Pressure Cooker Chili Verde. Green Pork Chili from my Instant Pot, ready in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.
Is this chili? I mean…it isn’t red.
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. 2
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. (While I dream of the hot, dry Southwest during a February snowstorm.)
PrintPressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili)
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 1x
Description
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
- ½ 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 1½-inch cubes (trim off as much fat as possible)
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- ½ 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 ½ 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 for 30 minutes with a Natural Release: 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 Instant Pot or other electric PC, or for 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.
Like beans in your chili? Serve with Pinto Beans on the side, and stir in as much as you want. (In the Southwest, beans are a condiment, added in as needed.)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Instant Pot White Turkey Chili
My Top 5 Pressure Cooker Chilies
Pressure Cooker Texas Red Chili
Slow Cooker Chili Verde
Instant Pot Pork Stew
My other Pressure Cooker Recipes
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Mike from Austin
Mike,
This is one of your best pressure cooker recipes. I would adjust the prep time to be longer, especially if you are carefully trimming the pork. We've been enjoying this for years. The annual Hatch festival is going on in Austin, (largely sponsored by HEB,) and I stocked up. Making a double batch of the Hatch/tomatillo mixture, which I also use for smoked chicken enchiladas. With the Hatch peppers, I get the hot ones, and the store roasts them. They freeze great. I actually reverse the proportion of peppers and tomatillos, because the peppers are that hot. I skip the jalapenos, because the hot Hatch chilies get the job done. I hope that we can share a meal sometime when you come to Austin.
Take care,
Mike from Austin
Mike Vrobel
I’m jealous about being close enough to New Mexico to get Hatch chilies! I have occasionally seen them canned around here, but that’s the closest I can get.
MS
Great recipe! Have cooked it verbatim a dozen times and always turns out fantastic. Recently started adding chopped red bell peppers for color. Also been toying with slower cookers, results have been awesome. 6-8 hrs resulting in amazingly tender pork.
Mike Vrobel
Thanks!
Rex H
Welp recipe 1 went pretty well. I halved the chilies & de-seeded them mostly and left put the cilantro (brown my heart, but I have soap tasters and non-spicy lovers) and left out the onion (my fault, missed it in the recipe). My Mexican girlfriend said it was like verde she had as a kid in central California, so I’m taking that as a compliment for both of us. I left the fat on my Pork cause I like fat, wrapped it in a burrito with some cheese and rice and have to say it was a success. #DadsWhoCookDinner
R Horn
Love this recipe!!!! Tried with both canned and and not canned chilies. My store(s) can only get 10 oz cans largest size. Would green enchilada sauce work? Or word it be to far off? Just wanting to know. Thanks for anyone’s help.
MK1231
I have sometimes used the canned green enchilada sauce if I am running low on the other ingredients. It helps bolster the flavor.
Mike Vrobel
Thanks!
Marie
Thank you so much for the recipe! This was the first Mexican dish I ever made.!! My fiance loved it. I followed the recipe, except for the coriander because the grocery I went to didn't have it. We had it for dinner last night, with cilantro lime rice ! Yummy!! And then the leftover for chili verde omelette this morning. So good!!!
Dee Dee
Delicious flavor!!
I used 24 oz bag of frozen 505 hatch chiles (mild) and 16 oz jar of 505 tomatillo garlic lime salsa (medium). If you're familiar with the brand, you know they pack some heat. This combo was quick, easy and has plenty of heat. Perfect!!
Trey
I made this terrific dish during the pandemic in an Instant Pot to satisfy my craving for Mexican relatively inexpensive Mexican food (cheaper to make your own here in SF Bay Area).
Boy, was it good!
I used jarred green stuff & quality pork shoulder the meat counter guy cubed for me).
At first, I thought you were nuts was for listing 27 Oz of green chiles. It’s a huge can.
But it came out great.
Four lbs is a lot so I froze much of it in small glass bowls. I just take one out the night before (It held up taste-wise very well). ‘Been eating it for 2 weeks with my Instant pot beans with Cherry tomatoes, onion & bacon happily.
Thanks for a real good recipe!
razzy 7
Why not freeze Hatch chiles when you can find them, Mike? I know you freeze chicken broth. I live in Kansas and we don't have Hatch chiles very often, but during Hatch chile season, one of our garden centers takes a truck to New Mexico (once and sometimes twice) and brings back a truckload of Hatch chiles. They roast them at each of their 2 locations. Or if you'd rather have them not roasted you can buy them unroasted as well. The smell of roasting chiles is fantastic. They're typically available in 3 or 4 heat levels. A couple of years ago, they apparently purchased a couple of freezers and have the chiles available for much of the year.
Mike Vrobel
Because I’m not as fortunate as you, and don’t have access to them.
Michelle Wade
I love this easy recipe, I use the jars of Verde sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes with chilies in them. Also reading about the smoke lovers, I've tried using about a tablespoon of liquid smoke in my pork while browning it and adding a teaspoon to the instant pot for the pressure cooking part. Really does make a difference. I'm brand new to this instant pot cooking. So I think I'll check out any more of your instant pot recipes. Thanks again...
Heidi
This was terrific. Cooked brown rice pot in pot and easy hearty dinner thar was delicious. Great spice choices.
Lisa
Wow, this was really good. I ended up making the chili with chicken, but it was excellent. Will make again.
Paul
I made this with a variety of peppers from my garden - Anaheim, poblano and jalapeño to start. The change up was that they were at different stages of maturity. Some were green, but maybe half had turned red. After roasting everything and blending with the cilantro, the heat was pretty mild, so I roasted 5 serranos and added them to the salsa - perfect. My wife and I were dipping chips in the warm salsa and couldn’t stop!
Other minor changes were that I browned the pork on both sides and I added a little fish sauce to the mix before pressure cooking. Came out great.
Thank you for posting the recipe. Due to the unique mix of garden ripe peppers, I don’t expect to ever duplicate the last outcome, but this can be tweaked and come out great many similar ways.
Art
Great!
Fiona Cordingley
Mike, I’m so impressed! I lived in West Texas 25 years ago and travelled to New Mexico regularly. The best Chili Verde was found in tiny towns/ gas stations, and the recipe was a well-kept secret, until now. You brought me back to that moment of discovery in exciting Tex-Mex/ South Western food and cultures.
As with everything in life, I like to add my own flair. I added another 125 ml/ 1/2 cup or so of broth for additional liquid Before cooking. The NM Chili Verde I am familiar with had large chunks of potatoes so I cooked the meat and sauce to 28 minutes, vented, added 1 lb of large cubed russet potatoes and cooked for another 2 minutes. Let naturally vent for 20 minutes. I added 15 mls/ 1 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce for some umami at the end, along with the lime juice. It was fantastic.
The family loved this meal and it will be a regular to our family table. Thanks so much!
Fiona
Sharon Carter
Made the home made version in the IP and it was great. This one will go in my recipe binder. Thank you