I thought I would start the new year off with the most requested recipe of 2014 – Carne Adovada, pork marinated in New Mexico red chile – a relatively simple dish to make. It takes about an hour’s worth of work on day 1, then a long braise on day 2. Bobby and I made this for Christmas Day along with Green Chile, Corn, and Mushroom Tamales, roasted red chile tamales and a citrus salad. There was a lot of “Christmas” in this house with all of the red and green!
New Mexico carne adovada is a very meaty dish consisting of chunks of pork shoulder marinated for about 24 hours in a red chile sauce, then slow cooked in the oven for 2 to 4 hours depending on oven temperature and the amount of pork. This process yields tender pieces of pork that easily pull apart with a fork and that melt in your mouth, releasing the spicy, earthy goodness of New Mexico’s red chile.
There are thousands of adovada recipes out there as well as carne adobada recipes, Mexico’s version of meat marinated in red chile. All are very similar with slight differences in amounts or omissions of various ingredients such as vinegar, cumin, coriander, and oregano, as well as the types of chiles used. The red chile for my carne adovada is made with New Mexico red chile and is as simple as my regular red chile sauce recipe, but with a few minor differences. It uses basic ingredients such as onion, garlic, dried red chile pods, oregano and a little vinegar. When the red chile pods are really, really hot, I add just a touch of honey to tone the heat down a bit.
Serve adovada with a flour tortilla, a simple salad and some beans or rice (if you choose), and you have yourself a deliciously hearty and spicy meal. If you have leftovers, make a burrito or, my favorite, carne adovada enchiladas.
New Mexico Carne Adovada
On Day 1 you make the red chile (allow at least 1 hour) and marinate the meat by sitting it in the refrigerator overnight or longer.
On Day 2 you braise the red chile smothered pork for 3 – 4 hours. It’s a long process, but worth it!
“*” See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- 7 to 8 pounds bone in pork shoulder or pork butt*, remove bone and visible fat, cut meat into 1 to 2 inch chunks
- 1 Tbsp. oil or bacon dripping
- 1/2 medium onion
- 4-6 large garlic cloves
- 25-30 red chile pods*, stems and seeds removed. Pods cut into 1-2 inch lengths
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. Mexican oregano
- 3 cups water
- 2 tsp. medium red chile powder* (optional)
- 1 tsp. honey* (optional)
- 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and lower the heat to medium low.
- Sweat the onions until translucent.
- Add the red chile pieces and increase heat to medium. Toast the chile, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. When you start smelling the chile, keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
- Once the chile pods have started to darken a bit, add the oregano, water, and chile powder. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
- Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a blender, reserving some of the water to use as needed. Add only just enough water to be able to get a smooth puree.*
- Add the vinegar and blend until smooth.
- Taste. Add more salt if needed and honey if you find the sauce too hot or bitter*.
- Let rest while you cut up the meat.
If you want a really smooth sauce, you can press the red chile through a strainer or colander to remove bits of unprocessed chile or seeds. Use a rubber spatula to move the chile around and press through.
- Spray a large, heavy Dutch oven with cooking oil. (This pot will be placed in the oven.)
Transfer the pork pieces to the Dutch oven and pour enough red chile over the meat to coat the meat when stirred. (See Kitchen Notes for Amount of red chile. Any extra red chile can be used to “smother” the carne adovada after serving.)
- Stir well to coat all of the pieces with the red chile.
- Cover and set in the refrigerator overnight or for 24 hours.
- One hour before placing in the oven, remove the Dutch oven from the refrigerator so that the meat can come up to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 300° F.*
- Place the meat in the hot oven and cook for COVERED for 2 hours.
- Remove from the oven and stir. There will be quite a bit of liquid.
- Return the meat to the oven UNCOVERED for 1 to 1.5 hours or until the meat is pull apart tender and the liquid has reduced.*
- Turn the oven off and leave the carne adovada in the oven until ready to serve.
- Top each serving with red chile if desired.
Pork Shoulder (pork butt) Size – For this recipe I usually start with an 8 pound, bone-in, pork shoulder. Once I remove the bone and much of the fat, I end up with about 5 pounds of meat. Therefore, if you just want to start with a 5-6 pound boneless shoulder that would save the time of cut away the bone. I use the bone to make a pork stock. You could also use a 3-4 pound boneless shoulder. This would yield a smaller batch, but it would also only take about 2 hours of cook time. Just be sure to reduce the amount of red chile.
Cutting up the pork – I personally am not fond of biting into a big piece of fat with I eat carne adovada; therefore, we trim the larger pieces of fat off of the cut pieces of meat. However, we don’t get too carried away because we want to leave some of the fat for flavoring.
As mentioned, we usually cut the meat into about 2 inch chunks. This yields larger pieces that can be pulled apart with a fork once cooked. Smaller pieces (1 inch cubes) yield bite size pieces that won’t need to be “pulled”.
Chile Pods and chile powder – If your pods are hot, then use mild to medium chile powder. This helps bring down the heat of really hot chile pods and adds a little depth to the flavor of the chile. If your chile pods are mild to medium, then use hot chile powder for a spicier chile. When I’m using a VERY hot chile, I’ll reduce the number of pods to 20 pods, then add 2 tablespoons of powder.
Honey – Honey kills the burn. Therefore, honey is a great ingredient to help reduce a little of the heat from the chile as well as bitterness. However, be careful and don’t add too much. More than 2 teaspoons can make your red chile too sweet.
Amount of red chile sauce – The amount of red chile made in this recipe is plenty for 5- 7 pounds of meat, but is too much for any less than that. A rough estimate for how much red chile you need is ½ cup of red chile for 1 pound of meat. You can always add more for a saucier carne adovada. You just want to make sure that you use enough chile to fully coat the pieces of pork.
Oven Temperature – I have found it best to braise carne adovada at a low temperature of 300°F. However, if you don’t have to time to braise for 3 – 4 hours, you can increase the temperature to 350°F and cook for 1 to 1.5 hours. If you choose to cook at a higher temperature, just cut the pieces of meat smaller, about 1″ cubes.
The amount of liquid in the cooked meat – Some people may want a stew like carne adovada with quite a bit of sauce, while others, like it a little saucy, but not soupy. If you want a more stew like carne, then wait and uncover the Dutch oven 2.5 hours into cooking. However, if you want the chile thicker and more saucy, then uncover after 2 hours of cooking. If you want it even less sauce, then you can use a slotted spoon to scoop out the meat, throw it into a skillet and cook off even more of the sauce before serving. Just don’t cook off too much. You’ll need some sauce for the flour tortilla. 🙂 I actually love having extra sauce for making carne adovada enchiladas with the leftovers.
This recipe make a large batch of carne adovada, so unless you’re serving 8 – 10 people, you will have leftovers. But never fear, this freezes very well and can be used in a variety of dishes such as burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and tostadas.
If you like a spicy, meaty dish such as carne adovada, then here are a few other recipes you’ll enjoy:
I hope this doesn’t sound like sacriledge to you, but I think I’d like to try this out in an Instant Pot. It sounds amazing.
It’s not sacrilege in the least. 🙂 It should work just fine in the instant pot. Enjoy!!!
We originally came over to check out your tamale recipes but then we saw this mouth watering recipe we had to check out. So much flavor. We can’t wait to try this recipe too. Happy Holidays to you!
And a holiday holiday to you and yours as well! Hope you do try this recipe. Your boys will love it!
This is so beautiful dish MJ ! And, it is not horrifying job to make it ! I mean, it’s several hours of my active time ; not bad at all for this tasty treat !
Happy holidays !
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MJ,
I wanted to thank you for this recipe. I spent a lot of time in my youth visiting my Aunt & Uncle in the Santa Fe area and found my love for both red and green (Christmas). I actually lived in Albuquerque for a couple of years and truly developed my love for NM Chile. Since COVID hit, I was unable to travel back to NM to get my annual supply but I had some powder from Chimayo and with your help, was able to use your recipe https://mjskitchen.com/2014/04/red-chile-sauce-from-powder/ to make this Carne Adovada recipe. It turned out great! I always make a recipe as written the first time and then my wife and I will discuss if there needs to be any changes. This one was a hit as is. I am anxious to try it again with pods next year for comparison but will defiantly make it again with powder. Thanks for your post, I enjoy living a NM lifestyle vicariously through your blog.
Pat, thank you so much for your feedback and comments!!!! I have to say that the Chimayo chile powder does make the best sauce of any powder, but then I know there are others in NM that would argue that point. 🙂 It’s just a matter of taste. I’m thrilled to hear it worked for the carne adovada and to receive feedback that one of my recipes stands as is, it quite thrilling. So glad you and your wife enjoyed it. Thanks again for the comments! Cheers, MJ
Hi MJ! I’ve made this “half way homemade” by picking up a pint of chile from my favorite New Mexican restaurant here in Tucson, AZ! It always turns our DELICIOUS and makes my mom back in Belen pretty proud. 🙂
I’m wondering your thoughts on marinating the pork then adding it to crock pot! What do you think?
Andrea, thank you for your comment! I’m so glad you enjoy this and by using your favorite red chile can’t make it anything but better. When I’m out of red chile, I’ll go to my favorite NM restaurant and buy a quart of its red chile. Makes life easy. 🙂 Even though I don’t have a crock pot, I don’t see why you couldn’t cook it in it. I did find a slow cooker carne adovada recipe that marinated overnight and cooked in slow cooker for 9 hours. Hope this helps. Thanks again for commenting! Cheers, MJ
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Question-
If only doing 4 pound of cubed meat- you mentioned to cook meat for 2 hours. Would that be 1 hr at 300 covered and then 1 hour uncovered at 350? And I saw the notes about how much such per pound. What would you describe your photo to be for saucy or stewy? Thanks in advance. Happy Holiday.
Arik, thanks for your questions. A bone-in 7-8 pounds of pork yields about 5 pounds of meat, so if you are starting off with 4 pounds, I wouldn’t change the baking instructions. Just check it at 1 hour uncovered for tenderness. You want it pull apart tender. My photo is more stewy than saucy. Sometimes with the same exact recipe, it can become more saucy, probably because of the amount of fat in the pork. If the sauce is thinner than you want, then, when you remove the cover to bake it uncovered, just take a ladle and remove some of the sauce. Add later if needed. For the pictures in the post, I think that’s what I did in order to get this presentation. I didn’t wanted to show off the rich red chile meat rather than a sauce. I hope this helps. Let me know if you anymore questions. I’m making this tomorrow for Christmas Day. 🙂
Happy Holidays to you and your family as well.
What a wonderful marinade! I can always count on you, MJ, for inspiration on how to cook with chilies! The tip on using honey to tame the heat is very interesting. Thanks!
Thanks Kelly! I do like my chiles. 🙂 When you eat at a New Mexican restaurant here, they almost always serve either tortillas or sopapillas so that at the end of the meal you can top it with a little honey to kill the burn in your mouth. It also makes a great dessert. 🙂
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I make this with turkey tenderloins and a few anchos thrown in with the dried red chiles and it is amazing!
Such a healthy version! Love your changes and thanks so much for commenting!!
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Can the carne adovada sauce be made using fresh, roasted red chiles or must it be dried pods? I just finished roasting 5+ lbs of hatch red and want to make some carne adovada. While I am attempting to dry approximately 20 chiles, the humidity in PA can make it difficult, especially at this time of year.I don’t want to have to break down and order frozen from the Frontier (yet).
Linda, Making a sauce from fresh roasted chile would be completely different in flavor and texture than from using dried. The fresh chile would make more of soup than a sauce and it would be a little sweeter. You can purchased dried red chiles which would be easier than trying to dry them yourself in PA. 🙂 My mother bought a fresh red ristra one year and took it back to Louisiana. Even hanging it in the sun, it still molded. Check out this list of NM chile suppliers. I have had the dried red chile from Diaz Farms, Chimayo Chile Brothers and the Hatch Chile Store. All made great red sauces. Hope this helps answer your question. Thanks for asking!
I plan to use the delicious Chimay powder in the recipe but it also calls for 25 or 30 pods so I was wondering what variety of pods you recommend? Thanks!
Cheryl, dried red chile pods from anywhere in NM would work. At some of the local markets you can now find them bags, single or already dried as a ristra. Depending on how hot you want the carne, be sure to ask mild, medium or hot before buying.
I have a couple of half-pound bags of New Mexican chiles, each containing about 22 chiles. Each pod is 3-4 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. Would I use a whole bag for this recipe?
David, Yes…I would use all of it. You might not use it all on the carne adovada, but you can save any extra to smother some eggs, enchiladas or a burrito. It freezes quite well. The reason I say you might not use it all is because, once you add the meat to the Dutch oven, you “pour enough red chile over the meat to coat the meat when stirred.” I talk a little more about “the amount” of red chile in the Kitchen Notes. Hope this helps.
Thanks for your question and hope you enjoy the recipe!!!
Just finished dinner and the Carne Adovado was really really good. I used guiajillo (sp?) peppers plus chimayo chili powder. Served with corn tortillas from the local mexican market and garnished with sliced radishes, cilantro, fresh sweet tomatoes, lime and (sorry!) feta cheese. Didn’t have time to go grab mexican cheese. MJ your recipe was terrific! Serving again tomorrow for the rock climber child in a bowl with garnishes and putting some in the freezer for out of town guests next week. Hubby who used to have a restaurant and does not give out many food compliments keeps saying good things about the dish. Kudos MJ!
Cheryl you just made my day!!!!! I am SO VERY GLAD that you and your family enjoyed this recipe! Love your choice of topping and believe me, I see nothing wrong with feta. I use it with chile recipes, especially red chile, all of the time. 🙂 Thank you so much for your feedback and so a nice compliment! I’m beaming!! 🙂
I am in Santa Fe and ready to make this dish. I have access to many different dried peppers. Can you recommend a pepper variety? We buy our chili powder from Chinco in Chimayo and it has a healthy amount of heat.
Actually, Chimayo chile powder is our favorite! If you find it too hot, then I would look for a mild or medium chile powder. Give The Chile Shop (on Water Street I believe) a call and see if it carries a milder chile. I know that sometimes it is easier to find the mild/medium dried red chile pods than a powder. If you make a sauce from milder pods, then you could eliminate the hotter powder. Hope this helps. Thanks for asking! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Do you think it would turn out ok if I halved the recipe & use pork sirloin chops?
It’s easy to half the recipe. I honestly can’t say if the pork sirloin chops would work. They are pretty lean compared pork shoulder so they might not be as tender after a long braise. But if that’s what you have, then I would go for it. Please let me know how it turns out.
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Love this recipe – do you have any tips for making it with only chile powder? I just got a bag of it from Hatch but don’t have the pods. Thanks and love your website!
sandy
Thanks Sandy for your nice comments! I’m so glad that you like the recipe and YES, you can use chile powder to make the sauce. Here is a link to my Red Chile Sauce made with powder. You will probably need to double the recipe in order to have enough sauce for a marinade. Also, I would increase the vinegar to 1 tsp. per batch instead of 1/2 tsp. batch. Let me know if you have any other questions. Enjoy!
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This is a favorite for hubby and I, but we have never actually made it. You know I adore your recipes, so I know this was probably pretty fantastic! To share from the comment on my blog, you may not find Tuttorosso tomatoes, look for Red Gold tomatoes, (same company!) Sending hugs, Terra
Thanks so much Terra!! It’s actually very easy to make, especially when you have the husband there working with you. Bobby deals with trimming and cubing the pork while I make the sauce. It’s a fun! 🙂 Thanks for the info on the tomatoes.
Ooh I’d love to have this someday since it looks like the perfect comfort food !!!Love the color and the flavors too 🙂
I hope I can make this some day, it sounds like something we would much enjoy, especially the goans. It’s a bit difficult for me to find good pork simply because it’s in a part of the market where I never go. The meat market here is really, how should I say… “special”.
Mhmmm tender spicy pork, mhmm 🙂
Interesting how you describe your market. That’s one of the things I love doing when we travel, is to visit local markets. You can learn a lot about a culture when you do that. I hope you do get to make this sometime.
I tried a slow cooker version a while back. Definitely will give your authentic version a try!!!!
You picked the great recipe to start off 2015, MJ! Looks so good! I love and appreciate food that takes long time. It’s so special!!! After training on spicy food last year I can handle more spice in food than ever in my life. LOL. Can’t wait to see more of your delicious meal this year, MJ!
I’m so proud of you Nami for having increased your tolerance of spicy foods! However, this one might still be a little to not to handle for you right now. 🙂 maybe by the end of the year. Thanks and happy 2015!
Happy New Year my friend! Your chile stew looks so inviting, if I was to make a vegetarian version, could I use tofu??
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
And a Happy 2015 to you!!! Tofu? I honestly could not say. However, you have planted a seed in my head to give it a try. Tofu and red chile…that sounds quite interesting. 🙂
Oh gorgeous dish, MJ! That pork looks like it will melt in my mouth! A perfect dish for the New Year….and I hope your year ahead is a very healthy and happy one! : )
Thanks Anne! Oh…after several hours of braising, it certainly does melt in your mouth.
You can pretty much tell how tasty and richly flavored this is from the color of the sauce on the meat!
Thanks Joanne! Yes, the color of the sauce does give away the taste and spiciness of the dish.:)
One more dish which I don’t even need to see or smell to be sure I would love it: the name says it all! I love slowly baked lamb but have never tried this method with pork. Thank you so much for inspiration and Happy New Year once more!
Thanks so much Sissi! You’re the second person that has mentioned lamb. I’m going to have to make this with lamb soon.
That pork just looks so tender and delicious.. loving all the flavours and aromatics going on in this stew especially!
Wow! I debated making carnitas or carne adovada (I love them both) this weekend. I decided on carnitas, but seeing this has helped me plan for next weekend. Beautiful, as always. Happy 2015!
I’m with you Adam. I, too, love them both. I’d love having some of your carnitas! Thanks for stopping by and wishing you a wonderful 2015 as well!
WOW! It sounds so tasty and something I would love to eat anytime.
Delicious pot of slow cooked deliciousness! I bet your house smelled amazing. I always like to celebrate by the holidays by decorating the house with food and what better way then a little traditional New Mexico carne adovada and green and red. I know the men of my house would love this dish. sounds like a perfect Sunday Supper. Pinning so I can make later…
Thanks so much Bam! We are definitely alike in the way we “decorate” for the holidays. It’s all about the food. 🙂
There’s always so much flavour in meats that are marinated for 24 hours and then slow-cooked. This looks like a hearty, comforting meal that’s full of flavour xx
Oh gosh this looks sooooooooooo good. Pork is probably my most favorite meat.
I would probably want to use the slow cooker too. But yeah the marinating is the key.
Gorgeous looking dish too. You know I would love to eat dinner at your house.
Laughing here—–
Carol, you know you are welcome to come to dinner at my house any time!!
This is such a flavorful and scrumptious looking dish, MJ! It looks fantastic!
This is a truly hearty and filling meal! I would love to taste these bold flavors! Very Happy New Year to you both full of southern delicious treats!
Thank you Katerina! And a happy 2015 to you and yours!
Happy New Year MJ!
That is a dish my family would love to have on a weekend although I would swap it with lamb since we do not eat pork or beef. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Now you have me wanting to experiment! I’ve never had lamb and red chile. I’ve got to try it. Thanks!
Happy New Year, MJ! A warm, flavorful, spicy dish sounds like the perfect way the soul! This is a dish I really need to make 🙂
Thanks so much Liz! You could feed your family and some friends with this dish. 🙂 Happy 2015!
Happy new Year MJ – I love the coloring of that red chili – what a fantastic dish this is!
Thanks Shashi! and a happy new year to you!
MJ, I don’t eat meat, but every single time I visit your website, I wish I did! That pork could make a convert out of even the strongest veggie 🙂
Thanks so much Viviane! It’s always said that bacon is the gateway food for vegetarians, but I could argue that it’s carne adovada. 🙂
Happy New Year for 2015! Amazing recipe but wow lots of chile lol, I would needs lots of honey I think for this one but worth the effort to eat a whole bowl.
Happy 2015 to you Evenlyne! Yes, it is quite a bit of chile isn’t it? But then one can never get enough chile. 🙂
What a great dish! I often order this in restaurants, although I haven’t made it myself for a couple of years. I should — mine is better! And yours looks better still. Really good recipe — thanks. And Happy New Year!
Thanks John! This is one of those dishes that I not only make at home, but I order in restaurants. It’s just so good and evey one does it a little different.
This looks so awesomely delicious and full of rich flavors! What a great dish to warm up these cold winter days here in the Chicago suburbs…thanks for sharing another fabulous recipe!
Thank you Jodee!! It’s cold enough down here. I can’t imagine how cold it is in Chicago. This would definitely warm you up!
A luxurious way to begin the New Year! The aroma of the Carne Adovada as it simmers makes for wonderful appetite on a cold winter day. Serve this with homemade tortillas for a compelling meal.
Thanks Deb! You are so right about the aroma. It drove us crazy as it was cooking, but so worth the wait.
Looks like a great recipe to start off the New Year! 🙂 I could totally eat it for breakfast right now. 🙂
I love all of the chili-based recipes you shared with us in 2014 – and continuing into 2015. And the sauce here is no acceptance – it sounds incredible!!!
p.s. – thank you so much for comment on the Szechaun pepper sauce. I have actually used it with just fried tofu as an appetizer – I liked it a lot.
Thanks Joyti! The red chile is what makes this dish. 🙂 Thank you for your Szechaun pepper sauce recipe. It was awesome!
Happy New Year, MJ!
Have only eaten this marvel called “carne adovada” at the restaurant, but now will follow your recipe at home. Especially now that I know honey reduces the heat of the chile, my husband will be able to eat some, too!
Happy New Year to you too Melodie! I hope you do give it a try at home. It’s actually quite easy and SO good!
Happy New Year, MJ!! Carne adovada is one of my favorite NM dishes. I have never made carne adovada because it just seems so intimidating but I really like how you broke it down and give suggestions and tips. You might just convince me to give it a try. 😉
Happy New Year to you Renee!! Oh, don’t be intimidated! It’s actually quite easy to make especially if you already know how to make red chile, something I’m sure you know how to make. I’ll be tempting you some more in a few weeks when I make my carne enchiladas. 🙂
How interesting about honey killing the burn, I’m not sure I knew that; what a neat little mechanism. Thanks for the tip MJ.
I’ve never marinated meat for 24 hours and I think I might be missing something because this gorgeous, tender pork sounds well worth the time. The flavor must be incredible too – big smile on the red and green Christmas in your home 😀 I can well imagine! Happy New Year MJ. Fabulous recipe.
Honey is a condiment on the tables of New Mexico restaurants along with a basket of sopapillas. The standard dessert is to drizzle honey inside the sopapilla and eat. This kills the burn of a spicy meal. I’ve made this with and without the marinate and I can say that the 24 hour marinate is a necessity because it allows the red chile time to truly infuse into the meat. It’s awesome! And a Happy New Year to you too Kelly!
You have started the year off with a bang! One that will be in my mouth, exploding with flavor. This pork looks amazing.
Yes, I did Maureen. 🙂 This is definitely a quintessential New Mexico dish and perfect for the new year.
The stew looks so warming and delicious. I wonder if it works in a slow cooker.
Thanks Angie! Yes, I did find some recipes that use a slow cooker. I would still marinate it overnight in the chile sauce, but then about 5 hours on high in the slow cooker. That’s my best guess. 🙂