Pressure Cooker Chili Verde
Is this chili? I mean…it isn’t red.
Meat simmered in a chile based sauce? Of course it’s chili. It is just…different.4
Chili Verde, or Green pork chili, is a staple of the Southwest. Once you leave Texas and its dried ancho based chiles, you get into long green chili territory. The most famous long green is the Hatch chili of New Mexico, which is the start of Chili Verde territory, but Chili Verde stretches north to Colorado, and west through Arizona and in to California. 5
I’m sharing two different versions of the Salsa Verde recipe – one is the real deal, with home-roasted chiles. If I can get New Mexico or Anaheim long green chiles (and fresh tomatillos), I use them – the results are fantastic.
At least, that’s what I do in the summer. For all my talk of the Southwest, I only get to visit; I live in Ohio. In the winter, long green chiles are hard to come by – and ridiculously expensive when you can find them. That’s when I have to improvise, and canned green chiles and jarred tomato salsa have to be good enough for my Salsa Verde. 6
Recipe: Pressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili)
Equipment
- 6 quart or larger Pressure Cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric PC)
Pressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 1x
Print Recipe
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Pressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili) recipe – green pork chili from the great American Southwest, sped up using the pressure cooker.
Ingredients
Homemade Salsa Verde
- 1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
- 2 pounds Anaheim chiles, halved, stemmed and seeded (or New Mexico chiles)
- 2 jalapeño peppers, halved and stemmed
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and stems
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Quick Salsa Verde (from cans)
- 27 ounces mild fire roasted diced green peppers (one 28 ounce can, or 6 (4-ounce) cans)
- 16 ounce jar tomatillo salsa or salsa verde
Chili
- 4 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 11/2 inch cubes (trim off as much fat as possible)
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican oregano)
- 1 cup chicken stock (preferably homemade) or water
- Juice of 1 lime
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Option 1: Homemade Salsa Verde: Spread the tomatillos, anaheim chiles, and jalapeno peppers skin side up on a rimmed baking sheet. Put the baking sheet 6 inches below a broiler set to high, and broil until the tomatillos and peppers are blackened in spots, about 5 minutes. Flip the tomatillos and broil until the tomatillos are browned on the other side and the skins of the peppers are blackened all over, about another five minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the peppers cool for a few minutes, then peel the blackened skin from the peppers and discard. (A little leftover blackened skin is fine.) Pour the contents of the baking sheet into a blender or food processor, including as much of the liquid as possible. Add the cilantro and the teaspoon of Kosher salt, then blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Option 2: Quick Salsa Verde: Mix the canned diced chiles and tomatillo salsa in a medium bowl.
- Brown the pork: Sprinkle the pork with the 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. (Saute mode in an electric PC). Brown the pork in two to three batches – put pork cubes in the pot without crowding, and brown each batch of pork on one side, about 4 minutes. Transfer the pork to a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving as much fat behind as possible.
- Saute the aromatics and toast the spices: There will be extra fat in the pot from the pork; pour out the fat to get down to 1 tablespoon. Add the onions to the pot and sprinkle with the 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Saute the onions until softened and starting to brown around the edges, about 5 minutes, scraping often to release any browned pork bits from the bottom of the pot. Make a hole in the middle of the onions and add the garlic, cumin, coriander, and oregano. Cook until you smell the garlic and spices, about one minute, then stir into the onions.
- Pressure cook the chili: Stir the chicken stock, salsa verde, pork, and any pork juices in the bowl into the pot. Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 30 minutes in an electric PC (manual mode is high pressure in an Instant Pot PC), or 25 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes.
- Serve the chili: Stir in the lime juice. Taste and add more salt and pepper if it needs it. (Homemade salsa verde will need more salt; the quick version from cans probably does not – canned ingredients already have a lot of salt. Go by taste; If the chili tastes flat, it needs more salt.) Serve.
Notes
Why brown only one side of the pork? I find it the best compromise between flavor and speed. Browning one side of the pork gives me the browned bits on the bottom of the pan that build flavor in a chili; browning only one side means I don’t spend forever browning pork.br][br]Like beans in chili? Serve with [Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans and stir in as much as you want. (In the Southwest, beans are a condiment, added in as needed.)
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Blackening the chiles for real deal, homemade Salsa Verde
…or, opening a bunch of cans for cheater Salsa Verde
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
My Top 5 Pressure Cooker Chilies
Pressure Cooker Texas Red Chili
Slow Cooker Chili Verde
My other Pressure Cooker Recipes
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It sounds great. I live in Oh-io also and want to make the can version. How spicy is it?
It’s medium to hot. It’s got some heat, but it sneaks up on you – the green chiles aren’t a big blast of heat at first, but one that builds.
I made this using canned hatch chiles. I backed off big time on the Cilantro, I don’t like the soapy taste. It was delicious. I used coriander with lime. I’ve always eaten green chile in restaurants, but NO MORE! THANKS for a great recipe.
★★★★★
I had a mistake in the timing under pressure – correct numbers are 30 minutes high pressure in an Electric PC/25 minutes stovetop.
★★★★★
I live in Colorado and when Hatch chili season comes I usually can or freeze them for use during the year. I’ve found “505” brand jarred green chilies to be the best substitute for fresh. For some unknown reason, I’ve never made my green chili recipe in my Cuisinart electric pressure cooker (love it!). And I don’t use tomatillos enough. I don’t know if I’m just used to eating chilies, but Anaheims aren’t very hot since they’re one of the mildest. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m going to make chili verde with skirt steak using an instant pot. It’s only a little over a pound. Think 25 minutes should be enough cooking time. What do you think?
Never tried skirt, but I’ve done flank steak, and it took 35 min. with a natural pressure release.
I have a 5 lb bone in shoulder can you please tell me if the instructions are the same.
Cannot wait to make this
Thanks
Nanci
Yes, that will work fine. Cut the shoulder into 1 1/2 inch cubes and you will be ready to go.
Same cook time?
Thank You!!!
Hi, This is my first time using an Instant Pot. Do I need to account for the time it comes up to pressure or do I set it for 30?
Just set it for 30. In general, “Cook at high pressure for X minutes” means don’t start the timer until the cooker has reached high pressure.
If I have a 2lb pork loin cut up into cubes would it be the same time as a pork shoulder?
Pork loin is not good in the pressure cooker. It is too lean, and over-cooks too easily. I would go with 15 minutes at high, and hope for the best…
DELICIOUS!!! I used the canned version and we loved it!
My only piece of advice is to buy a boneless piece of pork, or have the butcher remove the bone for you. It’s a pain in the hiney to cut out.
★★★★★
First time ever making chili verde followed the recipe exactly and extremely happy my husband said no more restaurants thank you so very much wish I could print the recipe
★★★★★
There is a print button on the top right of the recipe?
SO GOOD! I made this last night following the recipe almost exactly as written and making the salsa with fresh ingredients. Making the salsa was, while an additional step for my lazy, one-pot pressure cooker ways, easy. The Anaheim chiles gave up their skin much more easily than has been my experience trying the same process with poblanos. I did use probably almost a 1:1 ratio of tomatillos to chiles rather than the 1:2 just because I didn’t weigh the tomatillos until I got home but the result really was spectacular. Very fresh and bright tasting. I served this over jasmine rice. Living in Maryland, it’s difficult to find decent Mexican food; this really hit the spot! By the way, your Instant Pot Mac n’ Cheese is a staple at my house, as this is sure to be, too.
Oh my goodness! This was so delicious and would like my college sons to try this as they love to cook. They don’t have a pressure cooker just a crock pot. Can you tell me if they would need to do anything different and the timing in a crockpot if you have tried. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe…it is THE BEST!
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
This was delicious!!! Thank you! I used meat that I’d cut from a giant Costco-sized pork loin (which had given me a roast, chops and this pound or so of stew meat). I was looking for something easy, and this recipe packed so much flavor into so little effort, and the meat was so soft and shreddy. I didn’t make my own tomatillo salsa; I used 1/3 jar of Trader Joe’s Hatch Green Chili salsa and a 4-oz can of diced green chilis. After the meat had cooked, I also threw in a can of rinsed Great Northern Beans, and served the whole thing on top of brown rice, with a sprinkling of shredded cheese. I will be making this one again…and checking out your other recipes!
Can’t wait to try this! My Costco again has 40 oz jars of the 505 brand diced Hatch Chile’s – only other ingredients are garlic, salt, lime. Someone else here mentioned this brand. I lived in NM for a few years so this is nostalgic for me. I just have to find the tomatillo salsa. Could I do just the tomatillo part homemade? What to do with the rest of the 40 oz jar of green chiles? Use it to top vanilla ice cream of course!
Really nice recipe. Made it this evening and it was a total hit. Thanks for posting.
★★★★★
I’ve made this once or twice before and making it again tonight. I love how you refer to low-salt chili as possibly tasting “flat” … I’ve never used that description, but it fits perfectly. Stealing it!
★★★★★
Can I substitute pablano for Anaheim?
Sure! It will come out hotter, and the flavor will be a little different, but it will still be great.
Fantastic. I added some diced tomatoes (my preference) and a little adobo sauce from one of those Embasa Chipotle cans – adds a smokey element to an already great recipe. And with this recipe, the pork just fell apart with the spoon I used to scoop it out. Thanks again.
★★★★★
I’ve been making Green Chile Stew for the 17 years that I’ve lived in the Southwest. Your recipe was the best I ever made! (Even though I forgot to buy tomatillos & salsa.) It was the spices that you added that improved the flavor. Thank you.
Great recipe Mike! The pressure cooker instructions were quite helpful. I made it last night using canned chiles, a mix of hot & mild. I really liked it but it was too spicy for my wife so I’ll be using all mild next time.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
This was my first time to making Pork Green Chili and I used your recipe. I actually only read the ingredients part before I started prepping and ended up having all of the ingredients for both homemade and quick salsa verde…. I decided since it was my first time I might as well make it like I do everything else, “with a little twist.” So I decided to make both and combine.
It turned out delicious!!! I really like the lime juice at the end, really pulls all of the flavors together.
Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Just made this. its is really good.
My mother in law would put an amount of sugar to cut the acid (same as spaghetti sauce) I couldnt tell you what amount- it will be an experiment
awesome recipe! i scaled this down to a little less than half the original recipe, because there are only 2 of us at home and i wanted to make it in my instant pot mini (3 qt). in case anyone is interested in making it this way, i still used the whole jar of salsa (frontera brand as pictured, my favorite), added 4 large finely chopped roasted serrano peppers instead of canned chiles, and did not need any extra water or stock. I pressure cooked it for 40 minutes because i wanted to be sure the meat was really really tender, and it was so soft i barely needed to chew, so i’ll use your cook time next time! served with white rice, refried pinto beans, sliced avocado, sour cream and shredded cabbage salad. the leftovers were even better after they had sat in the fridge for a couple days. thank you!
★★★★★
Delicious! I added a few cut up potatoes because I’ve always grown up eating it like that! Thanks for the delicious recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you for this recipe! I made this and your pinto beans today and they were heavenly!
★★★★★
I am making this tonight for the 2nd time. I did cheater salsa, but added a pound of chunked tomatillo anyway, because I love them. My family could not say enough about how delicious it was. This was not my first rodeo with chili Verde by far, but it is the most memorable. Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
Delicious!! Added some beans that I made the night before I to it at the end. This recipient has now sold us all on how amazing the instant pot is 😀
★★★★★
Do you think it would turn out ok if I used pork belly instead of shoulder? I know belly has a lot more fat on it. I don’t know if it would make it too greasy or not.
I don’t think it would work in this recipe – too much fat in pork belly. Maybe try my pork belly recipe instead: https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/pressure-cooker-pork-belly-beer-braise/
Thank you for posting a “cheater” version, there’s an amazing jarred version of hatch chiles I love for times when we didn’t have easy access to hatch chiles, but it’s so hard to translate the recipes that include homemade versions … this is exactly what I was hoping for!
I made this recipe, the canned version of it. I used deer meat instead of pork. I was going to make regular chili with a neck roast and shank but this worked out even better. I cubed it and just followed the recipe exactly. I did and about 1 TS of bacon grease to it. It was a big hit. So tender and tasty.
I did make 2 batches so I could freeze one. The second one I add 2 cayenne peppers whole to just for flavor. I loved it that way.
★★★★★
This is hands down one of our favorite recipes! I have both made it both ways and love it. I usually add a few tablespoons of flour to thicken it up but that is my only deviation. Enjoy! We do!
★★★★★
I made this tonight with the premade salsa version. It was perfectly delicious and so easy! Just don’t forget to allow extra time for the instant pot to reach peak pressure… about 10-15 minutes. I also added cornstarch at the end to thicken it just a bit.
★★★★★
This recipe is amazing. I made it with the homemade salsa version. It’s a 10+. Thank you for sharing this! It will definitely become a staple dish in our home.
★★★★★
I made the “cheater” version of the recipe and it was SO good! The only change I made was replacing 8 oz of the canned green diced chiles with a 8 oz of Hatch chili salsa. This is a great party recipe as it will feed an army! Will definitely use this as my go to recipe for chili verde!
★★★★★
Made this recipe tonight. It was AMAZING! Followed the recipe exactly, making the salsa from scratch. Served it with tortillas, lime Juice, and jack cheese as a accompaniment. Took awhile to prepare.
Tip: Make salsa ahead if you want to make it homemade and save time.
Tip: No need to make reservations at your local Mexican restaurant, because this is a sure fire hit.
★★★★★
Great recipe!! It took way more than 20 minutes to prep, but that’s ok – it was worth the effort. Tomatillos are such a great ingredient, but I never think to use them. When I saw some exceptionally nice looking ones in the local grocery, along with a pork roast that was on sale, I knew I had to find a recipe.
As noted earlier, pork loin roast isn’t the best cut for the pressure cooker, but after cooking I took the tender pork cubes, mashed them a bit to break them up, and served with the chunky bits of the sauce on tacos with avocado, a dab of crema, and some quest fresco. Wonderful!
I saved the extra sauce, added a can of pozole and shredded chicken from the grocery store rotisserie for a delicious second supper.
You just can’t beat Southwest flavors made from scratch!
Thank you!!
★★★★★
Nice flavors. I used Hatch medium green salsa and it was too hot for us — and we like hot. Going to keep searching for a different tomatillo salsa to use next time.
★★★★★