Green Chili Pork Stew (over Tomatillo Rice)
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We make an incredibly thick and rich Green Chili Pork Stew with a deliciously warm kick served over tomatillo rice that I just know you are going to love. Easy to make, it can be made in a crockpot, Instant Pot, or simmered on the stove. No matter which way you make it, you’re going to crave this spicy pork stew and add it to your regular menu rotation.
Originally released on May 31, 2016, this recipe has undergone updates to enhance our readers’ experience, featuring a quicker process to make this recipe, including simple details and new images.
Green Chili Pork Stew is one of those recipes that I created on the fly. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going for, but what I ended up with is an amazing thick pork stew that’s become one of our favorite recipes.
What We Love About This Green Chili Stew Recipe
Cooking in layers and giving each step its own love and attention really makes a big difference when it comes to building flavor in a stew. We’ll show you how to make this recipe less “hands-on” while getting the same hearty green chile stew with less work. We’re keeping our original process as well for those of you who love our original recipe.
We’ll also show you how this amazing Green Chile Stew can be served. Pull out the bells and the whistles or get this amazing tender pork stew on the table in no time.
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Products that I use to make Green Chili Pork Stew
- Dutch Oven – I have several enameled cast-iron dutch ovens. I started out with a few that cost about 4 times what this one does and it’s my favorite! I make my sourdough bread in it and it’s perfect for soups, stews, because you can cook everything in it and serve from it. It cleans up like a dream too!
- Cutting Board – I use a plastic cutting board for meat so I can sanitize it in the dishwasher. I like the juice groove when cutting meat too.
What kind of Green Chili’s work in Green Chili Pork Stew?
Please see our notes under Poblano Peppers or optional ingredients.
I used Poblano Chile peppers. Poblano peppers are mild chiles. You can also use Anaheim peppers or Hatch Green chiles. They are similar in heat. The heat of green chiles is rated by “Scoville Heat Units”. The higher the rating the hotter the chile. You can have two of the same peppers and they can vary in heat. Some chiles are rated over 1,000,000! The green chiles in this recipe are 500-2500.
Feel free to throw in a couple of jalapeno peppers for a little more spice. Jalapenos are rated 2500-8000 but are a smaller pepper. Like most peppers, most of their heat is in the seeds and ribs. Remove them if you don’t want a lot of heat or keep them in if you like a hot green chile stew.
Ingredients for Green Chili Stew (with options)
- Pork Butt or Shoulder – You can also use a pork shoulder. You need a cut with a higher fat content than say a pork tenderloin. I’ll trim any excess fat before I cook it.
- Yellow Onion. You can also use white onions.
- Garlic Cloves – Fresh or jarred, minced.
- Poblano Peppers – we chop the peppers and saute them with the onions. They aren’t pre-roasted and we don’t remove the skin which can be tedious. To skip the chopping and to get the flavor of roasted green chile, we buy jarred hatch green chile peppers that are already roasted and diced.
- Spices – We use Ancho Chili Powder, Cumin, and Mexican Oregano.
- Olive Oil – any neutral oil such as vegetable oil or canola oil is fine.
- Kosher Salt and Black Pepper. To taste.
- Tomatillos. Buy a can of tomatillos and purée them. You’ll need some for the stew and some for the rice.
- Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes – any canned diced tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes. Do not drain.
- Chicken Stock – We use a low-sodium, low-fat variety.
- Roasted Corn – It’s easy to roast fresh or canned corn quickly in a skillet. However, you can often find roasted corn in the freezer section of many grocery stores.
- Black Beans – You can use canned undrained or rinsed black beans or leftover Cuban Black Beans.
- Fresh Cilantro – Optional but recommended. Fresh herbs enhance the flavor of the green chile stew recipe.
- Garnish. Your choice of chopped red onion, avocado, tomato, cilantro, cheese, sour cream, or any other traditional topping.
Tomatillo Rice
- Brown Rice – Cooked rice. You can use the variety you enjoy including white rice.
- Tomatillos – Buying canned tomatillos is very convenient. It removes the tedious work of preparing them yourself.
- Chicken Stock – We use a low-sodium, low-fat variety.
- Butter – Salted or unsalted.
Ingredients to Make Tortilla Strips (optional)
- Tortilla Shells – Raw or cooked. See the tortilla strip instructions below.
- Ancho Chili Powder – or the chili powder of your choice.
- Kosher Salt
- Non-stick Cooking Spray – You can also use oil.
How to Make Green Chili Stew
Step One. Prepare the tomatillos.
Use a stick blender to puree tomatillos with the juice and divide it for the two different recipes.
Step Two. Brown the pork.
Heat the oil in a skillet, Dutch oven, or large pot. Brown the cubed pork and season with salt and pepper. Work in batches and move the cooked pork to a separate bowl to wait.
Step Three. Brown the onions and peppers.
In the same pan, brown the onions and poblano peppers (about 5 minutes). When slightly softened, add the garlic, ancho chili powder, cumin, and Mexican oregano. Cook until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Step Four. Combine the ingredients for your Green Chili Stew and simmer. (3 options)
Option 1: Add pork back to the pan and add the pureed tomatillos, the chicken stock, and the diced tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 1 hour. Add corn and beans and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
Option 2: To the slow cooker, add the pork, pureed tomatillos, chicken stock, and diced tomatoes. Stir to combine. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until the pork is tender. Add corn and beans. Stir to evenly distribute. Re-cover and continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes.
Option 3: You can use an instant pot by following the instructions for our Pork Green Chili with Beans recipe. Replace the beans with rice.
Step 5. Prepare the Rice (2 options)
While the green chile pork stew cooks, prepare the tomatillo rice. In this recipe, we combined our pureed tomatillos with chicken stock and then added our rice to the stovetop.
As an option, we’ve also released an Instant Pot Tomatillo Rice recipe. While we serve our stew over tomatillo rice, you and mix it all together or not include it at all.
Tortilla Strips (optional)
To make these tortilla strips puffy like straws, you have to use uncooked tortillas. I love using our Jalapeno Tortilla recipe for this. If you don’t use uncooked tortillas, you will have flat tortilla strips. They’re delicious too and can be made the same way. Ancho tortilla strips are so fun. I love using these over the pork stew like you would a cracker. Leftovers are delicious over a taco salad too. Instructions are listed in the recipe card.
How to store
Like other hearty stew recipes, the flavor can be even better the next day. Store the stew in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
If you know you’re not going to be using it within 4 to 5 days, freeze this Spicy Pork stew in a freezer-safe air-tight container for up to 3 months. Tomatillo rice can be mixed into the pork stew and frozen together or frozen separately.
How to Serve Pork and Green Chili Stew?
I tied this meal together by serving the Green Chili Pork over some Tomatillo rice. Which in my opinion is a complete meal. You can easily start the meal with a Fresh Margaritas and, our Quick Black Bean recipe would make a great side dish! Add a slice of iron skillet Corn Bread and Margarita Pie and you have a feast!
You don’t have to make the tomatillo rice. You can make brown rice or skip the rice altogether and serve it as a bowl of stew with a crusty piece of bread.
Instead of serving this delicious recipe as a stew, you can use it as a filling for burritos or enchiladas just like we do with our slow-cooked Carnitas.
We love the spicy flavor of pork with chilies. If you do too, you may like our Ground Pork Green Chili made with hatch chiles or our Pulled Pork Chili Verde. They’re both amazing!
I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe as much as we do. Drop me a comment below, and don’t forget to give it a star rating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Your comments and ratings help others decide if this recipe is for them too.
Pork Green Chili Stew Recipe (over Tomatillo Rice)
Equipment
Ingredients
Stew
- 3-4 lb pork butt or shoulder cubed into 1-1 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 yellow onion large
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups poblano peppers diced approximately 4 peppers
- 1 tbsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp Mexican oregano
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 28 oz tomatillos can, pureed. *Reserve 1-1/2 cups for rice
- 14.5 oz diced fire roasted tomatoes with juice
- 32 oz chicken stock divided. *Reserve 1 cup for rice
- 2 cups roasted corn measured not 16 oz (Can use unroasted corn)
- 15 oz black beans
- Fresh cilantro
- Garnishes of choice such as avocado tomato, cilantro, cheese.
Tomatillo Rice
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 1/2 cups tomatillos pureed
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tsp butter
Tortilla Straws
- 2 tortilla shells raw (uncooked) variety.
- Ancho chili powder
- Salt
- Non-stick cooking spray or oil
Instructions
- Puree tomatillos with juice. Measure out 1 1/2 cups and set aside.
- Drizzle a large (7 – 9 quart) dutch oven or stock pot with olive oil. Heat over medium-high and cook cubed pork in batches. Salt and pepper each batch. Be sure not to crowd. Brown each side and transfer to a plate or bowl.
- Add additional olive oil if necessary and brown onions and poblano peppers (about 5 minutes). When slightly softened, add garlic, ancho chili powder, cumin and Mexican oregano. Cook until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add pork back to the pan and add pureed tomatillos (*all but 1 1/2 cups) chicken stock (*all but 1 cup), and diced tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer for 1 hour. Add corn and beans and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
Tomatillo Rice
- Add 1 1/2 cups pureed tomatillos and 1 cup chicken stock to a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add rice and two teaspoons of butter. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook 35 to 40 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Rice will continue to absorb liquid as it sits.
Tortilla Straws
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Spray both sides of each tortilla with non-stick cooking spray or brush with oil. Sprinkle with ancho chili powder and salt. Cut into strips (a pizza cutter works great). Place tortilla strips on an oiled baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Serve Poblano Pork Stew over rice. Top with garnishes and tortilla straws.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
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Love the idea of the tomatillo rice and pork sounds delicious! Really nice recipe:) it’s a keeper for sure
Thank you so much Olga!
OMG I am so into Mexican food right now and this looks so delicious! Tomatillo rice? I can’t wait to give that a try. I have had cilantro rice but too much cilantro and it tastes like soap. This will be a great alternative as long as I can cook the tomatillos correctly:)
Thank you Jennifer! I used canned tomatillos so I didn’t have to roast them! They say that cilantro tastes like soap to some people. Not me, I love it!
Mmmm this looks so yummy! I love tomatillos – and I love anything I have the option to make in the slow cooker, because I’m lazy!
I totally do that all the time, forget what recipe I wanted to make!
Thank you Michelle! You are NOT lazy my friend. I don’t know how you do everything you do.
Pure comfort food! Sounds super delicious and really easy! Those straws? I love ’em! So cute!
Thank you Shadi! They were a special treat!
I do that all the time Julie… I find items that were bought for something and have no idea what it was for…. but this sounds like a great success from a stray can! I especially love the straws you made! Im so making those very soon!
Thank you Michele! I love when everything comes together. Wish I could say that was always the case. Not…LOL!
Ooh, just love everything about this, that tomatillo rice and those puffy straws! I am also guilty of kitchen ADD, I have on more than one occasion bought ingredients for a recipe and then never made it. So you have me beat, because you not only used your ingredients but you turned them into something amazing!
Thank you Meghan! It doesn’t always work as you know, but I was pretty tickled about this rice, and those straws were a pleasant surprise too. I’d made them before but not with the uncooked tortillas. Happy cooking Meghan!
Not only do you give us an incredible recipe…but you share your tortilla straw secret. I feel so lucky to have this to try!
Thank you Sandi! Sometimes the simplest things are the best. John thought I had cured the commmon cold when I set the jar of those straws in front of him. Such a kid that boy. Enjoy your weekend!
This sounds delicious. I do the same thing as far as buying ingredients for a dish I want to cook, then forgetting where I put the recipe or even what I originally intended to make. You do end up with a lot of odds and ends to spur creativity such as this.
Thank you Liz! I’m lucky if I remember why I walked into a room sometimes! I get so inspired and tear out magazine pages and end up with a file full of stuff that I never touch again let alone make.
I am guilty of that one as well! I have file folders full of clippings.
Looks great, Julie! And right up my alley with those flavors! Happy FF!
Mollie
Thank you Mollie! So sweet of you to co-host us this week. It’s a commitment that I enjoy but is still takes time so I appreciate you helping out too!
Never having eaten tomatillos and knowing they are not available here in the Dordogne, could you suggest an alternative? Regular tomatoes?
Nadia I’m not sure. To me they have a tart green taste. Maybe a green tomato with lime? They used to be just from Mexico but are easy for us to grow in the summer in the USA now too.
Beautiful blo, Julie with gorgeous recipes. Love your pork, might try this over this w/e. Oh and btw, I am your new follower 🙂
Thank you Carina!I am very excited that you’ve joined me! I’ll be sure to pop on over and visit you too!
Tomatillos are my fav! I am going to be eating this rice all the time! Pinned and tweeted. 🙂
Thank you Lauren! I really appreciate you sharing too!
Love everything about each part of this dish.
Thank you so much Karen!
I love all those colors and the presentation, and I’m sure everything was deliciuos. I’ll have to try the tortilla straws – such a great idea! 🙂
Thank you Ana! John really loved crunching on these straws. I’m making them again today for a salad were having at dinner.
What a gorgeous dish! I love tomatillos!
Thank you Sarah! We love them too and I was glad that the canned ones were delicious. Much easier than fresh for this dish.
Lovely and hearty! I’ve made cilantro rice and green chile rice, but never tomatillo rice! Brilliant!
Thank you Mimi! It was definitely a good experiment. I love green chile and cilantro rice too!
Be still my beating heart! You had me at poblano…
Thank you Debbie!!!
How very pish posh with your tortilla straws Julie, that really set off the meal nicely! Loving all the flavors going on in your stew, I do have one question though. The first time I tried poblanos I fell in love with them, and my Mexican friend taught me to use tongs directly over the burner to char the skin, then cover it for a bit and peel the outer layer. She said it gave it that extra flavor, so I’ve always done my poblanos that way. So how did you use yours? By the sounds of it, just like green peppers? Don’t you just love the taste? I use them quite often now. I didn’t know tomatillos came in a can either. Educate us would you? 🙂 Love the rice flavors too.
Great questions Loretta. I always charred my fresh tomatillos too, but wasn’t sure how the canned ones would work. It isn’t really possible because they are packed in juice. I just pureed them and their flavor was amazing. Those straws were so easy, and you would have thought I gave John $100 bucks. He just loved the crunch that they gave this dish. That rice was so good Loretta. I have to say this recipe made up for a few of the fails that just didn’t ever make it to the blog.
Hi Julie! This looks delicious! I love cooking in layers too. Although not so much on weekdays when I’m exhausted from work and want to get dinner done in 5 min haha. But it really does make a difference! I can’t find tomatillos anywhere so I’ll order some online and try this out!
Thank you Ai! These were actually canned tomitillos! I bought them for a recipe and couldn’t even remember which one. Silly me!
These are my absolute favorite flavors. Looks mouthwatering!!
Thank you so much Josette! I finally got a pullman pan and have been baking bread in it! You were the one that told me about that pan. We love it.
This just looks and sounds wonderful, Julie! I love all the ingredients. I didn’t know tomatillos came in cans either. I agree with you about layers of flavor. I love food where the taste changes while you’re eating it and you can detect a lot of different ingredients.. The tortilla straws are a really fun addition to the meal. Definitely pinning this recipe!
Thank you so much Shari! I love taking an ingredient and making something from it but other times it just sits there while I can’t remember why I ever bought it. That’s probably more the norm.
You must have been Mexican in your previous life Julie! Another winning recipe. I never knew tomatillos came in cans!!!!!!
Ha! I might have been? I had a psychic tell me I was here in this life time for get better at patience. He asked how I was doing. I had to tell him that I need more time!
That’s hilarious Johanne! I really do love Mexican food! I’m on a greek food right now though. I guess I have a split food personality!
There’s a lot of yummy ingredients in this recipe – my kind of Mexican food 🙂
Thank you Judi! It was so good, and funny thing is John just loved those little tortilla straws. Sometimes the easiest thing excites him.
Love the colors, and I’m sure the taste is fantastic!
Thank you Dave!
Fabulous Julie, looks and sounds so delicous. Really love the tomatillos in the rice.
Thank you Suzanne! That was definitely a successful experiment. It was really good.