Your slow cooker does all the hard work for you in this authentic New Mexico green pork pepper recipe. Hatch peppers are the star of this soup, but jalapeños can be used if needed!
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I like to think that expression is applicable to this slow cooker recipe Hatch green chili. This hearty dish features tender chunks of slow-cooked pork, dipped in a spicy, spicy, green sauce that’s made with roasted tomatillos, onions and, of course, Hatch peppers. It’s by far what I love to do most with these specialty chiles, which are grown in New Mexico’s Hatch Valley, and aren’t always easy to get. But when I’m lucky enough to meet them, I take the opportunity to make this dish (and you should too).
Hatch peppers are versatile and have an excellent balance of sweet and spices, and range from mild to extra hot. This easy homemade green salsa has a similar flavor profile to my delicious green chile burritos for the night of the week, but instead of making a quick sauce, we go headlong here, making the salsa totally from scratch, and I promise it’s worth the extra effort.
What’s in this green pork chili
?
To make this tasty and deceptively simple green chili recipe, you’ll need
:
- Tomatillos
- Yellow
- Roasted Garlic Hatch Chiles: I love the hot Hatch chili package, but if in doubt, you can always do this with soft green chiles (FYI, green chiles are the same: Hatch chiles are just a specific variety of green chiles).
- Fresh cilantro
- Roast
- pork tenderloin Extra virgin olive oil
- Butter
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
onion
How to
make pork Chile Verde
Roasting your vegetables is the key to making this sauce sing, as the light charcoal gives it a depth of flavor that accentuates the inherent sweetness of each ingredient. Roasting the tomatillos also softens the acidity or bitterness that some people find in these little currant cousins.
Roast your vegetables. Lightly char the onion, garlic and tomatillos. Carefully transfer the roasted vegetables to a blender and pulse until smooth. Add the coriander leaves and kosher salt and beat a few more times until mixed.
*Note: To get a head start, I’ve already roasted my Hatch chiles (find out how
I roast chiles here)
Brown the pork. Cut the pork into small bites, season generously with kosher salt and pepper, and brown in batches so that the pan does not get too full. By using olive oil and butter, I was able to raise the temperature to seal the pork instead of steaming it (the combo results in a higher burning point).
Let the slow cooker work its magic. Then, the pork and green sauce go into a slow cooker to cook for a few hours until the pork is tender and its juices infuse the sauce with exactly the flavor we were looking for.
Note: Wait, no chicken broth? No liquid sauce? NO! One of the rules for cooking anything in the slow cooker is that the juice you add is probably the same at the beginning of the cooking time as at the end. There is no place for the liquid to evaporate as it is covered all the time. That’s why there’s no need for extra liquid in this recipe.
Can I do this on the stove?
Yes, but you’ll want to add about a cup of chicken broth to the green chili and add more throughout the cooking process as needed. Use a thick-bottomed saucepan and keep the lid on as long as this soup is simmering on your stove.
Can I freeze Chile Verde pork?
Yes, let it cool completely before freezing in freezer-safe containers or bags. If you freeze this green chili in medium-sized mason jars, you can reheat them one at a time anytime you need an individual serving of soup.
3 tips for making green pork
peppers
- Adjust the amount of Hatch peppers in the sauce according to your own heat index. My chili peppers were quite hot this time, but that may not be the case next time.
- And if you don’t have fresh Hatch peppers, roast 1 or 2 jalapeños with the tomatillos, onion and garlic, then mix them. And at the end of the dish, if you want more heat, just add a few more chopped roasted chiles to lift it.
- Also keep in mind that you need to buy tomatillos for this recipe and NOT green tomatoes. They look similar, but have very different flavors and textures.
What to serve with Chile Verde pork
- The BEST Spanish rice (Mexican rice)
- Chopped Mexican kale salad
- Tortilla chips and pico de Gallo
- THE BEST pinto
THE BEST refried beans
beans
If you make this recipe, let me know! Leave a rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
More slow cooker soup recipes You’ll love
the
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- Thai chicken
- soup Vegetarian lasagna
- Tortellini soup with sausage and kale
sausage soup Corn soup
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