Easy Slow Cooker Green Chile Pork

A few weeks ago I posted on Instagram a little tease of what seemed like a bunch of green stuff and meat in a Ziploc bag. I had this itch to make a few freezer type meals or at least some proteins that I could pull out of the freezer, throw it in the crock pot and it would be ready by the time the hubby and I got home from work. Since both of us work into the evenings, this approach to dinner saves us every night! My thoughts on these “freezer-type” meals is that they have to have more than one application; I get bored with the same meal 3 days in a row, so if I make something that is versatile I don’t get bored so quick. I find making Green Chile Pork to be extremely easy and versatile! One of the things that I wanted to make that I knew would be multi-purpose, would be to make Green Chile Pork.

I like to set my pork out at room temperature for about half an hour before I start cooking it. This allows the meat to not go into shock and tense up when you begin to cook it. One thing that I always like to do with meats that I’ll be slow cooking is to sear it. Searing meat before braising or cooking it in a crock pot helps to lock in all the juices and it gives it a great depth of flavor. In this recipe I like using my indoor grill but if you have an outdoor grill, great! Crank that baby up and grill away. If you don’t happen to have either an outdoor or indoor grill, a nice cast iron skillet or a stainless steel saute pan works great. As long as both are piping hot, you’ll develop a nice crust on the outside which is what you want.

Before cooking anything, I season the pork liberally with salt and pepper because it’s the only time you’ll be able to get a good amount of seasoning done before everything melds together. Don’t be shy, I mean… I guess you can definitely over salt it. If you are a little worried, you can always season afterwards.

Charring the veggies and chiles really helps get rid of the unwanted thick skins of the chiles and gives a great char to everything which helps give a good, earthy and smoky flavor to the pork. This pairs really well if you use an outdoor grill to sear the meat. Once everything is charred, remember to let it all steam together in a bowl with a lid or some plastic wrap to keep all of that hot air inside. This helps to loosen the tough outer skins of the chiles even more which makes your job easier when you have to peel.

A word about cooking time, I really like to let this go on low for 6-7 hours (the shoulder was falling a part at 7 hours so it probably only needed to go 6). If you have a bigger shoulder, let it go about 7-8 hours. Low and slow is key when cooking tough meats like a pork shoulder. There’s a lot of tough muscle in there from the animal moving around so we don’t really want to rush the cooking process to break down all of the collagen.

After cooking this, you might be wondering what are all the ways I can eat this? Here are some awesome ideas of what I used the green chile meat for:

Breakfast burritos… yes yes yes!

Street Tacos

Green Chile burritos with some cheese and all the fixins

Green Chile taco salad

Green Chile rice and bean bowl

Chilequilas

As you can see, this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what you can do with this meat! It’s super versatile and you can really add it to anything you want! Feel free to thank me later once you make this!

Happy eating everyone!

Print

Green Chile Pork

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

6 hr

Total Time

6 hr 20 mins

 

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6 people

Author: ijustmakesandwiches

Ingredients

• 1-2 pounds Anahiem chiles
• 2 each jalapenos
• 1 head garlic
• 1 each onion
• 1-2 pound tomatillos husked and washed
• 2-3 pound pork shoulder aka butt
• 1 bunch cilantro
• To taste lime juice
• To taste salt and pepper

Instructions

1. . Set your oven to broil. Line a sheet pan with alumnium foil and grease with cooking spray.
2. Wash chiles, tomatillos (after removing husks) and place on the sheet pan. Cut the onion into rough pieces, peel garlic and add to the chiles and tomatillos. Broil until blistered, making sure to turn everything so that they brown evenly. Once the skins are blistered, let cool before peeling the chiles.
3. Season pork butt liberally with salt and pepper. Preheat a grill or skillet until hot. Sear pork butt for about 5 minutes on both sides. Remove from heat and let juices redistribute.
4. When chilies have cooled and been peeled of their skins, place them along with tomatillos, onions, garlic, and cilantro in a blender. Blend until everything has broken down (use the juices of the blistered veggies and chiles to help things get going.
5. Place seared pork butt into a crock pot and pour green chile mix over the meat. Place the lid on top and turn crock pot on to low and let cook 6-8 hours.
6. Shred and enjoy! Season with lime juice and salt.

Recipe Notes

If you got a pork butt with the shoulder bone still in, allow the meat to cook all the way before removing. It will save the meat and you an ulcer this way!