Chili Verde {Mexican Stewed Pork}
This delicious, tender chili verde Mexican stewed pork has layer upon layer of fantastic flavor and is extremely versatile.
This is one of those meals I wish that each of you could literally taste through the screen. It is unbelievable. And after eating it, I went into mourning realizing how many years I’ve lived my life without it.
Dramatic? Possibly. True? Absolutely.
The depth of flavor in this pork is helped along by a simple browning step before everything is thrown into the slow cooker (or roasted in the oven).
After the pork has finished cooking, the sauce is reduced on the stovetop which allows for an even deeper, flavorful sauce as the ingredients reduce and meld together.
Smothered in the smoky, delicious sauce, the fall-apart-tender pork soaks up all the heartiness of the liquid and is an undeniably perfect meal folded into soft tortillas and smothered with cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce and avocados.
This pork would be absolutely perfect in everything from enchiladas to burritos to quesadillas. You could even get all crazy and use it to top a delicious, crisp romaine salad.
I have a feeling it is spectacular in any venue!
One Year Ago: Thanksgiving Dinner: The Stuffing
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Chili Verde {Mexican Stewed Pork}
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 5 pounds boneless pork roast, trimmed of as much fat as possible
- Salt and pepper for seasoning roast
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or crushed
- 1 (15-ounce) can green enchilada sauce
- 2 cans (4-ounces each) diced green chiles
- 2 cans (14-ounces each) diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 1 beef bouillon cube, or 1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cut the roast into 3-4 large chunks. Season the pork generously with salt and pepper on all sides. In a large heavy pot, the oil over medium heat until the oil is shimmering and hot. Add the pork, being careful not to crowd the pot (brown the pork in shifts, if needed). Brown the pork on all sides until golden and well-browned, about 30 seconds to a minute on each side. Leave the roast in the pot and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring often.
- Place the pork and garlic and onions in the slow cooker (read below for oven-roasting method). Stir in the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours. After the roast has cooked for the allotted time, remove the roast. Shred it into bite-size pieces and set aside, covered with foil to keep warm. Pour the remaining liquid and ingredients from the slow cooker into a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil on the stove, and simmer vigoriously over medium-low or medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning, until the mixture considerably reduced and thickened. Add the pork roast and sauce back to the slow cooker. Stir to coat the pork with the sauce. Turn the crockpot to low or high and allow the pork to heat through again. Serve with warm tortillas and desired toppings, such as sour cream, cheese, avocados, lettuce, tomatoes.
- Oven-roasting Instructions: When beginning the recipe, make sure to use an oven-safe pot for the browning (such as a large enameled cast-iron pot). Follow the recipe up until the point of adding the pork to the slow cooker. Instead, keep the pork in the oven-safe pot. Add in all the other recipe ingredients plus 1/2 cup water. Stir to combine. Cover the pot and cook in the oven at 300 degrees for 3-4 hours. When finished cooking, remove the roast as directed in the above instructions. Follow the recipe to reduce the sauce.
Notes
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Recipe Source: adapted from Erin at The Sister’s Cafe
I guess I used the wrong size of canned tomatoes and it’s really tomatoey flavored. What could I use to tone down the tomato flavor? I just can’t think of anything
You could possibly try adding more broth.
Added to my collection, thank you! This recipe is very quick and easy to prepare, best of all, it’s really good. I had some leftover polenta so fried a chunk and dropped the hot verde on top; great combo!
Hi Mel! I’m going to be making this meal next week with my freezer group. I’m trying to figure out how to make it so that the ladies can pull it out of the freezer and THEN put it in their slow cooker/instapot. Can I brown the pork chunks and then cook the onions and garlic and then put all that and the remaining ingredients into a freezer bag? Then, when they want to cook it, they pull it out of the freezer, thaw it, and put it in their crockpot at that point? Does that make sense?
I worry about precooking the pork without cooking it all the way through for food safety reasons. If it were me, I’d skip browning the pork but still cook the onions and garlic (let cool) and then add all the ingredients together in a freezer bag.
This is absolutely unbelievably delicious! I used five pounds of cubed pork shoulder. It was so good, way better than I could have ever expected. Wow!
can’t wait to try this out
Do you think this could be made in the Instant Pot?
Yep, I’d try cutting the pork into large chunks and cooking it at high pressure for 55 – 60 minutes.
I have made this delicious pork at least three times in the last year and we love it. I am wondering though how far in advance I can prepare. I am serving at a party in two days but will be out of town all day tomorrow so want to cook today and reheat for the party? Do you think that is too far ahead for taste and texture to still be good? I would love your input thank you!
That should be just fine, Julie! The flavor will actually get better with time. If it was longer than three days, I’d suggest freezing and defrosting but two days ahead, I’d definitely just refrigerate and reheat.
Thanks so much for responding! I did make two nights early and it was as delicious as always. Big hit with our guests,
This looks amazing. How would you adapt it for the Instapot? I’m thinking this would be perfect to include in next week’s menu. We had your Chili Lime chicken tacos last night which were delish!
It kind of depends on how big the meat pieces are but for large chunks of meat, I’d start with 20-25 min in the pressure cooker (longer if it’s a whole roast).
Hi Mel, would the flavor change too much if I didn’t brown the pork first? Just trying to use a few less dishes haha, thanks!
Can certainly try – I’m sure it would be ok, although browning does add delicious flavor. 🙂
Mel – I really like your site. I especially appreciate the suggestion of side dishes and occasionally the suggestions on ways to spice up the basic recipe. Throughout my career i found communication to be the toughest part. Any particular word, when presented to a group of people, will generate many different thoughts in those folks heads. For instance, pork roast. I think of a lean cut of meat that tends to get dry under long cooking conditions…cuts like sirloin roast, loin roast (not tenderloin). I don’t think of a pork butt. Probably because certain cuts are marketed as pork roasts and pork butts are generally just called pork butts. Certainly a pork butt works extremely well under long slow braising whereas a lean sirloin roast typically does not do as well. I personally would appreciate your telling us what cuts you chose to use in a recipe and why (just so we can learn).
Secondly if you could tell us the temperature you cooked your meat to it would be easier to replicate since ovens, slow cookers and end stove tops all cook at different rates. I have found that slow cooking a pork butt until it reaches 200 – 205 degrees produces a melt in your mouth piece of meat because it has remained at high temperature long enough to render much of the fat and convert other things to collagen which deeps the meat juicy and tasty.
Just my thoughts on a couple of ways you might help the rest of us learn to cook as well as you. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks for the thoughts, Bob – I really appreciate them and will definitely take them into consideration. It’s important to me that others have the best chance of success with my recipes. So thank you!
Hi Mel,
Do you think I could try this recipe with beef brisket instead (we don’t eat pork)
Thanks!!!
I’m not sure about the brisket – but I think beef would work (I was thinking more of a chuck or sirloin roast).
Hi Mel,
It seems that every week I make at least 1 of your fabulous recipes! Question- we don’t eat pork- would this recipe work with beef brisket you think??
Thanks so much!
Can you use pork loin instead? (I don’t really know the difference?) Thanks! – Love your site!
Pork loin is slightly leaner but I believe others in the comments have used it.
I’ve made this recipe a few times. I like to freeze it in portions for a quick taco salad topping for my small family. I went looking for this recipe in the slow cooker section this morning without any luck. Just thought I should let you know. Thanks for the great recipe.
Thanks for the heads up, Karen! I’ll make sure it’s listed in there.
What brand name of green enchilada sauce do u use?? Is this really spicy?? If so how do I keep the flavor and lessen the heat??
I usually use Trader Joe’s or Herdez – this meal isn’t spicy especially if you use mild sauce.
Delicious!
This was amazing! Entire family loved it!
Could I use pork chops with this recipe and reduce the cooking time?
Lachelle – I haven’t tried that but it’s definitely worth experimenting. Sometimes pork chops dry out in the slow cooker (in my experience) so I’d just keep a good eye on cooking time.
I made it with the pork chops except did it in my electric pressure cooker and they turned out great! Thanks!
Hi Mel!
I made your Chili Verde tonight and it was fantastic! I had a plan to make pulled pork tacos this morning so I got online to search for a good recipe. There are so many recipes out there but I went straight to your site, which I adore and found this one. At first, I was a little concerned about putting the sauce back on the meat because I didn’t want it to run out of the tacos. But I did anyway and it was fabulous! Thank you!
Mel
I’m making this again tomorrow (prepping it tonight), and couldn’t help myself but to comment again! We have this often, and just LOVE it!
Thanks for all of your great recipes, especially this one 🙂
Made this for my hubby, son and in laws and they all loved this! Thanks for a great recipe.
All I have to say is…WOW! This is one of my favorite things I have ever cooked. I used my immersion blender to puree the sauce as it was reducing (I don’t like chunks of tomato) and used a glob of concentrated beef stock instead of bouillon (I’m allergic to MSG and couldn’t find MSG-free bouillon) but other than that made it exactly as directed. Very, very yummy!!!
Heidi, did you slice the tenderloin to serve or shred? The sirloin roast i had was definitely a slice to serve-but regardless it was too overcooked. If I had only cooked it 55 mins maybe it wouldve worked? I made something else for dinner that night, but kept all the sauciness, bought a more appropriate roast for long cooking in the crockpot, made it the next night and it was great!
Jessica, I shredded the pork. It was very tender and fell apart easily. I followed the cooking instructions that came with the pressure cooker to determine the correct cooking time (pork scares me sometimes). Beef is probably a little different than pork, but I haven’t personally tried this recipe with beef.
I made this with a pork tenderloin from Costco in my pressure cooker. Cooking time is only 55 minutes, and It turned out awesome! So tender! Definitely a new staple recipe. Thanks Mel!