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Chile Verde combines authentic Mexican flavors with tender pork in a spicy green sauce that will knock your socks off!
Chile Verde is an Actual Award Winner!
This exact Chile Verde recipe comes from a woman in our church congregation, who brought a pot of the savory soup to a chili cook-off. It won the big prize by a landslide and I could not wait to ask her for permission to share her recipe here on Favorite Family Recipes. So when you’re digging into a bowl of this spicy goodness, think of Diana. Thank you, Diana, for sharing your delicious recipe!
What Is Chile Verde?
This recipe gets its name and rich green color from green enchilada sauce and green chilies along with a shot of green Tabasco sauce. A traditional Chile Verde dish is made with tender pieces of pork, chunks of beef, or a blend of both, sort of like a stew. Chicken is a delicious option, too.
Can I Make Chile Verde in the Crock Pot?
Absolutely! See the recipe card below for crock pot instructions, but whether it’s on the stove top, in a Dutch oven, in a pan in the oven or the crock pot, this recipe is so simple to throw together and even more delightful to eat!
How To Serve Chile Verde
This fork tender Chile Verde is delicious served in a bowl all on its own, but it definitely has some kick to it. Cool it down with some shredded cheese (white cheddar or Monterrey Jack is delicious) and sour cream. You can also serve it a variety of ways:
- Nacho style on top of a pile of crisp tortilla chips and salsa verde on the side.
- Over rice
- Wrapped up in warm flour tortillas or corn tortillas
- With a side of Spanish rice and beans topped with fresh cilantro or diced jalapenos.
Can Chile Verde Be Frozen?
Pork Chile Verde freezes beautifully, and can last up to three months in the freezer. I like to make two batches at once, and freeze one for later. To reheat, thaw it out in the refrigerator, then warm up on the stove or in individual servings in the microwave.
How To Make Chile Verde Sauce Thicker
To thicken up your soup, mix a little cornstarch in water and add to the pot. If it’s too thick, thin it out with some extra chicken broth.
Ingredients for this Recipe
Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients in this recipe. Many of these spices are pantry staples that you have on hand, like ground cumin, yellow onions, salt and black pepper. A couple of notes about the recipe:
- For the pork – use boneless pork ribs, pork shoulder, pork butt, boneless pork shoulder, or basically any cut of pork will work.
- If you don’t have chicken broth AND stock on hand, omit the two tablespoons of stock that the recipe calls for. I’ve left it out a few times when I didn’t have any stock in the house and it still tastes delicious!
- For extra flavor, add a bay leaf, ground coriander, some garlic cloves or dried oregano to the sauce.
- Jalapeno peppers or serrano peppers can be pretty spicy. Cut down on some of that heat by removing the seeds from the jalapenos which is where the heat lives.
- You’ll find that 27 ounces is a lot when looking for chilis, so you can buy them whole in large cans at the grocery store. They chop up easily in the food processor or blender and it’s much cheaper than buying several small cans.
More Delicious Chili Recipes
We adore soup season around here. Nothing beats a cold evening like a bowl of warm, nourishing soup or chili. Check out some more of our favorite chili recipes:
How to Make Pork Chile Verde
Chile Verde
Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork diced (I used boneless pork ribs)
- 1 cup onion diced
- 14 ounces chicken broth
- 1½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 ½ tablespoons chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- ½ tablespoon jalapeno
- 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- ½ tablespoon chili powder more or less, to taste
- 1 tablespoon green Tabasco sauce
- 10 ounces green enchilada sauce
- 27 ounces canned green chiles chopped or diced
- 8 ounces canned green chiles pureed
- 1-2 cans white beans drained and rinsed (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large pot, brown the pork and drain.Â
- Add onion and chicken broth (will not cover meat entirely). Cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring often.Â
- Add garlic powder, chicken stock, celery salt, cornstarch, oregano, cumin, jalapeno, cilantro, chili powder, and green Tabasco sauce. Stir. Cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring often to avoid sticking.
- Add green enchilada sauce and stir. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add chopped green chilies and simmer for 15 minutes.Â
- Add pureed green chilies, white beans and salt to taste.
- Serve with cheese, sour cream, rice, chips and/or flour tortillas.
Notes
Nutrition Information
What is the consistency of this; a slightly thick chili verde, stew or soup? Also, the serving size is 6-8, but what “size” is each serving? Thank you 🙂
It is the consistency of your typical chili verde.. maybe slightly thinner. Each serving size is considered a “bowl”, which should be about 2 c. Hope this helps!
I am planing on making this at our company fundraiser but want to know, can I make this with chicken instead of pork and get the same great results?
hmmm that is a good question… It will probably taste similar but probably not the same as the original. I don’t see why you CAN’T… Maybe try a half batch first and see how it turns out before making a ton for a fundraiser? Let us know how it turns out either way!
in your recipe it calls for 14oz of chicken broth and 2 1/2 Tlbs of chicken stock does it need both and what is the difference?
The difference is how the broth is prepared (chicken stock is usually the broth from the bones, chicken stock is usually the broth from the meat)… honestly, we usually just leave out the chicken stock 😉 but I left it in the recipe to be true to the original recipe
Made this for a chili cook-off at my work and it won the judges’ favorite and 2nd place overall! Thanks!
Woo hoo! Congrats on the big win! Glad everyone liked it!
I have a roast I would like to place in the crock pot the day prior to making this amazing recipe, do you have idea’s towards what spices I could rub on the roast to enhance its taste to accompany the recipe?
I usually like to rub the pork with a generous amount of Kosher salt. You can really add any herbs that you would like! Since it is a Mexican-type dish, I would probably add a little cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano etc…
Is the measurement for chicken stock at 2 1/2 Tablespoons ????? It just seems like it seems like a really small strange and small amount. Where does the liquid for this stew come from?
Yes, that is correct. The base is from the chicken broth (14oz) found in the recipe above. Hope this helps!
I’m reading that combination of spices, cornstarch and stock as making a slurry tö thicken the recipe. If that’s the reason for it (I’ll find out this weekend when I cook it for the first time), I’ll add the spices and the jalapenos etc. and then that slurry towards the end of the cooking process. I’ve made a lot of chile and I think this recipe has the potential of being, as Tony the Tiger said, grrrrrREAT!
Let us know what you think!
I made this wonderful recipe for our annual chili cook off and took first place. It is sooooo good! It does take awhile to make, but well worth it. I also took second with your Cafe Zupas Chicken Enchilada Chili. Thank you for two delicious recipes!
That is awesome! So glad you won your cookoff! Congrats!!!! And the Enchilada Chili got second?! So cool!!!
maybe this is a silly question, but how essential is it to use celery salt? Will ordinary salt be ok without drastically altering the flavor?
It’s definitely not crucial, regular salt will work fine.
I have a chili cook off I will be competing in in a couple of weeks and am going to make a trial run of this recipe and take some to my chili taste-tester (a Hispanic co worker). I plan on using a pork roast and putting it in the crock pot whole, pulling it at the end. I love a roast that is fall-apart tender, and I think it would be phenomenal in this recipe. I find after shredding my meat, it helps absorb some excess liquid, which seems to be a concern when making this in the crock pot. I also find that for some reason the Randall’s northern beans in a jar helps lend a thicker consistency in stews and such. So I will try cooking the chili as mentioned and let you know how this pulled-pork chili verde turns out!
I am making this for a neighborhood chili cook-off & I did a trial run this past weekend. I really like the flavor & level of heat… I made it in the crockpot (I think the meat gets more tender), but I would prefer a thicker chili & I didn’t like the texture of all the pepper skins in it (because it was so cooked down). Would purréing more of the chili peppers solve this problem? What else can I do to thicken it up?
You can definitely try it that way– I am sure it couldn’t hurt!
This was a GREAT chili. I also won a Chili Cook-Off…took first place by a landslide. I did doctor the recipe a little though….I used a can of Salsa Verde in place of the pureed green chiles and I added a little cayenne pepper to give it a little heat . I think it needs the cayenne so it is not so savory and more like a chili. FYI I would add the cayenne a 1/2 a tsp at a time..stir and then taste. You can always add more, but you can’t take it away. 🙂
Woohoo! That is awesome! Great tips, too. So excited that you won!
This recipe was fantastic! Made it tonight. I actually substituted the pork for 2 lbs brisket and added yellow squash. It made the house smell amazing AND my fiancée was raving about it. I’m usually skeptical about people claiming recipes are “the best” but this is truly a keeper. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Do you think Pork Butt/shoulder would be too fatty?
It would work, it would make the soup a little more on the greasy side though.
I’m making this right now – 2nd hour of simmering – and noticing the meat is a bit tough. Wondering what I’m doing wrong? I cut the pork (boneless country style pork ribs) into approx 1″ cubes, browned the meat in a pan and then added the onions and chicken stock (used low-sodium canned broth). It seems like the simmering in liquid is making the meat rubbery. will the meat tenderize/break down a bit through the simmering process? Excited to try this recipe – looks so good!
The best thing to do would be to keep cooking it until the meat gets tender. More time should do the trick. It should flake apart easily and be really tender.
Hi. I notice most of these comments are from 2015 but I just found your recipe. Do I cover this during the 2 hour simmer? After the enchilada sauce & then the diced chilies do I keep lid off to reduce down? I never know, when a recipe says simmer if that is lid on or off. It smells delish! QThanks!
You can keep the lid off during the simmer and to reduce. Hope this helps!
35 ounces of chilies sounds like it would be very spicy. Is there something I could substitute? Or is this not terribly spicy. My husband will only do mildly spicy foods. Thanks!
You can definitely substitute them out for the mild ones.
What kind of chiles do you use?
Jalapeños or like the Ortega roasted green chiles?
Like the Ortega roasted for sure! Jalapenos would be super hot!
Deliciousness. Thank you for sharing. I am Puerto Rican and absolutely love this recipe. My boyfriend was in love, and my friends loved it too.
That’s quite a compliment. Thank you! I’m so happy this was a success for you!
Do you know how much calories per serving? Thanks!
I’m sorry I don’t have the calories per serving. I recommend one of the following sites to calculate calories: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator or http://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php. Thank you!
I use this to calculate recipes all the time and it works GREAT! You can specify brands you buy so you get it exactly right.
I am so confused by this recipe but I’ve read through the comments and don’t see that anyone else has had an issue with it. I am making it right now, and am I reading it correctly that you need to simmer just the pork, chicken broth, and onions for an hour, then add the spice mixture and simmer again for an hour? The chicken broth was reduced to almost nothing by the time the first hour was over, and the spice mixture was like a paste so it didn’t add much moisture to be able to simmer for another hour. And I’m not sure how it’s supposed to serve 6-8 with just the liquid from a small can of enchilada sauce and the pureed chiles. It looks delicious but I’m not sure it’s coming out right.
If you are afraid too much liquid is simmering out, you can always add more chicken broth. I have made it the way listed several times and the chili always goes far. You are getting 27 oz. of chiles and 10 oz. of enchilada sauce which should be a pretty sizeable base. Let me know how it ultimately worked out for you.
Made this chili for our chili cook-off at church and won 1st place! It’s delicious! Also so easy to make! Making it again for my family this weekend! Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
Congratulations! I’m so glad you like the recipe!