This authentic Mexican Chile Verde recipe is made of tender pieces of pork simmered in a flavorful tomatillo and chile broth. Serve it in a bowl with some rice and beans for a traditional Mexican meal! (low carb, gluten-free, paleo, freezer-friendly)
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Chile verde will always hold a special place in my heart.
When I was in middle school, I used to walk home after school instead of taking the bus. After my little walk, I’d step inside my house and be greeted by my dad and the wonderful smells of whatever he decided to cook for me that day. One of my favorite things he made for me after school?
Mexican pork chile verde and a batch of homemade flour tortillas.
Coming home to this after school was pure heaven! It was one of my favorite things. He made it spicy, but not too spicy, and perfectly salty and savory every single time. I loved it so much that I thought I’d take a shot at recreating the recipe! Personally, I think his will always be the best, but my recipe is a very close second.
The Best Chile Verde
The trick to making chile verde that’s rich and fall-apart tender is the idea of building flavors at each step in the cooking process.
The first flavor builder – roasting the tomatillos and peppers under a broiler. This gives the chile verde sauce a slightly smokey flavor and cuts down on the sourness of the tomatillos. (Learn more about tomatillos here.)
The second flavor builder – searing the pieces of pork on all sides. This caramelizes the outside of the meat, seals in some of the juices, and creates that finger-licking good flavor that everyone loves.
The last flavor builder – simmering the meat in the chile verde sauce for 2ish hours. This makes the meat super tender and juicy, reduces even more of the sourness from the tomatillos, and further melds all the flavors together.
The final result is a bowl of chile verde goodness that words can’t do justice.
Serving Suggestions
My favorite way to eat chile verde is in a bowl with flour tortillas, but here are a few other ideas!
- on a plate with Mexican rice and refried beans
- in a burrito with rice and cheese
- in tacos, gorditas, sopes, or huaraches
- you can also shred the meat and add it to your morning eggs
How to make Chile Verde {VIDEO}
More Mexican Recipes
Ingredients
For the chile verde
- 12 ounces tomatillos, husked and rinsed (about 6 tomatillos)
- 3 jalapeños, stemmed
- 2 large poblano peppers, stemmed
- 1 serrano pepper, stemmed
- 2 medium onions, halved
- 3 cloves garlic
For the pork
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 ½ pounds pork shoulder, cut into bite sized chunks
- kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray or grease with oil. Place the tomatillos, jalapeños, poblanos, and serrano peppers on the baking sheet and place under the broiler. Broil on high for 10 minutes, flipping the vegetables over halfway through.
- Remove the baking sheet from the broiler and cover it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Uncover and remove as much of the skin from the peppers as possible. At this point, you can also remove the seeds from any of the peppers if you don't want it too spicy.
- Add the tomatillos, peppers, onions, and garlic into a large blender and blend until smooth. Set aside until ready to use.
- Heat the cooking oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork and season generously with salt and pepper. Sear the meat on all sides until nicely browned.
- Stir in the blended salsa verde, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon so you get all the brown bits. Cover, reduce the heat to low, simmer, and cook for 2 to 3 hours until the pork is tender.
- Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Taste and season with more salt, if needed.
Video
Isabel’s Tips:
- If the chile verde is too thick after simmering on the stove, stir in 1/2 cup of water at a time until it has reached your desired consistency.
- To freeze, cool the chile verde in the fridge. Once chilled, scoop into freezer-safe storage bags or containers and freeze. When ready to eat, let the frozen container thaw completely in the fridge or defrost in the microwave. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave until completely warm.
Nutrition Information
While I’m not an exact measurer this is the best thing I’ve made all year. Making it again this week.
Love this recipe. Tomorrow is going to be a washout. Stay in and make this again.
I didn’t believe all the comments initially… But they’re right. This is BOMB.COM. Super flavorful, tender meat, authentic. Tastes like home-cooking should. Fairly easy after browning all the meat. Served with tortillas, limes, queso fresco and margaritas. Holy moly – I can not wait to make this again. Thank you!!
Our family has enjoyed your recipe at least a dozen times now. I’m making it again tonight. Thank you so much. It’s absolutely delicious.
Isabel, my eyes closed I take my first spoonful and I am back at my Abuelitas kitchen table. Oh so full of the Mexican flavors, with her rice and homemade tortillas. This is the best recipe, highly recommended. Thank you for all the memories, smells, taste and now I can make them thanks to you and your wonderful recipes, am a follower now. I made for a backyard party, keep nice and warm in my crockpot, was a very big hit, no leftovers, all gone. Great tips and explanations, keep up the good work.
Thank you so much!
I’m very pleased with how this turned out. It will definitely be a keeper.
Soooo good. The spiciness w was perfect and the meat was so tender. I made tamales with mine adding a little strip of ranchera cheese. 😋
Love this recipe, it is a favorite. I have made it a few times now and it is very good and full of flavor.
This is so good and super easy to make! My whole family loved it.
Very good, but did you forget the cumin? I used 1 tsp of cumin and of course 1 tsp of dried crushed oregano. Fabulous!
I made the recipe exactly as written. It was completely bland. I don’t know what I would have needed to do to spice it up. I left a lot of seeds in the peppers too.
I put in dried mexican oregano also, takes it up a notch.
Awesome recipe! But I “cheated” and used boneless pork country style ribs.
Make it all the time. Easy cut up a whole pork shoulder and freeze it in bag for when I need it. family love it.