Green Chili Pork Stew
There’s nothing I want more on a crisp fall day than a delicious, hearty, and flavorful stew. I want to have a pot on the stove simmering all day — developing deep flavor that can only be achieved by letting fresh ingredients cook low and slow. If you’re with me here, look no further than this green chili pork stew recipe. This dish combines tart tomatillos alongside fresh herbs, spicy chilis, and rich pork to give you a symphony of flavors all in one bowl. Green chili pork stew takes a few more steps and time than usual for my recipes, but this is a fool-proof way to get comfortable cooking more intimidating cuts of meat like pork butts. Sit back, relax, and get ready for a delicious meal with leftovers (if you can stand not eating it all today) that taste even better the next day.
What ingredients are needed to make green chili pork stew? To make this green chili pork stew recipe, you need the following ingredients:
Pork butt
Yellow onion
Garlic cloves
Poblanos
Tomatillos
Jalapeños
Olive oil
Chicken broth
Cilantro
Lime
Salt
Pepper
Can green chili pork stew be made ahead of time? Yes, this green chili pork stew is a great recipe to make for meal prepping because it actually gets better as it sits in the fridge. Think chili, bolognese, beef stew; it’s just like these other hearty dishes that develop even more flavor after a day or two. One of my favorite ways to repurpose the leftovers of this dish is to actually use the pork to make enchiladas. You can roll the meat into tortillas, top with leftover sauce and cheese, bake for about 30 minutes, and you have a totally new dish that’s incredible from the slow-roasted pork.
How to tell when green chili pork stew is done cooking? Green chili pork stew should be fall-apart tender and bright in flavor, but not bracingly acidic. The reason why we cook the tomatillo-chili mixture in the pork for an hour is so that all of the flavors in the sauce essentially “get to know each other,” and have a chance to develop into a rich, delicious sauce. The reason I point out that it should be bright but not bracingly acidic is that if you taste it and the flavors aren’t balanced in this way, it might be a sign that you need to let the tomatillos, herbs, and chilis cook down a bit more.
How long do you cook this green chili pork stew recipe? This recipe takes about 4 ½ hours from start to finish. This gives the meat the perfect amount of time to become fall-apart tender in the sauce and for the ingredients to meld together to create a flavorful stew.
Why do I have to let the pork rest in the sauce before shredding? This is an imperative step to having delicious, moist pork at the end of this stew recipe, but it’s a tempting one to skip. The reason why this step is so important is that if you remove the meat from the sauce and shred it up without resting it in the sauce, all of the hydration in the meat will steam out, and you’ll be left with dry, stringy meat. Letting the pork sit in the sauce helps it reabsorb some of the fat and flavor from the broth.
What to serve with green chili pork stew? Deciding how you might want to make a spin on this recipe is one of the most exciting parts about it! This green chili pork recipe is a wonderful blueprint that can be spun infinitely different ways, one of the most popular ideas being adding a carb to soak up some of the flavorful tomatillo-green chili broth. Here are some ideas to consider:
Add beans, potatoes, or hominy to the stew. I love the idea of building the heartiness of this stew even more with the addition of black beans, diced potatoes, or even hominy. To do this successfully, I’d wait to add them when there are 30 minutes left in the cook time, and I’d keep an eye on the amount of broth that these ingredients soak up. If the stew starts to look too thick or like it just needs more liquid, consider adding 1-2 cups more broth or water to compensate. Be sure to check the seasonings of the broth after you make an addition of more liquid. Fun fact — adding hominy to this recipe makes it more of a pozole, which is a Mexican dish featuring stewed meat and hominy!
Serve alongside tortillas. The meat in this stew is so hearty that it pairs wonderfully with fresh tortillas to dip in the broth.
When in doubt, serve over white rice. This is a great blank canvas that will soak up all the delicious flavor!
What toppings can I put on my green chili pork stew? There are so many delicious toppings that go well on this green chili pork stew, and choosing your favorite topping is a great way to make the recipe fun and exciting. A few of my favorites are:
Radishes
Crema
Fresh cilantro
Avocado
Shredded cabbage
Crispy tortilla strips
How to make green chili pork stew:
Green Chili Pork Stew
This hearty green chili pork stew recipe is simmered low and slow with tomatillos, fresh cilantro, spicy chilis, and tender pork. A delicious, flavorful comfort food that tastes even better the next day.
Ingredients
- 4 lb pork butt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 poblano chilis
- 1.5 lbs (about 8 large) tomatillos with husks removed
- 2 jalapeños
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 bunch (about 1 ½ cups) cilantro
- 1 lime
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large, oven-safe pot (preferably a dutch oven) over high heat and add the olive oil. Season the pork butt liberally with salt and pepper and sear on all sides.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Roughly chop the onion and garlic and add them to the dutch oven alongside the pork butt once the meat has been seared. Add the chicken broth, cover the pot, and place it in the oven to cook for about 3 hours. After these 3 hours, the meat should be tender and falling apart.
- Once the pork has cooked and is fall-apart tender, remove it from the oven and let it sit in the dutch oven in the juices for 30 minutes. This lets the pork rest and soak up all of the delicious flavor of the sauce. Don’t skip this step!
- Meanwhile, roast the poblanos, jalapenos, and tomatillos. You can do this either in the oven on broil or on the grill if you want a little extra char flavor. You’re looking for all sides of the peppers and tomatillos to develop a deep color and for the skin to char. This process typically takes about 20 minutes. Once you’ve charred these ingredients, put the peppers in a large bowl and cover it with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes. This method steams the peppers and makes it easy to remove the skin by rubbing them with a dry paper towel.
- Add the tomatillos, skinned poblanos and jalapenos, and cilantro to a food processor. Spoon all of the onions from the dutch oven into the food processor along with ½ cup of broth from the pot. Season the ingredients with salt and pepper and blend them until smooth.
- Shred the pork in the dutch oven until you have delicious, large shreds of meat in the broth. Add the green chili mixture to the dutch oven alongside the meat and return it to the stove over low heat.
- Cook the pork for an additional hour in the green chili broth, until all of the flavors have combined to create a flavorful, rich stew and the pork is completely tender.
- Squeeze the juice from one lime into the stew and serve. Enjoy!
