Heather’s Crock Pot Tomatillos
One of our subscribers sent us an email telling about her favorite tomatillo recipe-- it sounds great, and it makes sense that it's from another CSA! It's pretty simple: add a pound of tomatillos, some sweet and hot peppers, garlic, onion and spices in a crockpot. Put chicken breasts (or pork roast) on top. Makes a wonderful taco filling!
Add all of the ingredients (other than the meat) to your slow-cooker. No need to stir. If you're not adding meat, turn on high 4 hours. Serve as a taco filling, or mix with cooked sweet corn kernels as a thick soup.
If using chicken breasts, nestle those on top and turn it on to high for 5-6 hours. Remove the chicken and shred it, and either mix it back into the tomatillo mixture or serve separately, reducing the sauce for a while first.
If using pork, trim off any excess fat ribbons first and then salt and pepper and sear it over high heat in some oil, 4 minutes per side. Rest it on top of the other ingredients and turn the cooker on to high for 5-6 hours. Pork is done when it shreds easily. Same as with the chicken, remove it to shred and serve separately with the sauce on top (reduce the sauce for a few minutes first), or mix the shredded meat back into the pot and serve all together.
Ingredients
Directions
Add all of the ingredients (other than the meat) to your slow-cooker. No need to stir. If you're not adding meat, turn on high 4 hours. Serve as a taco filling, or mix with cooked sweet corn kernels as a thick soup.
If using chicken breasts, nestle those on top and turn it on to high for 5-6 hours. Remove the chicken and shred it, and either mix it back into the tomatillo mixture or serve separately, reducing the sauce for a while first.
If using pork, trim off any excess fat ribbons first and then salt and pepper and sear it over high heat in some oil, 4 minutes per side. Rest it on top of the other ingredients and turn the cooker on to high for 5-6 hours. Pork is done when it shreds easily. Same as with the chicken, remove it to shred and serve separately with the sauce on top (reduce the sauce for a few minutes first), or mix the shredded meat back into the pot and serve all together.
This recipe is wonderful. We’ve been using it at our house for several years and actually buy extra tomatillos and freeze them so we can eat this dish out of season. When I saw the bag contained tomatillos this week I immediately decide to buy some pork shoulder. It’s a hit with my whole family.
So glad you like it! We’re fans over here, too, and it’s delicious with the pork shoulder.
How would you suggest adjusting the recipe to make it vegan?
Hi Kathleen– thanks for writing! You can either omit the meat entirely and serve as is (more like a soup or sauce for another vegetable,) or add pre-soaked beans for the last 3-4 hours of cooking or cooked beans in about 1 hour before it’s done. Other possible ideas– you could serve it with fried tempeh or tofu (top with sauce), you could pour it over a thick slice of a large heirloom tomato (maybe with a dollop of cashew or other nut cheese), or stir it into some cooked grains (spelt or wheat berries, or rice.) Try adding a sprinkle of some nutritional yeast for some boosted umami flavor.
Also, just tried it with cooked sweet corn mixed in and no meat at all, and it was delish.
I’m so excited about this recipe! Thanks for sharing it. I never quite know what to do with tomatillos, and the fact that it’s a crock pot recipe is even better!
Excellent recipe. I made it with chicken breasts. Delicious!
Not sure what I did but my sauce turned out bitter and we didn’t enjoy it at all. Do you have any suggestions as to what I might have done wrong. I was a bit unsure about the two limes cut in half. I put them in to cook and then removed them from the pot before eating. Maybe I was suppose to just squeeze in the juice. I didn’t find that detail in the recipe. Very disappointed in the outcome. We love Mexican food and I was maybe expecting something different.
Hi Kaylene– sorry it didn’t turn out like you hoped! We tried the recipe again, and it did have a slight bitter note, but not overpowering at all. It might have been the white pith from your limes– squeeze them out fully when the sauce is done and discard. And next time, yes you could try just adding in the juice instead of the whole lime. It could also have been the seeds or pith from your hot peppers–when you are seeding and slicing them try to get rid of the whole pith. If we come up with anything else we’ll post it and amend the recipe!
Eww, I had the bitter problem too. In the recipe I see now that it says just use the juice of the limes. And, in the comments, I misread something as “leave the whole limes in.” Yeah, don’t put the whole limes in. Really bitter. I see the potential if I would have made this recipe correctly. Bummer. My bad. Just use the lime juice!