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This pork with Red Chili Sauce is my favorite filling for tamales, burritos, tacos and more. It's made with a pork roast, spices, and a homemade red chili sauce.
While living in Mexico with my husband as a young married couple, I had that opportunity to learn to make some authentic Mexican dishes including Mexican rice, Pork Chile Verde, and homemade tamales! I have a seriously love for GOOD Mexican food!

My experiences with the people, food, and culture of Puebla, Mexico instilled in me a deep love of all things Mexican and you'll notice that the Mexican cuisine on my site gets more love and attention than all of the other types of cuisine!
Don't miss my full tutorial and step by step tips for how to use this pork and make homemade tamales!
For the Pork:
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Add pork, onion, bay leaf, garlic, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper to slow cooker. Cover the pork with water and cook on LOW for 8 hours or overnight.
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Drain the pork broth into a container and shred the cooked pork.

For the Mexican red chili sauce:
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Use rubber gloves to remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles while rinsing them under cold water. Place chiles in a saucepan with 2 cups of reserved broth. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then remove from heat.

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Transfer the chiles and broth to a blender. Add oregano, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic and blend until smooth. Set aside.
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In the same saucepan you used to cook the chiles, add oil and cook over medium heat. Add flour and salt and stir for 1 minute. Strain the chili sauce from the blender and add it to the saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

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Add red chili sauce to the meat, and stir to combine.

Serve with:
- Homemade Tamales
- Inside a burrito
- As a taco
- On a salad
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Shredded Pork with Red Chili Sauce
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 1 1/2 pounds pork loin, shoulder or butt
- 1 large onion, , chopped
- 1 bay leaves
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Red Chili Sauce:
- 4 dried california chile pods
- 2 cups reserved pork broth
- 1 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Tablespoon oil, (vegetable or canola oil)
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the pork:
- Add pork, onion, bay leaf, garlic, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper to slow cooker. Cover the pork with water and cook on LOW for 8 hours or overnight.
- Drain the pork, reserving the broth. Shred the meat.
For the Red Chili Sauce:
- Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles while rinsing them under cold water. Place chiles in a saucepan with 2 cups of broth from the cooked pork. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Transfer the chiles and broth to a blender. Add oregano, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- In the same saucepan you used to cook the chiles, add oil and cook over medium heat. Add flour and salt and stir for 1 minute.
- Strain the chili sauce from the blender and add it to the saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, then add the sauce to the shredded pork.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.





The pork turned out delicious. An excellent filling for tamales.
I’ve made this a half dozen times and EVERY TIME it’s perfect. Everyone loves it. Zero changes or modifications. Thank you!
I made this recipe and it’s so good I’m making it again. I used this as filling for tamales and it was perfect.
gonna make this tomorrow, Mexican rice, refried beans
Tried this recipe and it’s a keeper, easy to follow. I like my tamales spicy, used dried New Mexico pods.Tamales were delicious! Also like to use large cookie scoop for the masa, makes them the same size. Thanks!👍
This recipe was delicious! Family has ready requested it again. Definitely kid approved.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I have made these tamales two years in a row now and they never disappoint. They are delicious and fun to make.
How would I make it spicier ?
I literally cannot get enough of this pork. I’ve used it for
tamales and it’s the best filling I’ve ever tasted! The sauce is so good I want to lick my plate. No joke. I’ve made just the sauce for other dishes. It’s so good it can stand on its own in many different ways – it’s warm and comforting without being spicy. Thank you for such an amazing recipe. Thanks to you I finally (at the age of 49) felt confident enough to try my hand at tamales. They were amazing!!!
How many tamales in this recipe?
Great recipe and instructions. I found rolling out the masa between two sheets of parchment paper then cutting rectangles to help me make consistent masa to filling ratios and reduced the time needed when scaling this up. Also, individually wrapping and freezing works great.