that should let you know this was perfect. Thanks again!
This was amazing. I’ve been making this for years using Anaheim chilies, nice difference using the Pasilla chilies!
This will be my go to recipe for now on..Thank you !
Delicious! I will make again. The Mexican Rice was also very good. Thanks for the great recipes!
Of all the recipes of this dish I’m glad I chose this one! I made this yesterday and it was fabulous. The meat was so tender and the salsa was so delicious. Thank you! I will continue to follow your recipes. Can’t wait to make the peanut butter heart cookies for Valentines.
Sounds like a great recipe? Can you make any suggestions on how to make it with leftover pork roast? Do you think I should still sear and simmer in the chicken broth with already cooked meat?
No, just make the tomatillo sauce and stir in the cooked pork. Cook until warmed through. Enjoy!