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Pork Chile Colorado with Nopales is the BEST of the best of Northern Mexican food.
My family is from Durango, Mexico, a state in Northern Mexico. It’s where sombreros, horses, and pickup trucks rule.
This recipe delivers some serious FLAVOR. That red chile sauce is every Mexican food lover’s dream. With bites of tender nopales… You just can’t go wrong.
Instant Pot Chile Colorado and Braised Beef Chile Colorado
How to Make It
- Remove the stems.
- Cut lengthwise and remove the seeds.
- Also remove any veins.
This is dried guajillo chile and the key ingredient to guajillo sauce and many authentic Mexican recipes.
This method above is how to clean any dried chile. You might not be able to remove all the seeds and veins.
Don’t worry about that. The sauce will be strained, and any bits that remain will be removed then.
Pro Tip: Rehydrated chiles can last up to 3-5 days in the fridge if stored in an airtight container.
- Rehydrate all the chiles by placing them in hot water.
- Discard the water.
- Add the rehydrated chiles and other sauce ingredients to a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
Many abuelitas (mine included) use the water from the rehydration to blend the sauce.
Dried chiles store dust that ends up in the sauce. Eww! Use fresh water to avoid this.
Using frozen or pre-made sauce would make cooking the Pork Chile Colorado with Nopales faster.
- Remove any thorns on the cactus paddle.
- Slice into strips, then dice across.
- Cook in water on the stove with salt and baking soda.
- Drain and rinse well.
Removing thorns from cactus paddles can be a prickly pain.
Word to the Wise: Look for nopales that already have the thorns removed. Better yet, there are stores that sell them pre-diced.
FYI: Pre-diced nopales are slimy. Rinse them well before and after cooking.
You can skip this step altogether if you are using cooked nopales in a jar.
Ensalada de Nopales, Nopales con Huevo, Licuado de Nopal
- Season the pork with salt, pepper, and cumin.
- Brown the pork.
- Add diced onion. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the pork broth.
Browning the pork will help lock in flavors. Layers of flavors is what makes this dish a WINNER!
If you don’t have homemade pork broth, you can substitute with:
- chicken broth
- 1 cup water + ½ tbsp chicken bouillon
- beef broth
- vegetable broth
- Using a strainer, pour the chile colorado into the stock pot with the pork.
- Use the back of your cooking spoon to strain the sauce completely.
Stir everything to combine and let this cook for 25 minutes on medium heat.
Discard any bits of dried chile that did not filter through the strainer.
By straining the sauce, you get a finer texture.
- Add the cooked nopales.
- Stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
The pork should be soft and tender. If you want the meat to be softer, cook for an additional 10 minutes.
For a saucier Pork Chile Colorado with Nopales, add more pork broth.
Other Names for This Dish
- Nopales con chile colorado
- Chile colorado pork
- Carne de puerco con nopales en chile colorado
- Cactus chile colorado
What to serve it with?
Refried Beans
Mexican Rice
Corn Tortillas
Queso Fresco
There’s no greater comfort food than this Pork Chile Colorado with Nopales.
That yummy chile sauce is deep with flavor, and the pork is fall-apart tender… This dish is SO hard to resist!
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Pork Chile Colorado with Nopales
Ingredients
For the Chile Colorado Sauce:
- 10 Chile Guajillo stems removed, seeded and deveined
- 2 Ancho Chile stems removed, seeded and deveined
- 4 cups water
- 1 tspn salt
- 1/2 tspn cumin
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 onion
- 2 cups pork broth (or chicken broth)
For the Cactus Paddles:
- 2 cactus paddles (thorns removed)
- 4 cups water
- 1 tspn salt
- 1 tspn baking soda
For the Pork:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lbs diced pork 1-inch pieces
- 1 tbsp salt (or chicken bouillon)
- 1/2 tspn ground pepper
- 1 tspn ground cumin
- 1/4 onion diced
- 2 cups pork broth (or chicken broth)
Instructions
For the Chile Colorado Suace:
- Cut the stems off, and remove the seeds and veins of all the chiles.
- Add the chiles to a large stock pot.
- Cover with water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Turn heat off.
- Let sit in the pot for 5-10 minutes, or until pliable.
- Discard the water.
- Add the rehydrated chiles to a blender.
- Add salt, cumin, garlic, onion, and pork broth to the blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Set aside until ready to use.
For the Cactus Paddles:
- Carefully remove the thorns (if necessary) with a sharp knife.
- Rinse the cactus paddles.
- Dice into 1-inch pieces.
- Place them in a stock pot and cover with water.
- Add salt and baking soda to the pot.
- Boil for 10 minutes.
- Discard water and rinse the cooked nopales.
- Set aside until ready to use.
For the Pork:
- Heat the olive oil.
- Season the pork with salt, pepper, and cumin.
- Add the pork to the pot.
- Brown the meat.
- Stir occasionally.
- This will take about 5 minutes.
- Add the diced onion and cook for 1 minutes, or until translucent.
- Add the pork broth and chile colorado sauce.
- Mix to combine.
- Cook for 25 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the nopales.
- Cook for 5 additional minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Look for nopales that already have the thorns removed. Or, buy the pre-diced nopales. Best option for the newbies: Use cooked cactus in a jar. Drain the liquid, and it's ready to use.
- chicken broth
- 1 cup water + ½ tbsp chicken bouillon
- beef broth
- vegetable broth
Now I know what I will make for dinner tonight! Sounds so tasty!
Hope you enjoyed! This is such a yummy dish.