Easy pork chile verde, pork shoulder roast in the slow cooker with jarred salsa verde and some fresh jalapeño. Delicious with warm flour tortillas and refried beans.
Chile verde is probably Meathead's favorite, he always orders it at our favorite local Mexican restaurant. I found myself with a pork shoulder roast in the freezer and decided to make a super easy chile verde in the crockpot. I mean ridiculously easy. I just browned it, put it in the crockpot, added some salsa verde and some fresh jalapeño. That's it ~ easy pork chile verde.
I just used what I had on hand and I almost always have a jar or two of salsa verde in the pantry. We love the stuff. I made salsa verde once and it wasn't so good. I'm not good at the whole tomatillo thing. Use your favorite jarred salsa verde, like I did for this chile verde, or a can of Hatch green chile enchilada sauce. Just make sure you use a salsa verde made with tomatillos. I also add some fresh chopped jalapeño for some more kick.
How to make this easy recipe in the slow cooker
Start with a pork shoulder roast, also called pork butt or Boston butt. It can be boneless or not, both work. Here's what you do:
- Season all over with salt and pepper and brown really well on the stovetop first. This gives it great flavor before heading to the slow cooker.
- Place browned pork butt in the slow cooker.
- Cover with a jar of salsa verde or green enchilada sauce.
- Toss on some fresh chopped jalapeño and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Remove pork to a cutting board and cut into chunks or shred meat, discarding any bones and excess fat. Add the juices to a pot and skim as much fat as possible.
- Return pork to pot with chile juices and stir to combine and warm through. Serve!
How to serve chile verde
You can serve in a bowl, just like chili, and add toppings like cilantro, diced onion, a little crumbled queso fresco, sour cream, avocado or even pickled or candied jalapeños, with warm flour tortillas on the side. Or roll some chile verde up in a flour tortilla, like a taco, with your fixins of choice. Refried beans are also great to have on the side.
I didn't have any tortillas and didn't want to make another run to the grocery. So, guess what? I made homemade flour tortillas. They were really good. Here's how to make flour tortillas using shortening or lard, my preference is lard, from BHG and How To Feed A Loon. And here's how to make quick and easy refried beans at home.
I hope I didn't forget anything here. Once again, I lost my notes on how I made all this. But I have my photos and it was just too easy to forget. You know, I got to thinking, after the fact like I always do, that some potatoes would be good in this chile verde. Next time, I'm going to toss in some Yukon gold potatoes ~ yum. Next time pork shoulder is on sale or you find yourself with a big piece and don't know what to do with it, make this easy pork chile verde ~ it's good stuff, just ask Meathead. Best, Kelly🍴🐦
If you like Mexican/Tex-Mex food, here are a few more recipes to check out on the blog:
- Easy Ground Turkey Enchiladas
- Loaded Steak Nachos
- Tacos de Carnitas
- Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
- Beef Taco Meat or a
- Classic Margarita to go with your meal.
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UPDATE NOTES: This post was originally published in August, 2016, and spruced up to look nicer with new photos and copy changes in September, 2019. No changes were made to the original recipe.
Easy Pork Chile Verde
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds pork shoulder or butt roast, bone -in or boneless, doesn't really matter (mine was boneless)
- 1 jar salsa verde, about 16 ounces or Hatch green chile enchilada sauce
- 1 jalapeño, finely chopped, seeds and all
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Handful of chopped cilantro
- Flour tortillas for serving
- Optional toppings such as chopped onion, avocado, cilantro, sour cream, cheese
Instructions
- Season pork shoulder with salt and pepper. Brown on stove top, make sure to brown all sides, about 15 minutes. Transfer browned roast to slow cooker. Pour salsa verde over pork and sprinkle chopped jalapeños on top. Cook on low for 8 hours.
- Remove pork to cutting board. With two forks, shred meat into chunks, discard any big pieces of fat. Transfer juices to a large measuring cup or a de-fatter and remove as much fat as possible. Add shredded meat to a pot, pour verde sauce over meat and heat on stovetop until warmed through. Sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and serve with tortillas, toppings and refried beans.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Rich
Monday 29th of January 2024
This recipe inspired me to try it. Tho recipe's are just guidelines and not the bible, my dinner was a success with derviations of your ideas. I also found the recipe for refried beans another addition to my recipe book.
Thank you the recipes which now will be a mainstay in dinner variations.
Rich in Cali
Meathead
Friday 27th of September 2019
My favorite Mexican dish.
Quinn
Friday 2nd of September 2016
We had friends in for dinner. They've spent time in Mexico, and said you couldn't have made a better, more authentic chile verde. I should have taken notes, because they loved the chile verde and the refried beans. It was terrific! I'm definitely making it again, and our guests left planning to make it themselves at their earliest opportunity. Another smash hit from the nest. How do you do it? This and your pot roast, three ingredients to fabulous!
Kelly
Monday 19th of September 2016
Thanks so much Jill!! What a compliment from your friends. Glad you all liked it, sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.
Liz @ Ready to Yumble
Wednesday 17th of August 2016
Kelly this all looks FABULOUS! Big Tex Mex dinners just make me happy. So glad you tried the tortilla recipe, thanks for sharing! Now your chile verde is on my list...
Kelly
Friday 19th of August 2016
Thanks Liz. It's probably not a "true" chile verde like you guys have in the southwest, but for this midwesterner, it's pretty darn good!