Hatch Green Chili with Shredded Pork (Family Favorite)
This Hatch Green Chile with Shredded Pork is a rich, smoky Mexican stew made by slow cooking seared pork shoulder in a vibrant, tangy green sauce of blended whole tomatillos, roasted Hatch green chiles, onions, and garlic. It delivers meltingly tender, fork-shredded meat and deep southwestern flavor in just over an hour.
Ingredients
- 4 lb pork shoulder
- 3 Tbsp Avocado oil
- 1 1/2 white onion divided
- 12 tomatillos
- 16 oz hatch green chili use fresh if available
- 5 garlic cloves
- 3 jalapeños less if you don’t like the spice
- 2 poblanos Optional
- 4 c. Chicken stock
- 5 c. Pork broth from cooking
- 1 Tbsp hatch chili seasoning link provided below
- 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon
- 1 tsp salt or more to taste
- 1 pinch Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp thyme
- 2 tsp cumin
- 5 whole Peppercorns
- 2 Bay Leaves
Instructions
- Add oil to the pan and sear the pork in sections until a deep, golden crust has formed on all sides . Remove the pork and set it aside. Then choose one:
- Slow cook: Cover pork with water and add 1/2 white onion, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Cook slowly overnight, about 8 hours.
- Instant Pot: Cover pork with water and add 1/2 white onion, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Cook on high pressure for 2.5 hours. When using the Instantpot method, I like to give it a slow release after the 2.5 hrs of high pressure cooking.
- Prep the Chiles - If you are using fresh poblanos and hatched chiles dry roast (broil 5 minutes on each side), peel, and dice. For the tomatillos peel the husk, rinse and keep whole.
- Dice the onion, jalapeno peppers, and mince the garlic.
- Make the green chili salsa base. In a pan, over 2-3 tbsp of avocado oil sauté the Hatch chiles with the tomatillos, poblanos, onion, garlic, and spices until the edges are blackened.
- Add 1 cup of chicken stock then blend everything until smooth. This is your soup base. (Leave in diced green chiles or add canned tomatoes if you want texture.)
- Set salsa soup base aside.
- Remove the broth and fat from the pork pot, (to do this I like to strain all of the pork broth and then put it back into the stock pot I’m using for the soup (then measure about 5 cups of liquid.)
- Add the salsa base into the pot with pork broth and bring it to a simmer. I like to add my chicken bouillon at this point so it dissolves.
- Shred the pork right into the soup.
- Optional thickener: Dissolve a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch in some of the broth, stir it in, and simmer until the soup thickens.