Recipe Tested: Sun Oven Southwestern Green Chili recipe (page 329) in the Sun Oven Cookbook.
Being born in New Mexico and currently living in Arizona, I love a good chili and I love Mexican and New Mexican food. If you’re unfamiliar, New Mexico has its own way of cooking, that has some subtle differences from traditional Mexican cooking that you might be accustomed to. New Mexico, particularly the Hatch Valley, is famous for it’s green chile.
This particular dish could be called Green Chile Pork, Chile Verde (modified ingredients), or Southwestern Green Chile (instead of Chili). In the Southwestern USA, this dish would use the Chile word since the heart of this dish is the green chile peppers from New Mexico.
The word “chili” is more of a broad term to indicate a spicy dish containing a variety of ingredients including meat, peppers, and spices. I am going to stick with the original title of the recipe from the book and call it Southwestern Green Chili.
I chose the Southwestern Green Chili Recipe because a little New Mexico sounded good. And being that it’s winter, a warm dish of green chile pork sounded fantastic. I did make a couple of tweaks to this recipe, however.
Changes from the original printed Southwestern Green Chili Recipe
- I used pork tenderloin instead of pork shoulder. This is a personal choice. You can use whichever you prefer. I like the firmer, leaner cuts of meat.
- Reduced the amount of tomatillos and beans.
- I used posole seasoning instead of cumin. I wanted to stay closer to a New Mexico flavor. If you don’t have posole seasoning in your area, just roll with the cumin.
- Just one onion.
- I used chopped garlic rather than a garlic powder.
Options to customize your own Solar Oven Southwestern Green Chili Recipe
- As mentioned above, you can use a leaner pork tenderloin instead of pork shoulder.
- You can adjust the amount of pork you use. I used 2.75lbs. But you can use less if you like.
- Use beans or don’t. Your choice.
- Add chopped potatoes (if they fit in your pot)
- If you have a grill handy, sear the pork in a cast iron skillet, adding plenty of posole seasoning, before adding to the pot. I often do that as it adds a nice flavor to the meat, and the juices left from that searing are a wonderful add to the Chile Verde Chili pot.
How to serve Solar Oven Southwestern Green Chili
- Add cheese, cilantro, or sour cream.
- Serve in a bowl like a chili or stew.
- Serve in small corn tortillas for a street-taco spin (but make sure to lightly fry your tortillas in oil so as to help them hold up to the liquid of your chili)
- Wrap in a larger tortilla and make it a burrito.
- Add eggs for an excellent breakfast
How This Recipe Works in the Sun Oven
- On the particular early February day I cooked this, the weather was about 50 degrees and sunny. I started the cooking at about 11am, which is when the sun hits my preferred cooking location in my back yard.
- The temperature in my Sun Oven stayed pretty steady in the 275-300 degree range. That’s plenty of temperature for a dish like green chile pork / Southwestern Green Chili. When I cook similar on a stovetop in a Dutch oven, I let it simmer for a few hours after the initial boil. Same concept here – low and slow cooking.
- I opened my Sun Oven door after two hours just to check the meat doneness. My pork tenderloin was done and already relatively tender. However, I wanted my onion to cook down some more, so I closed it back up and let it cook longer. My Sun Oven dropped to about 200 degrees with the door open, but quickly got back up to 300 once I shut the lid.
- After 4 hours had passed, we were ready to eat. There was a lot of condensation on the inside of the Sun Oven door, but temperature was a solid 300 degrees. I opened the door and steam rolled out, along with a wonderful aroma!
Solar Oven Southwestern Green Chili - Green Chile Pork
Equipment
- 1 Solar Oven Or Dutch Oven if cooking indoors
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs pork shoulder or pork tenderloin Trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 16 oz cooked beans (drained) pinto or black beans
- 16 oz green chile enchilada sauce
- 16 oz diced green chile
- 11 oz tomatillos roughly chopped
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon posole seasoning substitute cumin if unavailable
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Sour cream optional (to serve with dish)
- Fresh cilantro chopped (to serve with dish)
Instructions
- Set your sun oven out to preheat.
- Prepare your pork and vegetables by chopping as indicated.
- Add all ingredients into pot, stir, cover, and set it in the oven.
- Your dish should be done in about 2 hours. However, if you have the time you can leave it on for another 1-3 hours to get your pork and onions super tender.
- Serve with optional sour cream, cilantro, tortillas.
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