Mexican Pork Stew
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This One Pot spicy Mexican Pork Stew brimming with pork, sausage and beans is a classic hearty dish full of deep Mexican flavor and makes for a delicious and easy weeknight meal.
You can’t go wrong with pork and beans, at least not at my house. This is one of those few dishes where leftovers don’t last long here. Pork and beans was one of those dishes that was pretty common in our household growing up, and I’m sure it was and still is pretty common in a lot of homes primarily because it’s a fairly inexpensive dish.
We also tend to classify it as a comforting dish and this is quite true. There’s just something really comforting about sitting down and enjoying a bowl of hot pork and beans stew, it’s soul food. This stew is packed full of spices, tender melt in your mouth meat, and a nice kick of heat courtesy of fresh jalapeños.
What Cut Of Pork Is Best For Stew?
Pork shoulder is perfect for this recipe as it works best when cooked down well. You’ll want to cook that meat first, especially since pork shoulder is a fattier meat, so you want to render some of that fat and turn it a bit crispy. If you want to make this a tad bit healthier you might want to drain the fat from the meat before adding the rest of the ingredients, but I didn’t since I wanted to keep that yummy flavor.
Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil – To brown our meat, we want a nice neutral tasting oil.
- Pork – We’re using pork shoulder today, with the fat trimmed and cubed into bite sized pieces.
- Sausage – I used kielbasa cut up into small pieces. It’ll add so much flavor to this dish so don’t skip this ingredient, if you have trouble finding some feel free to substitute chorizo or andouille.
- Onion – We want something that cooks down well like white or yellow onion.
- Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
- Jalapeno – Chopped up fine with the seeds and ribs removed.
- Spices – Cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, and cayenne.
- Tomatoes – 1 entire large can of diced tomatoes.
- Beans – Feel free to either use an entire can of pinto or kidney beans.
- Broth – I recommend using beef broth, low sodium as we want to control the amount of salt in our dish.
- Herbs – Fresh green onion and cilantro to be sprinkled over top at the end of cooking our dish.
- Lime – Wedges to squeeze some fresh juice right over top.
How To Make Mexican Pork Stew
- Brown the meat: In a large Dutch oven heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sausage and brown to render some of the fat from the meat, for about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain the fat, if preferred.
- Form the stew: Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper to the pot. Stir in the spices then add the diced tomatoes, beans and broth. Stir then cover and cook on medium-low for about 25 minutes.
- Finish the dish: Garnish with green onions and cilantro and serve with lime wedges.
Other Cooking Options
Crock pot
To make this in a crockpot, follow step 1 to brown the meat then transfer the meat and the rest of the ingredients (with the exception of the green onions, cilantro and lime) to the crockpot and stir. Cook covered on low for about 6 to 8 hours or until the meat is tender.
Pressure cooker
You’ll want to follow the directions outlined above, including browning and sautéing right in the pressure cooker on the saute setting. Assemble the ingredients in the pot, make sure to scrape the brown bits from the inner pot once the broth is added! Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes and allow the pressure to release naturally before serving!
What Else Can I Use In My Pork Stew?
There’s lot’s you can incorporate into this stew! It’s a blank canvas for whatever you’d like to use up in your pantry or fridge, so feel free to have some fun with it.
Veggies
- Cauliflower
- Peas
- Broccoli
- Zucchini
- Celery
Meat
- Lamb
- Beef
- Chicken
- Turkey
Using other proteins may effect the cooking time so just keep that in mind when incorporating other meats into your stew.
How to Serve
This meal is totally rich, satisfying, and filling all on it’s own. My favorite thing to pair it with is some nice crusty bread to soak up all that delicious flavor! Here’s some of my favorites from the blog:
Leftovers
Allow the stew to come to room temperature but don’t leave it out, unrefrigerated for more than two hours. Store it in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Freezing
You can freeze this stew for 4 – 6 months. Simply transfer it to airtight containers or resealable freezer bags and pop them in the freezer. Just allow to thaw overnight in the fridge and warm back up to temperature over the stove when ready to eat.
Craving More Comfort Food? Try These Delicious Recipes:
- One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese
- Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Chicken And Dumplings
- Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Ranch Pork Chops And Potatoes Sheet Pan Dinner
- Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf
- Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Carne Guisada
- Pozole Rojo Recipe
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Mexican Pork Stew
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound pork shoulder (fat trimmed and cut into small cubes)
- 8 ounce kielbasa sausage (cut into small pieces *)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 jalapeno pepper (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder (mild)
- 1 teaspoon cumin (ground)
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 28 ounce diced tomatoes ((1 can) **)
- 28 ounce white kidney beans (or pinto beans, drained and rinsed (1 can))
- 2 cups beef broth (or chicken broth, low sodium)
- 4 green onions (chopped)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
- lime wedges (for serving)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sausage and brown to render some of the fat from the meat, for about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain the fat, if preferred.
- Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper to the pot. Stir in the spices then add the diced tomatoes, beans and broth. Stir then cover and cook on medium-low for about 25 minutes.
- Garnish with green onions and cilantro and serve with lime wedges.
Notes
- * For true Mexican flavor, choose an Andouille sausage or chorizo.
- ** Fire roasted tomatoes would be a great alternative here.
- Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight glass or plastic container for 3 to 4 days.
- Freeze in airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags for 4 to 6 months.
- Wear disposable gloves when cutting the jalapeno peppers and avoid touching your face.
- To make this in a crockpot, follow step 1 to brown the meat then transfer the meat and the rest of the ingredients (with the exception of the green onions, cilantro and lime) to the crockpot and stir. Cook covered on low for about 6 to 8 hours or until the meat is tender.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I made this today using the leftover pork from your recipe Rosemary Garlic Pork Roast as you suggested. I replaced the beans with golden hominy because my husband totally dislikes beans of any sorts. What does he know?! Any other idea(s) of ingredients to use in lieu of beans?
Made it with your no-knead crusty bread recipe and it was fantastic for a cool, rainy autumn supper!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it with the no-knead crusty bread! If beans are a no-go, you might try adding diced potatoes or chunks of butternut squash as they’ll add a nice texture and absorb the flavors well. Also, corn could be a colorful and tasty addition. Enjoy experimenting!
This recipe is a keeper, my hubby loves it very much, he asked me to put it in a roll. I made it with ingredients I had, only pork no sausage n it was still a home run.
I’m so glad to hear the recipe was a hit in your home, especially with your hubby! That’s a great idea to put it in a roll, sounds like a delicious twist. And it’s awesome to know it was still amazing even without the sausage. Thank you for sharing your experience, and for making my Mexican Pork Stew a part of your mealtime! 🍲🌶️😊
I’m glad I found your recipe! It fit with exactly what I needed to use up and it’s quick and simple. I used crushed tomatoes to give it a more stew like consistency…Smells great. I am sure it will satisfy. Thanks
Easy and delicious I use the slower cooker method and it worked well.
It is in my saved recipes so will definitely do again
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
A very quick and easy dinner that I’ll definitely make again. Very tasty. The only thing I did differently is add tomato past to give it a more stew like consistency.
I loved this recipe
I made this a few months ago and it was delicious. I’m making it again today, except instead of kielbasa, I’m using chorizo. Great recipe and thanks so much for sharing it!
My pleasure, so glad you like it!
Jo this was outstanding! I used chorizo and added a 28 ounce can of golden hominy (Rinsed & Drained). It’s a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing. On a side note, Filipinos have a similar Spanish influenced stew featuring beef and chorizo. It’s called caldereta. I like the basic recipe with tomato sauce, frozen peas, bell peppers, potatoes, and carrots. If you haven’t tried it, do some research and make it your own.
I made this for my family and it was delicious! I also topped it with sour cream and tortilla strips.Thank you for sharing!
Kind of a what I had version where I used a couple diced up slices of thick bacon with the browning of the pork. Followed your spices though winged it on chili powder because I don’t have – used mexican oregano, cumin, and cayenne. Worked well – end product was very flavorful . My vegetarian wife was away on a trip with her sister so this is how I got my kicks. Also good leftovers for the week.
This was wonderful!!Needed to get rid of some pork stew meet before it went bad in freezer and this was great,,I didnt have any jalopenos so I added a bit of green pepper and a tad more cayenne,,otherwise made exactly as stated. Oh,,but I did romove the cover and reduced it a bit more and served it on top of long grain rice. That probably helped my pork turn out more tender too! Very good!! Thank you!!
That sounds awesome, Robin! So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Just an update…reducing the liquid wasent the BEST idea..next time I will keep more of it..i don’t like that it’s not as saucy over my rice. But I still love it..my mistake..we learn lol.
So I tried this recipe out and it was amazing 🤤!!!I doctord it to make it my own though and added some brussel sprouts and I also use chorizo and roasted garlic kielbasa sausage because I love meat (hehe) and I also drizzled sesame oil on my pork and meat tenderizer before I browned it(this makes your meat really tender) but I’m a chef also and this will be added too my recipes to add to my menu when I open up my recipe thanks Joanna cismaru !!
My pleasure, so glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve made this several times with slight variations each time and it always tastes great! Instead of sausage I use some amazingly sodium (190mg in 2 cooked slices) bacon and its so good!! Thanks for sharing the recipe with us all!
A great way to use up leftover pork. I sautéed the onions first and then added the cut up pork and kielbasa and spices until they carmelized. It was good after less than an hour simmering!
Delishous! Great recipe