Make Slow Cooker Chile Verde for dinner tonight! It has tender pork cooked in a spicy green chile tomatillo sauce. Excellent with tortillas or just over rice.
Green chile recipes are made perfect in the slow cooker. We also make, Salsa Verde Chicken, Green Chile Pork Loin, Salsa Beef Verde and Green Chile Cheesy Chicken.
Can pork verde be made in the slow cooker?
Yes, and it is one of the best things you can make in it too! The low and slow cooking time creates very tender pork chunks, and the flavor of the green chile sauce only gets better the longer it is cooked.
Recipe Ingredients
- Pork shoulder – Use cubed pork shoulder (often called pork butt).
- All-purpose flour – This is used to coat the pork cubes; it will thicken the sauce.
- Cooking oil – For browning the meat.
- Peppers – Poblano peppers, Anaheim peppers, and jalapeno peppers.
- Other vegetables – White onion, garlic, tomatillos, and cilantro.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano.
- Chicken broth – This thins the sauce. I choose not to use water, for that can dilute the flavor of the sauce. You can use chicken stock if that is what you have on hand.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Start by roasting peppers, garlic, tomatillos, and onion in the oven under the broiler on a baking sheet.
Step Two – Cook until they are roasted and tender and slightly charred. Next add the cubed pork to a ziplock bag and add the flour. Shake. Add oil to a pan set to medium high heat on the stovetop. Brown the pork, then add to the slow cooker.
Step Three – Add the roasted chile peppers, onion, garlic cloves, tomatillos, and cilantro to a blender (or can use a food processor), and that makes a green salsa. Pour that chile verde sauce over the pork. I also add seasonings and a touch of chicken broth. Below is what the chile verde looks like before cooking.
Step Four – I cook this chile verde for 9 hours low. After 9 hours, the pork is very tender, and the sauce has simmered to beautiful perfection. If you have excess fat or grease on top, soak it up with a paper towel.
How to serve:
- Tacos – Make classic pork chile verde tacos by putting the filling on warmed corn tortillas.
- Burritos – Wrap the green chili pork in flour tortillas along with rice and beans.
- Nachos – Great for nachos. Spread out chips on a sheet pan. Spoon over the pork and sauce, top with cheese, then broil until the cheese is bubbly.
- Toppings – Great as is or topped with cheese, sour cream, diced onion, chopped cilantro, avocado, and a squeeze of lime.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 that this chile verde recipe is an 8 in heat. It has a perfect kick to it. To tone down the spiciness, I suggest serving with rice, cheese, and sour cream.
You can use green bell pepper in place of most of the peppers. The jalapenos and poblanos are the hottest.
Suppose you are short on time, use two 16-ounce jars of salsa verde instead of the fresh vegetables. It will do in a pinch if you are craving chile verde.
You can add sliced carrots and quartered gold potatoes to this recipe at the beginning of the cooking time for a beautiful and flavorful green chile stew.
Chile verde in the slow cooker is very flexible. You can cook a few more hours and it only gets more flavorful and the pork even more tender. Though eventual you can burn it if left too long.
This recipe has added flour that will make a nice thick sauce. After your dish is completed and you want a thicker sauce, make a cornstarh slurry with two tablespoons of cold water and two tablespoons of cornstarch. Add to the hot sauce and cook for 15 minutes longer.
This is the BEST chile verde recipe, great for any day of the week, get togehters and even parties!
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Slow Cooker Chile Verde Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs. pork shoulder, trimmed 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:
Sarah’s 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.
Ethel says
This is the Chile verde most delicious I being ate in my life incredible thanks for the recipe.
Audrey Arce says
What exactly is 1/12 of the recipe in grams or oz?
Sarah Olson says
My calculations are just a rough guide, I do not measure for you.
Anonymous says
Super simple and so delicious. It was better than my favorite dish at a Mexican restaurant
Patricia says
I am going to make this with chicken tomorrow do I still coat the chicken in flour and brown them Before? Also how long would I cook the chicken in the slow cooker? 9 hrs or less?
Sarah Olson says
I would do the flour so the sauce will thicken. You can do 7-8 hours for the chicken.
Sandi Curry says
I love spicy food but no one else in the family does. I am thinking of only using one chili of each kind instead of two. Will that still leave me some spiciness. Also should I peel the chilis to keep out the bitterness you spoke of ? Thanks.
Sarah Olson says
You can after roasting them if you’de like, many people do. I think it was fine with the skins on.
Jennifer says
Can you cook this on the stove instead of a crockpot?
Sarah Olson says
Hi Jennifer! I’m sure you could, I just have not tried myself. Here is a good recipe I found: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chile_verde/
chris nault says
How would I go about making Chile Verde breakfast?
Sarah Olson says
Serve with tortillas with scrambled eggs, make burritos or tacos
Jamie says
I’d like to make this gluten free. Any suggestions?
Joy says
I used almond flour. It is cooking right now!!
Sarah Garcia says
Can I substitute the pork for chicken? And if so how much chicken and what is the best cut of chicken to use?
Sarah Olson says
I would do the same amount of boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Jenara says
I’ll be making this tonight…going to use chicken instead.
James says
Do you remove seeds and stems from the peppers?
Sarah says
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.
Dina F says
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!
Renee FISHER says
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!
Christine says
Hi if I use 6 lb of pork do I double the recipe making this for christmas.