Instant Pot Chili Verde

Instant Pot Chili Verde with shredded pork Mexican spices in a peppery tomatillo sauce is a versatile, easy and family-friendly dinner all year long!

My family has always loved pork chile verde. It’s one of our favorite dishes from a local Mexican Restaurant in Salt Lake City that we love, Red Iguana. We actually have a copycat recipe for the Red Iguana chili verde in the Electric Pressure Cooking Cookbook. 

However, this new recipe for Instant Pot Chili Verde uses shredded pork instead of diced pork. It’s juicier, more flavorful and soaks up all the tasty chili verde flavors. I think you’ll love it!

How to Make Instant Pot Chili Verde

This Instant Pot Chile Verde recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL. 

Not only does shredded pork taste better in this stew (in my opinion), but it’s also easier to make. It’s quick and easy to shred Instant Pot pork rather than taking the time to dice it into cubes. We like to use meat shredders to get the job done quickly with no mess. 

To make this recipe even faster, cut the pork shoulder into four equal pieces before pressure cooking.  

Pork is done cooking at 145°F internal temperature. However, you want the pork to go well beyond that to get to a fall-apart shreddable consistency.

Spicing Up or Down Chili Verde

You can easily customize the amount of heat in this recipe.  If you like things crazy hot, you can sub in a serrano pepper for the anaheim. 

To tone it down, use the milder anaheim pepper or even omit the peppers entirely. With my family of small kids, we use the anaheim for the flavor and it’s not too spicy for us.

Serving Chili Verde

This is a versatile dinner because you can serve it straight out of the pot like a stew over rice, or turn it into tacos, burritos or enchiladas! 

Tip: If you like a saucier consistency that’s closer to a stew, add more cooking liquid at the end of the recipe.  

Freezing Chile Verde

This recipe also freezes beautifully! If you’re freezing leftovers, divide them into individual portions. Then add a little more liquid to each portion to keep the meat moist. 

More Fast & Flavorful Mexican Dinner Recipes

We love making Mexican-inspired dishes in the Instant Pot. Here are a more favorites:

• Instant Pot Creamy Chipotle Chicken has the perfect balance between spice and creaminess. 
• Pork Tamales is another delicious shredded pork recipe wrapped in fluffy masa dough. 
• Mexican Stuffed Shells from Barbara Bakes is an unexpected but fantastic pairing of pasta with Mexican flavors. 

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Instant Pot Chili Verde

Servings: 8 servings

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Additional Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Mexican

Instant Pot Chili Verde with pulled pork in a spicy Mexican chili verde sauce is a savory, just-spicy-enough weeknight dinner for the whole family. 

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Equipment

• Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker (6.5 Quart)
• Instant Pot 6QT Duo Evo Plus Electric Pressure Cooker, 6 quart
• OXO Good Grips 8-Inch Fine Mesh Strainer

Ingredients

• 1 can 28 ounces whole tomatillos
• 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder trimmed and cut into 4 equal pieces
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 anaheim pepper seeded and diced (optional, can also sub jalapeno or serrano)
• 2 cloves garlic minced or crushed
• 1 jar 16 ounces salsa verde
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Flour tortillas for serving

Instructions

• Drain liquid from tomatillo can into the pressure cooking pot. Add pork and stir to combine. Lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and 60 minutes cook time. When the cook time ends, turn off pressure cooker and let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
• Drain pork into a colander sitting in a large bowl to reserve cooking liquid. Skim the fat from the top of the cooking liquid, using a fat separator if you have one. Discard fat. 
• Shred the pork with 2 forks, discarding any excess fat.
• Add tomatillos to a blender and pulse until smooth. Set aside. 
• Select Sauté and add oil to the pressure cooking pot. When the oil is hot, add the onion and pepper, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 additional minute. 
• Add tomatillo puree to onion and garlic in the pressure cooking pot. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan well to scrape up any browned bits. Add shredded pork, salsa, cumin, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid. Mix together and add more cooking liquid until it reaches your desired consistency. Select Sauté and simmer for 5 minutes. (Adjust to low if needed.)
• Stir in chopped cilantro and add additional salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with warmed flour tortillas. 

Notes

*Boston butt or pork butt are also cuts of pork that come from the shoulder and both would work well in this recipe. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 715kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 54g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 28g | Cholesterol: 204mg | Sodium: 317mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g

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