One of my family’s favorite meals is pork chili verde. It’s a staple in our home that we were introduced to on a trip to Colorado. While on the trip I vaguely remembered that one of the recipe books I bought while Alex and I were engaged included a recipe for pork chili verde but as I had never had anything like it I was very wary of a recipe touting itself as chili but being pork based. However after being properly indoctrinated into the chili verde fan club while on our adventure trip I decided I would start making it myself.
I typically cook up a huge batch of the chili verde (green salsa) base for this meal when I do a big batch cooking session and store it away in the freezer to add to smoked or slow cooked pork or chicken in a pinch. But for this particular meal store bought salsa verde will be just fine, however I would try to find a variety that claims to be fire roasted or advertises that it includes poblanos. I just think that these tend to have a richer flavor profile than the bright pale green varieties of salsa verde I find at the store. I think that the “Specialty” brand at Aldi is the best grocery store variety of salsa verde that I have tried (pro tip: Do not get the variety that is a bit creamy looking and claims to include avocado).
I love the versatility of this meal, you can be as homemade or store bought with it as you’d like depending on lifestyle and time constraints. So, without further ado let me introduce you to one of the Tompkins family’s favorite meals to pull out for Taco Tuesday!
Smothered Pork Chili Verde Burritos
Ingredients
Pork Chili Verde
- 1 cup Salsa Verde
- 1 cup Chicken Stock or Bullion equivalent
- 2 lbs Pulled Pork
Smothered Sauce
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1.5 cups Heavy Cream
- 16 oz Salsa Verde
- 2 cups Monterrey Jack or Mexican Blend Cheese
Burritos
Tortillas
Cheese of your choice, we like Monterrey jack or a Mexican blend
Optional: beans
Optional: rice
Optional: veggies of your choice
Optional: salsa & guac
Instructions
Prepare the meat and roll the burritos
Put all of the ingredients for the pork chili verde into your slow cooker (I use the Beautiful by Drew Barrymore Multi cooker available HERE)
Because you are using pre cooked meat for this recipe you really only need to heat the meat through and let the flavors meld. I did low for 4 hours but you could absolutely cook on high for 2 or on low for longer.
Once the meat is heated through and you’re ready to prepare everything for dinner remove the meat from the slow cooker and set aside in a bowl.
Next grab the burrito ingredients (some nights we keep it super simple and do meat and cheese, other nights we get a little fancier and add beans, rice, guac, salsa etc. whatever floats your boat). Use the burrito ingredients of choice and the pork chili verde and prepare the burritos, rolling up each one tight and place them in a 9×13 baking dish. Once all of they burritos are rolled and placed in the baking dish put them in an oven set to the “keep warm” setting.
Prepare the “smothered sauce
After removing all of the pork from the pot of the multi-cooker, wash it out and set the multi-cooker to sauté and melt 2 TBS of butter.
Once the butter is completely melted add in 1.5 cups of heavy cream whisking to incorporate.
Once the heavy cream is hot and bubbly add in the cheese and whisk to incorporate well and avoid the cheese all sinking to the bottom and clumping.
Add in the salsa verde whisking all the time to incorporate well.
Now that the salsa verde is well incorporated and the sauce is bubbly and hot, set the multi cooker to “keep warm.”
Smother and serve the burritos
Remove the burritos from the oven, serve them up and give them a healthy dose of the “smothered sauce.”
Eat and enjoy!
