Once home with my prize of chiles, I asked google about all the possible recipes that included Hatch chiles & pork shoulder. Right as I found something to try, Seth goes into the kitchen and informs me "..this is beef." Shit. I must have not had enough coffee on board when I pulled it out of the freezer.

I could have still tried the same recipe.. but we've made chile verde-style dishes with beef and it's just not as good. So I asked google about Hatch chiles + beef. Not alot came up, nothing with many reviews, and no good pictures. I judge recipe pictures hard - I will rarely click on a recipe if the pictures are awful - if it doesn't look good, it may not be good, or at least worth taking a decent pictures. #sorrynotsorry

But as I scrounged around the web looking for ideas, I came across a recipe using dried beef (basically jerky), and re-hydrating it and shredding it.. it was called Machaca (which means shredded beef). Similar dishes had a Venezuelan take with various ingredients I haven't heard of and called it Pabellon Criollo or Carne Mechada.

I had no idea what I was going to do, but it was a good day to experiment.

I stuck with the initial method I had used to prepare Chile Verde & Chile Colorado. Searing the meat, adding in onion, garlic, peppers & broth and letting it simmer for awhile. From there I took a cue from a traditional Machaca recipe and strained the meat from the cooking liquid and finished it in a frying pan with more garlic, onions & peppers until it was almost burnt, letting various pieces become crispy.

Our house smelled amazing, the robust, earthy & smoky aromas & flavor profile of the Hatch chiles are incredible. I was thrilled with how this turned out, Seth was super impressed and couldn't stop eating it. It does make for a great taco or enchilada filling, but I also served it Venezuelan-style with fried plantains and it was perfect  (sorry, I ate it all before realizing I didn't get a picture). Black beans, cilantro and a little avocado also make for great additions to round out the dish. I decided to call this Mexican Machaca, even though I did not shred the meat. It's fun to say ;) and the finishing method most resembled how this traditional recipe had always been prepared.

Mexican Machaca

serves 8-10

• 4lbs bottom round beef or chuck roast
• 6 tbsp olive oil, divided
• salt & pepper to taste
• 8 Hatch Chiles, diced, (seeds removed from half of them**
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 cups beef or bison broth
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 -14oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1. Trim off excess fat and cube the beef into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes.

2. Preheat a large stock pot to high heat. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil, then add 1/2 of the meat, season with salt & pepper and sear on all sides. Transfer the seared beef to a large bowl and set aside.

Repeat with the rest of the meat.

*Note: Searing the beef in two batches allows for a good sear. Adding all of the meat at once will “steam” it.

When the second batch has seared, pour the first batch back into the pot, add half of the onion, 3 tbsp of the garlic, and half of the Hatch chiles. Add 2-3 cups of broth, enough to cover the meat. Stir to combine.

3.  Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.  Keep it covered and simmer for about 75-90 minutes, stirring occasionally. The beef should become so tender it will fall-apart when poked with a fork.

4.  When the beef is done cooking, strain in a colander. You can choose to reserve the cooking liquid for continued use, (or use more broth instead). Place the beef in bowl and set aside.

5.  Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil in frying pan, add the rest of the garlic, onion & Hatch chiles, saute until soft and starting to brown. Add the beef to the onion mixture. Let the beef brown, but not burn, periodically scrape the meat from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the tomatoes, lime juice & 3/4 cup broth or cooking liquid. Let simmer 10 minutes, or until the liquid is mostly absorbed.


Serve with your favorite fresh sides & toppings are you're all set! I'd love to hear your feedback on this, just scroll to the bottom. Any variations, suggestions and reviews are super helpful and fun.


Just a note on peppers: Hatch chiles are only available in August every year, and are exclusively grown in the tiny town of Hatch, New Mexico. They are similar in appearance to their milder cousin, the Anaheim Chile, but offer a bolder, smoky, robust flavor.  You can use pre-roasted chiles, but the longer cooking method of this recipe takes care of the tough skins, and frying at the end roasts the remainder of the chiles. If you use this in the off-Hatch-chile-season (that's a thing right?), you could use Anaheim, Poblanos or even canned green chiles... although, canned green chiles are like adding nothing but color, you would be best served to use fresh chiles. :)

**If you don't have gloves on hand when chopping your chiles, when you're done, cover your hands in olive oil - rub it into the tips of your fingers well, then wash with dish soap to remove the chile oil. Seth cut the chiles and even though these are pretty mild, his fingers soaked up enough of the oil that they were burning for a couple hours until we googled some remedies. #thankyougoogle



Comment down below, I'd love to hear from you!

Salsa verde, green sauce.. whatever you prefer to call it, its a staple in every Mexican kitchen and you'll see it on every restaurant menu. It’s great for making enchiladas verde or for topping carne asada tacos. It's also great on eggs. It is a simple to make, and you can use it on just about anything. The taste of homemade salsa puts the store bought version to shame, so give this one a try. :)  

Chili Verde results in a dish of tender, juicy chunks of pork, slow simmered in a delicious Mexican-style Salsa Verde sauce wrapped in a warm tortilla (or over rice) with cheese, guac, shredded lettuce & cilantro. (all the heart eyes!)

If you follow me, you know we've obviously been on a braising kick recently.. but it's just soooo easy and so soo good. We meal prep every Sunday, (and Wednesday) if needed. I try to cook a week's worth of protein on Sunday and will cook some veggies or stir-fry some peppers on Wednesday to get us through the rest of week.

Braising has been an easy way to cook a large, inexpensive chunk of protein, and make a delicious meal to eat though the week. This recipe is similar to Chili Colorado in both cooking method, and the fact that its a traditional Mexican dish, but if I had to choose between red or green sauce.. green sauce wins 90% of the time.

You can also make this sauce ahead of time. Make it on the weekend for a weeknight dinner. Just make sure you freeze it if you aren't using it within 5-7 days to keep it fresh. This does call for serrano peppers - so we remove the pulp/seeds from half of them, and leave the others. We've made a couple variations of this and were surprised to find that reducing the onion in the sauce by half, actually reduced the 'pepper-heat' significantly. Aria still enjoys this with us, so it's pretty mild. Amp it up with more pepper & onion for extra kick.

Salsa Verde

makes 4-5 cups

• 12 Tomatillos, husks removed
• 2 yellow onions, cut into quarters
• 4 Serrano Peppers, cut in half, seeds removed (optional)
• 4 cloves garlic
• ½ cup cilantro
• Salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1. Add the ingredients to a large pot and just cover with water, bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes. (The ingredients change color when cooked)

2. Carefully strain off most of the water, pour all the ingredients (except the salt) into a blender. Puree until smooth.

3. Then fry the salsa. (This is the most critical, magical part - Do not skip this step). Heat two tablespoons of oil in your pot.  Pour the blended salsa into the hot oil.  Bring to low boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Toward the end of simmering, add salt to taste.

That’s it, you have the perfect salsa verde. Store in pint jars or pour into ice cube trays and freeze for easy portioning. Now onto cooking the pork..

Pork Chile

Serves 6-8

• 2-4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 4lbs  pork shoulder or pork butt
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 cups salsa verde
• water or chicken broth to almost cover the meat (approx 3-4 cups)

1. Trim off excess fat and cube the pork into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes.  Combine all of the dry seasonings into a bowl.

2. Preheat a large stock pot to high heat. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil, the minced garlic & onion 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.

3. Add 1/2 of the meat and 1/2 of the seasonings and sear on all sides. Transfer the seared pork to a large bowl and set aside.

Repeat with the rest of the meat, seasonings and oil.

*Note: Searing the pork in two batches allows for a good sear. Adding all of the meat at once will “steam” it.

When the second batch has seared, pour the first batch back into the pot, add 2 cups of salsa verde, then top with broth or water to cover the meat.

4.  Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.  Keep it covered and simmer for about 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. If you have time to let it simmer for a full two hours the pork will become so tender it will fall-apart when poked with a fork.



Serve over rice, cauli-rice, sweet potatoes, with or without tortillas, refried beans & cheese if you please.. Fresh cilantro, green onion, shredded lettuce, avocado, pico de gallo, & guacamole are amazing toppings.

Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear how it turns out, any modifications and feedback.. just scroll to the bottom to comment! Be sure to tag me on insta @mckenzie_wheeler