Pork Green Chili always intimidated me…
That was until I actually made it for the first time. A friend of mine came back with a huge bag of Hatch Green Chilis for me. I think that’s what people do when they go to Hatch New Mexico. They come home with a trunk full of freshly roasted green chilis, and whatever they can’t fit in their freezer they give to friends.
Anyway, I had this bag of green chilis but didn’t know what I was going to do with them. And my husband suggested pork green chili, which I think is the only appropriate thing to do with a whole bag of perfect Hatch chilis. But I had no idea how to get from a bag of chilis to a bowl of delicious pork green chili. So I looked up a recipe, and you know what? It actually wasn’t as hard as I had always made it out to be.
Now I’m sure there is a much more traditional way to make it then the recipe I found. And if you have a Hispanic Grandma she wouldn’t approve of anything less than her recipe. But for those of us who didn’t grow up in the kitchen with a green chili cooking grandma, there are a lot of recipes out there online and perfectly fine.
I made that first recipe and my husband said it was good, but that I could probably make it better, as he does with most new recipes I make. So I set out to do that. I also wanted to make a recipe that was easy. No one likes a recipe with 50 different steps, so I needed to make this recipe easy, and everything had to be from scratch.
I’ve seen plenty of recipes that say “add a can of green enchilada sauce,” or “use an 8oz can of tomatillo salsa,” which would work if you can’t find tomatillos. But the real stuff is better.
I actually had to drive to a grocery store that is 20 minutes from my house to find tomatillos, because the one that is 5 minutes from my house didn’t have them. But it was worth it.
I also couldn’t find Hatch green chilis anywhere near me, and I didn’t have a friend coming back from New Mexico, so I went with a mix of other peppers instead, and it was great! If you have, or can find Hatch green chilis, use them. But don’t let not finding them be the reason you don’t make this dish.
The most important step is “roasting” all of your peppers, tomatillos, onion and garlic in the oven until the skins have blistered. If you have pre-roasted chilis, then you can skip this step for the peppers, but I would recommend roasting the onions, tomatillos and garlic either way. It adds a nice depth of flavor that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
I like to serve mine with homemade flour tortillas, pickled red onions (which I put on almost everything) and some fresh chopped parsley. But my husband likes his with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. But no matter what you decide to put on your finished product don’t forget to slow down and enjoy this meal with the ones you love. And if your friend brought you green chilis all the way from Hatch New Mexico, maybe invite them over for dinner.
Watch me make this here: Pork Green Chili
The Easiest Pork Green Chili Ever
Difficulty: Medium8
servings25
minutes4
minutes700
kcalIngredients
4-6 lbs pork shoulder
12 tomatillos
4 hatch green chilis OR 4 Poblano peppers
1 jalapeno pepper
2 anaheim peppers
1 serrano pepper
1 large yellow onion
1 whole head of garlic (8-10 cloves)
Juice from two limes
1 small bunch of cilantro
4 TBSP ground cumin
4 TBSP mexican oregano
6 cups beef or bone broth
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Place the tomatillos, peppers, onion (cut in half) whole garlic cloves in a cast iron skillet (or other oven safe pan) and lightly grease with oil of your choice, I prefer bacon grease or butter but any grease will work. Sprinkle with salt and cook in a 450 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the peppers and tomatillos start to blister. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely
- In a large dutch oven or other large cooking vessel place the pork shoulder and broth, along with the dried herbs and spices. DO NOT ADD THE LIME YET. Bring to a boil and then lower cooking temperature to low.
- Once you cooked ingredients are fully cooled put them and your cilantro in a blender or large food processor. Blend until smoother and add the mixture into the pot on the stove.
- Let simmer on low for 4+ hours, the longer it cooks the more tender the meat will be. But the final product should be meat the is able to shred easily.
- Before serving add the lime juice. Adding the lime juice last instead of letting it cook all day ensures the lime doesn't get bitter. Over cooked lime juice has a bitter flavor.
- Serve hot with tortillas, pickled red onions, fresh chopped cilantro, or eat as is. Enjoy!