Green Chili Recipe (New Mexico Chile Verde)
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Apr 23, 2025 
Our Pork Green Chili Recipe (also know as New Mexico Chile Verde) is savory and bold made with tomatillos, green chilies, and poblano peppers, it is perfect for spicy chili lovers!
What is Green Chili?
Chile Verde (Green Chili) is a stew popular in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. It is known for not having an official recipe. It consists of slow-cooked green chiles and pork; all other ingredients are optional.
Locals would avidly tell you that the chile peppers you use matter quite a bit. The long green “New Mexican” style chiles are a state treasure. They say the dry barren soil of New Mexico produces the hottest and most flavorful chiles. Known commonly as Hatch Chiles (grown in Hatch) or Big Jims, these chiles are a source of great pride.
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Why We Love This New Mexican Green Chili Recipe
New Mexicans are proud of their agriculture and the history behind their dishes. Their kitchen creations scream adaptability and survival. In blazing arid climates, what can you grow? Chiles.
And what can you make with an abundance of chiles?
The BEST Chile Verde.
For generations, locals have chosen to honor the chiles with great exuberance. The state question after all is, “Red or green?” As in, “Do you prefer to eat red or green chile?” Chiles are not just produced, they are a way of life.
New Mexico Chile Verde, also known as Green Chili, Green Chile Stew, or Green Chili with Pork, is a dish I discovered years ago on a cross-country trip. A native New Mexican friend made it for me, and I was baffled by the concept of chili that wasn’t red… And didn’t contain tomatoes, beans, or beef.
What a wonderful creation!
Ingredients You Need
I’ve prepared my version of New Mexico Green Chili with locally grown green chiles. I substituted a mixture of Anaheims (a milder New Mexican style chile), Poblanos for depth of flavor, and a couple of jalapeños for heat.
Here is what you need for green chili with pork:
- Oil – your preferred oil for sautéing
- Pork butt – or pork shoulder, trimmed and cubed
- Onion – peeled and chopped
- Garlic – minced
- Seasonings and spices – cumin, coriander, oregano, bay leaves and salt
- Peppers – Hatch chilies (or Anaheim peppers, poblano, and jalapeno)
- Tomatillos – peeled, cleaned, and chopped
- Cilantro – chopped
- Masa – aka corn flour
- Lime wedges – for garnish
How to Make Green Chili
Find the full New Mexico Green Chile recipe wit ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Tips & Tricks
- Let it cook low and slow! To get super tender, melt-in-your-mouth pork, you have to let the pork green chili cook low and slow, for at least 3 hours! This will also give the sauce time to develop lots of flavor.
- For added flavor, you can use chicken broth instead of water. Just be careful when adding more salt. Make sure to taste the green chili before adding more salt at the end!
- This green chili with pork recipe gets most of its heat from the jalapeños. If you aren’t a fan of spicy foods, you can add just one jalapeño, and make sure to deseed it well! If you like it spicy, add two jalapeños and you can even add the seeds if you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stored in an airtight container, this green chili will keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.
It also makes a wonderful meal prep and freezer meal! Leftovers can be stored in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers wrapped in tin foil and frozen for up to 3 months.
While I have not personally tried this New Mexico Chile Verde recipe in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, I believe it would work very well.
You’ll need to use the Sauté function to first cook all of the ingredients per the recipe below, making sure to deglaze the pot before adding the masa-coated pork and water. Pressure cook on HIGH for 7 minutes and then do a Natural Pressure Release for 10 minutes.
Similarly, to prepare in a slow cooker you’ll first need to sauté the pork, onion, peppers, and tomatillos with seasonings on the stove. Then, transfer the ingredients to the slow cooker, stir, cover, and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 5-6 hours.
It is gluten-free! Because I make this Green Chili with masa, there are no wheat-based ingredients.
If you don’t have masa on hand, you can either make your own quickie version by pulverizing corn tortilla chips in a food processor or try a simple swap like corn grits or rice flour to keep the recipe gluten-free.
You can also substitute with traditional wheat flour for a non-gluten-free version.
Absolutely! A large beef chuck roast or 3-4 chicken breasts would work as a great swap for the pork butt.
Let me know in the comments if you give this recipe a try or use any substitutes!
I highly recommend serving this hatch green chile stew with warm flour tortillas, homemade corn tortillas, or tortilla chips. Don’t forget to top it off with a squeeze of lime and fresh cilantro, or go big with shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped avocado, and scallions.
Looking for More Satisfying Stew and Chili Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Paleo White Chicken Chili Recipe
- Slow Cooker Brunswick Stew
- Original Jamaican Curry Chicken
- Best Turkey Chili Recipe
- Mexican Street Corn Chicken Chili
- Turkey Soup with Poblano Peppers
- The Best Beef Stew Recipe
New Mexico Green Chili Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oil
- 4 pounds pork butt, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Hatch peppers, chopped (or Anaheims)
- 2 Poblano peppers, chopped
- 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
- 1 pound tomatillos (peeled and cleaned), chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bunch cilantro (large), chopped
- 3 tablespoons masa (corn flour)
- 4 cups water or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon salt, divided
- Lime wedges for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork and 2 teaspoons of salt. Brown the pork on all sides, stirring regularly. Remove the pork from the pot and pour out all rendered fat, saving about 1 tablespoon.
- Add the onions, remaining salt, cumin, coriander, and oregano to the pot. Sauté for 3-5 minutes. Then add the garlic and peppers. Sauté another 3-5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatillos, bay leaves, and cilantro. Toss the pork with the masa and add back to the pot. Stir well.
- Finally add the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 3 hours, or until the pork is falling apart, stirring occasionally.
- Take 2 forks and break the pork up even more. Salt and pepper to taste.
This will be the perfect thing to serve this year for Cinco de Mayo. Thanks for the tasty recipe!
This chili is so incredible! We had it for dinner last night and will definitely be making it again soon!
This is a great recipe. I live in Denver; however, so I don’t use anything but Hatch chilis. They’re easy to come by here but for those of you without easy access, try this online source of Hatch chilis. It is based in Brighton, CO, which is just outside of Denver and they get Hatch chilis directly from Hatch, NM, by the truckload during chili season): https://www.lulusfarmstore.com/collections/frozen-chilis
They are frozen and vacuum sealed immediately after roasting and there are many varieties available. They make a HUGE difference in recipes like this. Enjoy!!
That’s where I get my hatch chilies but was unaware that they shipped… I usually pick mine up when I visit…
Texas chili is red and spicy. Made with beef and without beans. New Mexico chili is green and spicy. Made with pork and also without beans. This is a very nice version of New Mexico Chili con Carne. I would recommend serving with nice thick handmade tortillas and a Guacamole made with chopped onion, jalapeño pepper, and a touch of salt. One last thought…I prefer Mexican oregano for my Chili con Carne (red and green.) It adds a more earthy, Mexican flavor than Mediterranean oregano. Hard to find North of the Rio Grande but can be ordered on line.
New Mexico chile dishes (whether it’s green chile sauce, or a dish like chile verde) are still spelled chile, not chili. Chili is a tomato-based dish that you top with cheese, onions and eat with saltine crackers.
You tell him! Go JimmyNM! Chili police!
This looks a lot like my pork green chile recipe and I bet it’s delicious, but may I suggest that you change the recipe to have the peppers roasted and peeled? That is the signature flavor in pork green chile and sauteeing the peppers just does not build the flavor profile in an authentic way. It’s super easy to do, in the oven, on a grill, over a gas burner….. it really makes a huge difference in how the stew tastes.
This dish turned out awesomely delicious. My wife and four children loved it. Instead of browning the pork in a pan, I slow-smoked the pork butt over mesquite wood for five hours. The smoke flavor in the pork did not overwhelm the chili. This recipe is what we in our house call a “keeper.” Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this recipe. I make this (green chile stew) all the time, doing it differently every time, just because I’m lazy, and have made it enough that I can usually adjust here or there with the seasonings. I lived in New Mexico for a couple years. I remember noticing not too long after arriving they put green chile on everything. A colleague told me “We put green chile on everything, even bagels.” Thought that was wierd, then not long after developed what is now, and probably will be, a life-long green chile addiction. So I thought i’d throw in some of my own experiences for what they’re worth.
First, there’s a company called Santa Fe Ole (Contact@SantaFeOleFoodCo.com) Phone: (505) 473-0724 selling mild, medium and hot hatch chiles in jars, and available in markets–I get mine where I live in Dallas TX. My stew always comes out way better when I use Hatch/NM chiles. No food snobbery here, and if you don’t live in the southwest, then you make do what what you have–anaheim, poblano, fresno, etc. But I have tried all these, and more, as well as various canned types, and they are ok, but just not the same. To the recipe above, I usually add some sage; I skip the jalapenos (FYI the Santa Fe Ole chiles are hot! Even the medium is pretty spicy–fine for me but not the family), and if I am adding in some peppers for heat, I use whole serranos–I split em down the middle and throw em in whole, stem and all. I omit the bay leaves. Agree on the pork butt. Pork shoulder works too. Definitely not pork chops or other lean cuts–too lean, meat comes out dry and chalky, especially after a long simmer. I’ve tried browning and not browning the meat first–both seem to work well. I use mexican oregano, which seems a lot stronger than the oregano (Italian?) usually found in the supermarket–so sparing use here. Yes to the tomatillos. You can add even more tang with some lime juice, to taste, which you also mentioned here, with the lime wedges. Yes to the fresh cilantro, roughly chopped is ok–it mostly disintegrates anyway. The main thing I’ve tried to improve on over the years is the real green chile taste be more pronounced–in my experience, it’s VERY easy for it to get disguised under the cumin, garlic, and even the chicken stock. So I’ve gradually cut back, in fact way back on the water/stock. I try to add moreno more than a cup, two at the most of stock (chicken stock, low sodium), and then just go for a long, low simmer, with liquid coming from onions, tomatillos, chiles, etc, adding stock only as necessary. This gives a very think soup which can then, of course, be ladled over darn near anything. Add a dollop of sour cream at serving time if you wish (especially if you happened to brew up a batch that’s intolerably spicy (a nice problem to have, really). I serve with fat/fajita flour tortillas, not the thin ones for burritos. My best dish: Make this on day 1, eat as a soup/stew, then on day 2, make what i call chile verde scramble: Start with scrambled eggs made in a frying pan. Plate the eggs, then in the same pan, turn the heat to high, then ladle in 3/4 cup or so (per serving) of the stew. With the hot pan, it will boil soon, and also quickly reduce, which intensifies all the flavors. This works well making 1-2 servings at a time–if you do more, then stew won’t develop that really fast boil, more like ‘frying’ really, that provides for the nice reduction. When reduced to your liking, use a spatula to kind of slide it out of the pan and right over the top of the eggs. Finish with a handful of grated monterey jack cheese on top, and may a few sprigs of cilantro, hot fajita tortillas on the side. I never get tired of this. Had it this morning. Here’s the last thing: on my quest to get even more concentrated green chile flavor, today I order some natural hatch green chil flavor concentrate from a commercial flavoring company–who knew there was such a thing. Can’t wait to try this. https://flavorconcentrates.com/mct-natural-hatch-green-chile-flavor. Thanks again for this great recipe, and the preceding article too, celebrating this wonderful New Mexico/Southwestern cuisine.
How do you have the nerve to call this New Mexico Green Chili when you are using Anaheim and Poblano chilies?????
Thank you!!
Best green chili recipe ever!! So worth the time and extra ingredients. Making my second recipe as I write. Used with eggs, taco chips, taquitos etc. Delicious!!!
By the way, I used Hatch Green Chiles.
Fantastic!
I had mild hatch chilis and used about eight of these. Delicious :)