A flavorful and comforting chipotle-seasoned pork chili made with black beans, dark red kidney beans, sweet potatoes, and fall-apart tender pieces of pork shoulder. Perfect for the fall and winter season, this recipe will hold its ground in any chili cook off!
This recipe is sponsored by The National Pork Board. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Chili season is officially in full swing and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying cozying up to a bowl of this Chipotle Sweet Potato Pork Chili the last couple of days!
This is honestly the best chili I’ve ever made to date, and I’m super proud of it. I’ve never entered it into a chili cook off, but I bet if I did, it would easily win or at the very least be in the top three. That’s how good it is!
What makes it so good? The cut of meat used – pork shoulder – and the layers of flavor that are incorporated into each step of the cooking process.
Pork shoulder adds a ton of juicy and savory flavor to the chili that you simply can’t get from any other cut of meat. Each bite-sized piece of pork is fall-apart tender and adds that comforting and filling quality that is essential in a good chili.
When braised on the stove with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and a combination of seasonings that include ancho chili powder, smoked paprika, red wine vinegar, ground cloves, cinnamon, and more, everything comes together to create a rich, thick, and comforting chili perfect for any occasion.
How to make The Best pork chili
First, cut the pork shoulder into small bite-sized chunks. Not only does this make the chili easy to eat, but it also helps everything cook faster!
Then season the meat really well with kosher salt, black pepper, and grainy coarse-ground mustard. Set it aside to tenderize and soak in those flavors while you get the other ingredients going.
Quick Tip!
Pork shoulder is often sold in large cuts, so if you have some leftover and aren’t sure what to do with it, I can help! Pork is super versatile and is used in many dishes all over the world including many Mexican and Mexican-inspired recipes. Here are a few recipes that would be perfect for any extra pork shoulder you may have:
And don’t forget to visit pork.org for more pork recipes and inspiration!
Next, cook the diced onions in a Dutch oven for about 10 minutes to build as much flavor as possible. This will get them caramelized and bring out that savory irresistible onion flavor everyone loves.
Add in some minced garlic and cook it for about 30 seconds until it’s super fragrant.
Next, you’ll add in the seasoned pork and cook it for another 10 minutes until it’s browned and no longer pink on the outside.
Next comes all the chili goodies! Add in a can of black beans, dark red kidney beans, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, red wine vinegar, some fish sauce, and a combo of Mexican-inspired spices like ancho chili powder and ground cumin.
You’ll mix that all together, cover it, and cook it for an hour and a half over low heat until the pork is tender and cooked through.
The final step is adding in some diced sweet potatoes and a poblano pepper. That will cook for 30 more minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender and that’s it!
The result is a rich and luxurious pork chili that’s thickened by the cooked beans and sweet potatoes. It’s the perfect amount of spice that can easily be tamed if you mix in a bit of sour cream.
This chili is the best family meal. It’s super filling, takes less than 3 hours to make (which is amazing for a good chili), and makes great leftovers to eat throughout the week!
I love eating it with some tortilla chips on the side, but you can also do cornbread or corn chips!
STORING AND REHEATING
One of my favorite things about chili is that it stores, freezes, and reheats beautifully!
To store, transfer the chili to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
To freeze, transfer cooled chili to a freezer-safe storage bag and secure. Lay the chili flat in the freezer to save some space and freeze for up to 6 months!
To reheat, place the chili in a pot on the stovetop over medium-high heat and reheat until fully warmed through. Alternatively, you can reheat it in the microwave until hot. The chili may get a little thicker as it sits in the fridge, so feel free to add in a little broth to thin it out.
More recipes to try
Ingredients
For the chili
- 3 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, diced into bite-sized chunks
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons coarse-ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans (undrained)
- 1 (15-ounce) can dark red kidney beans (undrained)
- 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground allspice
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
- 1 large poblano pepper, diced
For serving
- sour cream
- cilantro
- avocado slices
- tortilla chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the pork, 1 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt, black pepper, and coarse-ground mustard. Stir together until the meat is fully coated. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the seasoned pork and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the meat has browned.
- Add the fire-roasted diced tomatoes, canned black beans, canned dark red kidney beans, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, red wine vinegar, fish sauce, the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt, ancho chili powder, smoked paprika, ground cumin, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Stir together to combine.
- Raise the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
- Stir and scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- Add the sweet potatoes, poblanos, and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 30 more minutes.
- Serve in bowls topped with cilantro, sour cream, and avocado slices.
Nutrition Information
This recipe was easy and delicious! After reading some of the comments here, I added the poblano pepper with the onion and added the diced sweet potatoes after 1.5 hours on the stove. The sweet potatoes cut the heat from the chipotle peppers and it was creamy even without the sour cream. I did add sour cream and it added a coolness to each bite. I can imagine the leftovers will be even better! Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
Hi Karen! Thank you so much for the feedback, we’re glad you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Hi Isabel! I have not made this, yet (I just discovered it today), but plan too soon! One question. There seems to be a lot of different heat sources in this recipe with the chipotles, the poblano and ancho. I’m not a big chili-head and neither are my kids. Which, if any, would you edit out while still getting a lot of flavor and depth? Thanks, so much!
Hi Scott! I would recommend reducing the chipotle peppers to just one, and then either reducing the ancho chili powder to 1/2 tbsp or omitting it. I would keep the poblano pepper since it should add a good flavor with minimal to no spice/heat. Let us know how it turns out!
I made this last night and it was five-star delicious. Family approved, A+. My partner and the kids loved it. I had to make some substitutions based on what I had available and they worked out great.
For ancho chili powder, sub regular chili powder
For allspice, sub pinch of nutmeg
For fish sauce, sub Hoisin sauce
For red wine vinegar, sub balsamic
For poblano, sub bell pepper
I will say the chipotle peppers are an absolute must and I would not make this unless I definitely had them. As well as all of the other seasonings. The mustard on the meat, the paprika and so on. Just fabulous.
Thank you for this recipe! It’s a keeper! Can’t wait for leftovers with cornbread tonight.
Hello Heather! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe! It sounds great with cornbread!
You did not provide the measurements for the ground coarse mustard and the ground cloves. I think it will be 1tblspn for the mustard and 1 tsp for the cloves.
Hi Ken. We apologize for the confusion, it’s weird that those didn’t pop up on the recipe website for you. The recipe asks for 2 tsp of coarse ground mustard and 1/8 tsp of ground cloves. Hope this helps!
This pork and sweet potatoes chili is the bomb. So much flavor. My only change is to cut back on the allspice and clove but that’s because I only had whole spices that I ground but I couldn’t get them as fine as store bought ground so I think the flavor was slightly impacted. This is good as chili but a day later we used leftovers to make burritos and they were amazing!!! Thanks for this fantastic recipe @isabeleats.
Made this tonight. So yummy. One thing you need to update the recipe for when to include the red wine vinegar. It’s mentioned in the ingredients but never mentioned in the directions also I believe the sweet potatoes need to get introduced earlier in the recipe. I be also sautéed the poblano with the onions. I also used dried onions and included their juices to make things a bit less thick
It was super yummy. Thanks Isabel for another great recipe.
Should say I also sautéed the onions and poblano together with the garlic.
I’m so glad you liked it! And thanks for letting me know about the recipe mistake. I went ahead and updated that, so it should be good to go!
Can I use chuck roast instead of pork shoulder? This sounds delicious!
Hi Christy! We haven’t tried this with chuck roast but you are more than welcome to. Let us know how it turns out!
Do you think this would work in the oven instead of on the stovetop, maybe 325 degrees? Can’t wait to make this!