Slow Cooker Chile Verde is spicy tender pork, wonderful just wrapped in a tortilla!
My dad’s been here often visiting from California, so I know his eating habits well. He’s always ordering chile verde when we go out for Mexican (and fish and chips EVERYWHERE else).
Maybe I’ve been blind my whole life, but I’ve never acknowledged chile verde on menus until recently. It’s very spicy and flavorful, and great on tortillas, doesn’t even need toppings. I tested out this recipe so I’ll be ready the next time my dad visits, though this recipe makes a lot and I’ll have to invite the rest of my family.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chile Verde:
You will need these ingredients:
- Pork shoulder
- Cooking oil
- All-purpose flour
- Poblano peppers
- Anaheim peppers
- Jalapenos
- Garlic
- Tomatillos
- White onion
- Cilantro
- Salt and pepper
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Chicken broth
Start by roasting peppers, garlic, tomatillos and onion in the oven under the broiler.
Until they are roasted and tender and slightly charred.
Then I blend up those veggies and that makes a green salsa that I pour over the pork. I also add seasonings and a touch of chicken broth. Below is what the chile verde looks like before cooking.
How long to cook:
I cook this chile verde for 9 hours low. After 9 hours the pork is very tender and the sauce has simmered to a beautiful perfection.
Is chile verde spicy?
Yes! I would say on a scale to 1 to 10 that this recipe is an eight in heat. It has a very good kick to it. To tone down the spiciness I suggest serving with rice, cheese and sour cream.
How to serve:
- on warmed tortillas
- great as is or topped with cheese, sour cream and diced onion
- wrap in flour tortillas for burritos
- great for nachos
Slow Cooker Chile Verde
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs. pork shoulder, trimed and cubed
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil (approximate amount)
- 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
- 2 poblano peppers
- 2 Anaheim peppers
- 2 jalapenos
- 4 garlic cloves
- 6 tomatillos, husks removed
- 1 large white onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 bunch cilantro, bulk of stems removed
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. oregano
- 1 cup chicken broth
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the peppers, tomatillos, garlic, and onion onto a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven 2 racks down from the broiler. Let the veggies roast for 20-25 minutes or until the veggies are charred, keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook. Let cool down a bit before moving on to step 2.
- Place the veggies into a blender and place the cilantro on top. Place on lid on blender. Pulse until a fine salsa forms, you can make this any texture you desire. If your salsa is too thick to blend up properly, add a splash of the chicken broth from the recipe.
- On a baking sheet or in a ziplock bag coat the pork with the flour. Set a large skillet to medium high heat. Add the enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the pan and oil are hot, brown the flour coated pork on all sides, no need to cook through. You may need to cook the pork in batches if your pan isn’t large enough to do all at the same time.
- Add the meat to the slow cooker. Pour over the salsa, add the salt, pepper, cumin and oregano. Pour over the chicken broth and stir.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 9 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Serve over tortillas with desired toppings, enjoy!
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Do you have to brown the pork? What’s the purpose of the flour? I’m assuming to thicken the sauce a little.
It’s not easy to add flour to the recipe without coating the pork and browning it. I think it would clump if you just threw it in. You could try cornstarch and cold water instead.
Making now for the 1st time, may I cook on high though? Or low for 4 hours then turn it to high?
Yes, you can cook it on high. You’ll know when it’s done when the meat starts shredding.
Can I use roasted green chili’s in place of any of the peppers? I love green chili’s but don’t want to over do it.
Yes, or use extra tomatillos
I am going to make 6lbs or pork shoulder. Should I double the amount of peppers I use?
I think there should be plenty for 6 lbs with this recipe.
Love this recipe, especially the added complexity of roasting the veggies. I blend half the veggies and chop the other half for additional texture. Also doubled all the spices amounts and browned the pork in leftover bacon fat. Super-yum. This dish has been added to the regular rotation due to high demand from the family. Thanks!
Very good recipe – first time trying Chili Verde at home after enjoying it several times in restaurants. Husband loved it.
I adjusted the recipe to make just 6 servings. I tasted the green salsa before adding it to the slow cooker and it seemed salty (maybe from the tomatillos?) so I did not add any additional salt and it turned out just fine.
We didn’t have Anaheim’s so used a bell instead. I cut way, way back on the cilantro and ended up adding about 1/4 cup of water to the slow cooker. Nine hours seems too long; it was more than ready after about 6 or 6-1/2. I’ll definitely make this again.
Very good, tastes just like it’s from a restaurant ! Want to add potato to it….not sure exactly how to though.
I would cut the potatoes into large chunks. This has a long cooking time, you don’t want to cut them too small and have them fall apart.
I’ve been making chile verde as shown but with one exception. After roasting/broiling the veggies, I peel the blistered membrane (husk) of the poblano, Anaheim and jalapeño peppers. Why?, Even though the peppers are cooked inside, the membrane (husk) are not easy to blend/chew. Trick: Put the peppers in a container and cover. Let sit for a few minutes. This creates steam for the peppers making them very easy to peel.
Are you using the broiler or baking it
I bake it at 450 degress. Though you can broil it for a shorter time if you want.
It’s so good! Yummmm!!! I used 2 jalapeños and I only used 4 pablamo peppers because that’s all the grocery store had and my pork shoulder was 7 lbs buy it had a bone in it so I had to cut around it and I used double the amount of tomatillos and it turned out great!! I loved it!
I found out if you want to make it less spicy or turn down the heat, just remove the seeds and vein out of the jalapeños after broiling them. I only left one whole to give it a little kick
I found out if you want to turn the heat down in this and not so spicy just remove the seeds from the jalapeños or at least one to give it a kick. Easier to do after cooked from the broiler. Word to the wise; wear gloves when removing the seeds because that stuff won’t scrub out of your hands!
Don’t be such a sissy!
Very delicious! The family loved it . I added a few Serrano chili’s to make it a bit more spicy .