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:
- Slow Cooker- 6 quart or larger
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
- ¾ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. cumin
- ½ 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!
I’d like to make this gluten free. Any suggestions?
Can I substitute the pork for chicken? And if so how much chicken and what is the best cut of chicken to use?
I would do the same amount of boneless skinless chicken thighs.
I’ll be making this tonight…going to use chicken instead.
Do you remove seeds and stems from the peppers?
I do, I find the poblano skins bitter. I also roast the garlic separately I find it gets too burned. Seeds are matter of preference on heat. Start with some and move up or down.
If you don’t want it spicy then yes remove the seeds and stems before roasting this will make it easier to do it prior to roasting the peppers!
loved this recipe. I made a couple of small changes but this was so easy and delicious. I have made it twice now and got rave reviews from my family. Thank you!
Hi if I use 6 lb of pork do I double the recipe making this for christmas.
This was excellent. I will be making this recipe again. Super easy and had great flavor. The only thing I would add is more salt and hotter chilies because like our food a little spicier.
Thank you for this great slower cooker recipe!
You might tell your fans that if the chile (or stew or beans or whatever) is too spicy, peel and quarter a couple of potatoes and put them in the pot, cooking for an additional 20-25 minutes. The potatoes will absorb some of the capsacin. DO NOT TRY TO EAT THE POTATOES!
Thank you for the tip! I forgot about that one.
Can you use skinless boneless chicken breasts?
Yes, that would work great. May need some extra salt at the end.
If you want to remove some heat from the jalapeno, just clean and soak in 7-Up (not diet) for 30 min. We are following a low carb diet so we used coconut flour and ate as a stew without the tortilla wraps. What a great meal.