Zesty chili verde and melty cheese soften a tortilla filled to the max with refried beans, veggies and more cheese making this Pork Chili Verde recipe the absolute best for making green chili burritos and more!
Another family favorite (I’m sure you are sensing a theme that my family enjoys Mexican food), Pork Chili Verde!
Burrito night often includes extra guests that find any receptacle they can to get the Chili Verde from the pan to their mouth, so plan to have some tortilla chips and homemade salsa on hand.
Although sometimes it just gets smothered on nachos, beans or spooned into tacos. In authentic restaurants, it is usually just served on a platter with warm flour tortillas for sopping it up.
In no way, shape or form do I suggest that mine is authentic or “the best”, but what I do know is that it is darn delicious and I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.
Traditionally speaking, green chile sauce is made using pork shoulder, Mexican oregano, chicken broth and seasoned with salt and pepper. It is slow cooked on medium heat until the pork is tender.
Why You’ll Love This Pork Chili Verde Recipe
Tender pieces of pork simmering in a flavorful chile verde sauce made from fresh ingredients- what’s not to love!
- Fall-apart tender – There is not much I love more than large chunks of meat that have been cooked into a delicious stew. The low temperature and slow cooking makes the most fork tender meat.
- Easy to make – While it can be made in the slow cooker or pressure cooker like an Instant Pot, this is a quick and dirty version of pork chile verde. Fast, easy and not a lot of work.
- Family favorite – This pork chili verde is one of my family’s favorite recipes. It’s packed full of flavor and the recipe can be adjusted to suit your family’s needs and tastes.
Ingredients
No need to go to a special market- all of these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store!
- Flour – We need a little something to hold the green sauce together, and all purpose flour does just that.
- Salt and pepper – I like to use a blend of coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Pork – You can either use a boneless pork shoulder or a pork butt. Make sure the fat is trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces.
- Vegetable oil – You could use olive oil if you prefer. We use this in the pot while we sauté the veggies and meat.
- White onion – I like using white onion in this recipe, but you could also use a sweet yellow onion or vidalia if you choose.
- Jalapenos – It’s important to remove the seeds, unless you like a lot of spice- then you can leave them in.
- Garlic cloves – I always recommend mincing your own garlic. If you don’t have any garlic on hand, you could use garlic powder instead.
- Chicken broth – I prefer to use low sodium chicken broth so that I am able to control the amount of salt in the recipe. You can always add more if needed. You can also use chicken stock.
- Tomatillos – Make sure when using fresh tomatillos that the papery husk is removed. The texture will not be good in our pork mixture.
- Diced green chilies – I’m always looking for ways to save time, so I used canned green chilies for this recipe. You can freshly roast them if you prefer. check the section below for instructions.
- Petite diced tomatoes – To save time and make this recipe a little easier, I use canned tomatoes. You can certainly use fresh and dice them yourself if you have the time.
- Seasonings – In addition to the salt and pepper, I use cumin and oregano. The green chilies and tomatillos already offer so much flavor that we don’t need much.
- Fresh lime juice – I strongly recommend using fresh lime rather than the bottled variety. I also like to serve this chili verde with extra lime wedges in case anyone would like to add more.
How to Make Pork Chili Verde
With only 30 minutes of prep, you are going to love how easy it is to make this easy chili verde recipe.
- Toss pork is flour mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and pepper. Toss the cubed pork in the flour mixture, shaking off any excess. Transfer to a plate and discard remaining flour.
- Brown pork in pot. Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven or pot. When the oil it hot and simmering, add the floured pork, browning on all sides. Remove the pork to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
- Saute onion and jalapeno peppers. Add the onion and jalapenos to the hot pot, sauteing until soft and fragrant. Add the garlic, cooking an additional minute. Scrape up any browned bits, leaving them in the pan.
- Return pork to pot. Add the browned pork, broth, tomatillos, green chiles, tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper to the pot, stirring to combine.
- Cover and cook on low. Cover and reduce to low heat (low simmer) for 2-3 hours.
- Serve and enjoy. Serve over rice, smothered over burritos or with a side of flour tortillas.
What to Serve with Pork Chili Verde
The ways that you can serve this hearty stew are really endless. You can serve it over rice, refried beans or burritos. Turn it into tacos with wither corn tortillas or flour tortillas. No matter which way I serve it, I like to top mine with sour cream, fresh cilantro or sometimes a green salsa for extra flavor.
You can serve with just about anything you serve with regular tacos. Chips and easy salsa, refried beans and spanish rice are all really great options for serving with this green chili recipe. Mexican cuisine is so versatile!
Variations
We love this pork chile verde recipe exactly as written, however there are plenty of ways you can make it your own.
- Vegetarian – You can make this recipe without the meat, but the final result won’t have as much flavor. I would suggest adding a little garlic salt to help with the flavor.
- Different meat – If you’d like to swap out the tender pork chunks for something else, try chicken! Use boneless skinless chicken breasts, the same amount, and cook them the same way as you did pork.
- Fresh chiles – If you are going to use fresh chiles they need to be roasted and skinned first. See my post on how to roast Hatch chile peppers. This same technique can be used for any type of chile pepper.
Storage and Freezing
Storage: You can store any green chile stew leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will last in the fridge for up to 3-5 days and reheats beautifully.
Freezing: This chili verde also freezes really well. In fact, I usually make a double or triple batch just so I can freeze some. Place in an airtight container or even plastic freezer bags with as little air as possible. Freeze for up to 4 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
It can be depending on the heat of the green chiles that are used. Look at the can of chiles your are using and see if it says mild or spicy. Pick your poison.
Some recipes might be gluten free, but this one is not. I use flour to thicken the sauce.
Each recipe will vary slightly, but this chili verde recipe is made of pork shoulder, flour, salt and pepper, onion, jalapenos, garlic, chicken broth, tomatillos, green chilies, tomatoes, cumin and fresh lime juice.
I often go back and forth and seems chile and chili are used interchangeably. However, I once had a boss that was one hell of a writer and used to be a book editor. Chile to describe the actual fruit and chili to describe a soup or stew.
In my book, no. Salsa verde is a cold sauce made with tomatillos and other spices.
More Easy Mexican Food
Crispy Mexican Chicken
Mexican Cream Cheese Shrimp Dip
Mexican Cheesy Bread
Pork Chili Verde Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Pork:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2-3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or pork butt , fat trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the Chile Verde:
- 1 white onion , chopped
- 2 jalapenos , seeds removed and minced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced or pressed
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 3-4 medium tomatillos , husks removed, chopped
- 14 ounces cans diced green chilies , or one cup freshly roasted and peeled
- 14 ounces petite diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and pepper. Toss the cubed pork in the flour mixture, shaking off any excess. Transfer to a plate and discard remaining flour.
- Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven or pot. When the oil it hot and simmering, add the floured pork, browning on all sides, approximately 3-4 minutes. Remove the pork to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
- Add the onion and jalapenos to the hot pot, sauteing until soft and fragrant. Add the garlic, cooking an additional minute. Scrape up any browned bits, leaving them in the pan.
- Add the cooked pork, broth, tomatillos, green chiles, tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper to the pot, stirring to combine.
- Cover and reduce to low heat (low simmer) for 2-3 hours.
- Serve over rice, smothered over burritos or with a side of flour tortillas.
- If you've tried this recipe, please come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.
I love this pork chili, so flavorful and comforting! The jalapenos add the perfect amount of heat as well. Definitely one I’ll make again, thanks for the recipe!
Yum, I’d love to try this on top of nachos! The jalapenos add a nice spicy kick. Thanks for sharing!
This sounds absolutely amazing! I love Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes, and this is just the kind of thing my family will devour. Love it.
Love this chili verde so much. I love that it was easy to make and so flavourful. The pork came out really tender as well.
This was so packed with flavor – I topped mine with a fried egg and it was to die for! Thank you!
Hello wanting to make this tomz night for dinner but I’m a little confused..you said there is a lot of remains from the pork so how we supposed to drain that off without removing those little brown flavor bombs? Also you said to add 2 cups of water but from the pic it looks like this is either a double batch or there is more water needed..Please help or if someone who has made this can let me know it would be greatly appreciated…Thank you
Hi Veronica! Just take the pork out to a paper towel lined plate and that is good enough. I think I got a little verbose when I wrote that step. I’ll cut it down a little bit. And the batch in the pot is a double batch- I usually make two and then freeze some. Good eye!