Since we live in North Carolina, we are surrounded by BBQ. There are two main types, Eastern and Western. Eastern is vinegar based and is my favorite. Western is more traditional, with the sweet thick BBQ sauce. They are both delicious. There are also a million variations and different cooking methods. This hatch chile bbq pulled pork originates in Texas and is different from any other pulled pork recipe I have ever had.
My husband has a smoker so we make a fair amount of BBQ at home too. We love brisket an used to make it often until it got SO expensive. Not long ago I made a budget burnt ends recipe using chuck roast that was excellent. Check that out if you like brisket or burnt ends.
This recipe is a typical pulled pork recipe in the sense that it is made with slow cooked pork shoulder. The thing that makes it unique is the hatch chile bbq sauce. This recipe is originally from The Homesick Texan. I’m not sure if this type of BBQ is something you see often in Texas, but it is amazing.
The sauce is made from roasted hatch chiles, vinegar and mustard with some honey, ketchup and spices added. It is a very vinegar forward sauce, which we completely love. The pork takes a few hours to roast in the oven, but other than that it is a simple recipe.
I served this on my homemade sandwich rolls, with coleslaw, sliced onion and pickles. I personally think the bbq sauce from this recipe would be incredible on ribs and I will let you know how that turns out when I try it. 🙂
Hatch Chile BBQ Pulled Pork
Ingredients
For the bbq sauce:
- 1/2 onion roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup roasted hatch chiles
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup yellow mustard
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- pinch cayenne
For the pork:
- 3 lbs pork shoulder cut into 2 inch pieces
- bbq sauce (above)
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- water
- coleslaw
- sliced onion
- sliced pickles
- buns
Instructions
Make the bbq sauce:
- Heat the oven to 325.
- To make the bbq sauce, blend all the ingredients into a blender, then pour into a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes or so until thickened a little.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in an oven safe pot and brown the cut pork. Add 1/4 cup bbq sauce, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Cover with water until just the tops of the meat are out of the water.
- Put in the oven uncovered and cook for 2-2.5 hours until the meat is tender. Add more water if the pot gets too dry.
- When the meat is very tender, remove from the oven and let cook enough to shred the meat. Add a little of the pan juices and a tbsp or two of the saved bbq sauce and taste. Adjust as needed.
- Serve the pork on a bun with the toppings and extra bbq sauce on the side.
Oh Hatch Chilis! Recently they started to be in my local store for limited time, but I haven’t tried them yet…do you think they taste different from other chilis, like jalapeno? 👀✨
Yes! I do think they have a different flavor, although I’m not sure how to describe it. 😀 It is more mellow than a jalapeño… more flavor vs just heat. This bbq sauce is really delicious.