Instant Pot Red Chile Pork (Mexican Red Chile Pork)

Instant Pot Red Chile Pork is an excellent filling for tacos, burritos, or tamales, covered with dried red chile sauce and ready in about an hour, thanks to pressure cooking.

I made a batch of Red Chile Pork because I'm working on my Instant Pot Tamales (The recipe is coming soon, I promise!). Then I remembered how good this pork was when we had the leftovers on Taco night.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• How to make Mexican Red Chile Pork in an Instant Pot
• Substitutions
• Red chili pork vs red chile pork?
• Tips and Tricks
• Storing Mexican Red Chile Pork
• What to serve with Mexican Red Chile Pork
• Instant Pot Red Chile Pork (Mexican Red Chile Pork)
• Related Posts
• 💬 Comments

Pressure cooking 1-inch- to 2-inch meat cubes for shredding is my favorite way to make taco fillings. (See my Instant Pot Shredded Beef recipe for another example.)

In this version of the technique, I add dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded, so they can soften while the pork cooks. Then, I blend the softened chiles and some cooking liquid to make a sauce for the tender, shredded pork.

Ingredients

• 1½ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• 10 dried guajillo chiles (about 2 ounces), stemmed and seeded (or ½ cup chile powder)
• 3 crushed cloves garlic
• 1 cup water (or chicken broth)

How to make Mexican Red Chile Pork in an Instant Pot

Everything in the pot

Stem and seed the dried guajillo chiles by cutting the stem end off the pepper, slicing them open along one side, and peeling out the veins and seeds. Sprinkle the pork shoulder cubes with the fine sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and coriander. Put the pork in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, pour in the water, add the garlic, and top with the guajillo chiles.

Pressure Cook the pork and chiles for 20 minutes with a Natural Release

Lock the lid on the cooker, and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker or for 16 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom in an Instant Pot.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes. (You can quick-release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes if you are in a hurry.)

Blend the peppers and Shred the Pork

Move the cooked guajillo chiles to a blender, and use a slotted spoon to move the pork to a large bowl, leaving behind the cooking liquid. Pour the cooking liquid into a fat separator and let it settle for 5 minutes. Pour a cup of the defatted cooking liquid into the blender with the guajillo chiles. Remove the plug on the lid, hold the lid on the jar tightly with a towel, and SLOWLY increase the blender to high speed. (The still-warm liquid will want to blow the top off the blender). Blend the chiles for 1 minute on high, adding more cooking liquid if the blender is not moving the chiles around. Pour the blended red chile sauce over the pork. Shred the pork with a pair of forks and mix it with the chile sauce. Save for later, use in another recipe, or serve and enjoy!

Substitutions

• Dried peppers: Can't find dried guajillo peppers? You can substitute dried New Mexico chiles or ancho chile peppers. Or, you can use ¼ cup of chipotles en adobo, but that will really increase the heat, so be ready for it.
• Ground chile powder or chili powder: If you can't find dried peppers, you can substitute ½ cup of chile powder. The best choice is guajillo chile powder, of course, though ancho chile powder is a good second choice, and a chili powder blend is an acceptable substitute.
• Increase the heat: This is a mild chile paste; it has a lot of flavor, but not much heat. If you want to up the heat, add a dried chipotle chile, a chipotle en adobo pepper, or (for real heat) a couple of dried arbol chiles. Stem and seed the extra pepper and add them with the guajillo chiles.
• Cut the heat: Guajillo peppers are medium-heat peppers with a sweet and hot flavor. If you are very sensitive to heat you can cut the number of guajillo peppers in half. Or substitute ½ cup of smoked paprika for the chile peppers if you want no heat at all. (Paprika is a different flavor, and red chile pork should have at least a little heat, but I was asked by a reader who has very heat-sensitive kids.
• Coriander? I like the floral flavor of coriander, but ground cumin is a good substitute.

Red chili pork vs red chile pork?

Chili or Chile? Or maybe Chilli? How should I spell the name of this dish? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, In the US, chili means both the meaty stew and the peppers. Except in the Southwestern US and Mexico, where chili is the dish, and chile is the peppers. I use the Southwestern spellings, with chile meaning peppers and chili meaning a bowl of red, because it makes things more straightforward. In a sentence: My chili recipe uses chili powder made of dried chiles. (And Chilli is a Britishism, which is right out.)

Tips and Tricks

• Soaking the chiles while cooking the meat: Most traditional recipes soak the guajillo chiles separately, but I take a shortcut and add them to the pot. They steam through while the pork is cooking and are ready to blend when the pork is done.
• Be careful blending hot liquid! I transfer a cup of the liquid from the pot to the blender, which is a little dangerous because it is still hot. Blending hot liquid can blow the lid off the blender, throwing it all over everything nearby - the walls, the cabinets, and the cook. And if it is hot enough, it can burn you. The explosion is air pressure; the blender releases all the hot air trapped in the liquid immediately, pushing the liquid up the sides and the lid off the top. That's why I start the blender on low, SLOWLY ramping up the speed to release the hot gradually. I also hold down the lid with a towel and remove the little plug in my blender lid to give the air a way to escape.

Storing Mexican Red Chile Pork

You can store red chile pork for later use. Let the pork cool to room temperature (about an hour), then store it in airtight containers. Red chile pork can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 6 months.

What to serve with Mexican Red Chile Pork

I made this red chile pork to fill tamales (recipe coming soon.) We had extra, so I used it for Tuesday Taco night, serving it with street taco sized corn tortillas, Quick Red Salsa, Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans, shredded lettuce, minced onion, minced cilantro, and lime wedges. Red Chile Pork also makes a fantastic burrito filling, paired with your favorite ingredients and rolled in a giant tortilla.

Inspired by Rick Bayless, Red Chile Pork Tamales

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