Once you try this Carne Adovada Recipe, you’ll understand why this is one of New Mexico’s most celebrated dishes. This spicy and richly flavored chile-braised pork dish is perfect on its own, or a crazy good filling for tacos, burritos or enchiladas. Amazing in flavor, and one of the easiest braised pork recipes you’ll find.
It happened sometime between the Cochinita Pibil Enchladas at Bella’s in Taos and the Carne Adovada Plate at The Shed in Santa Fe, that I knew I had fallen head over heels in love with New Mexico Red Chile Sauce. And those pieces of lean pork slow-roasted in a sauce of red chile, garlic and oregano are possibly the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten. Enter my obsession with Carne Adovada.
I’ve had Carne Adovada in New Mexico about a dozen times. It’s actually about the only thing I’ll order when traveling there. Unless I’m at The Shed, then I simply can’t resist their Blue Corn Tortilla Cheese Enchiladas…which, by the way comes served with Carne Adovada.
Carne Adovada marinade and sauce is a beautiful robust deeply red gravy flavored so that melts around your tongue with such an earthy definitive Southwestern blast that you can’t wait to take your next bite.
It’s kind of a “hot but it’s not” experience. It’s divine. And the secret to a good a good Carne Adovada recipe is using New Mexico ground red chile powder.
I have an arsenal of different varities, and I’ve made Carne Adovada with most of them. But the king of chile powders is New Mexico Chimayo, from the village of Chimayo.
Pork to Use for Carne Adovada
I’ve made this recipe about ten times trying to get it just as I remember from my experiences in New Mexico. I’ve studied many recipes to finally come up with a final method I found to be best.
Some recipes call for the king of braised pork cuts, a pork shoulder roast. A more flavorful cut of meat, and perfect for shredded pork dishes, I found it to return a more “shredded” version than what I was looking for. And being a fattier cut, the sauce was greasier, which meant taking time to strain off the fat before serving. That’s a pain.
Using a pork loin roast, gives us a leaner option, one where the meat will stay in more of a chunk form, nice and tender as it soaks up all of the beautiful flavor from this rich chile sauce. However, you must be careful not to overcook pork loin roast. It can dry out.
How to Make Carne Adovada
Cut the pork loin roast into bite sized pieces. Heat a skillet over medium high heat, add oil and brown pork in batches as to not overcrowd. Overcrowding the chunks of pork will steam them as opposed to searing them.
Make sure to get a good sear on the outside without cooking through. That sear adds flavor. Remove to a plate and set aside.
In the same skillet, add ingredients for the rich red chile sauce. Butter, flour, New Mexico red chile powder and broth, makes a beautiful earthy roux. I prefer Chimayo Chile Powder. If you simply can’t get your hands on any type of New Mexico Chile Powder, I’d use a very good quality Ancho Chile Powder.
Place sauce in a Dutch oven large enough to easily hold sauce and the browned pork.
Stir the sauce and pork together, cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight, or for a least 2 – 3 hours. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 2 – 3 hours, or until pork is tender. Don’t over cook, pork can become dry.
Carne Adovada Recipe
I hope you give this New Mexico specialty a try. It’s actually an easy fix for big return on flavor. The key to the unique balance end result flavor is adding vinegar and molasses at the end of the cooking time. Carne Adovada is beautiful as a stand alone dish, and absolutely amazing when used in tacos, enchiladas or burritos.
And if you do give this recipe a try, please come back and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe. And if you’ve made Carne Adovada and have a special ingredient you add, that you don’t see here, let me know. I’d love to give it a try.
More New Mexico Inspired Recipes
- Anthony Bourdain’s Southwest New Mexico Style Beef Chili Recipe
- New Mexico Blue Corn Posole with Shrimp
- New Mexico Stacked Enchiladas
and one of the most famous, Hatch Green Chili with Pork
- 2 1/2 pounds Pork loin roast cubed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- For the gravy
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 3 Tablespoons Flour
- 1/8 cup Chile Powder New Mexico Chimayo Red
- 2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander ground, dried
- 1 teaspoon Oregano Preferably Mexican
- 2 Tablespoons Molasses Not Blackstrap
- 2 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar
Cut pork loin roast into large bite sized pieces. Salt and pepper to taste.Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil. When oil is hot, add pork pieces and brown on two sides. Cook in batches as not to crowd the pork. The pork will brown better.
Remove pork to a plate.
Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add butter. Once butter bubbles and bubbles start to subside, add onions. Cook onions, stirring, until just starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. About 1 minute.
Add flour and cook, stirring constantly for two minutes. Add chile powder, chicken broth and cook stirring, until gravy starts to thicken. Add cumin, coriander and oregano. Cook for 1 minutes for flavors to blend.
Remove from heat and add browned pork.
Stir well, cover and place in refrigerator to marinade overnight. Or for at least 2 – 3 hours before cooking.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook 2 – 2 1/2 hours or until pork is tender.
Remove pork from oven and stir in molasses and vinegar.
Place the lid back on the pot and let it steep for about 15 minutes.
Serve with lime wedges. Serve with rice, hominy or beans, flour tortillas or all. You can also top with a dollop of Sour Cream and some fresh diced sweet onions.
mjskitchen says
April 27, 2019 at 10:35 amThere’s not much better than a spicy, delicious carne adovada! Yours looks fabulous! I’ve never added molasses, but it sounds like a very interesting ingredients to use. I’ll have to try it next time.
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:08 pmI’ve tried molasses and honey and brown sugar. I’m thinking I’m partial to that molasses.
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
April 27, 2019 at 2:13 pmI’ve heard you mention Carne Adovada before and from your description here, I know I would enjoy it. BTW, I do think you have and arsenal of red chile powder. Wish I had just half of that. 😀
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:07 pmYou need to plan a trip to Santa Fe/Chimayo Karen.
Liz says
April 27, 2019 at 7:45 pmYum! We were at the Shed last spring—all the food in Santa Fe was amazing an now you have me craving some Tex-Mex! Should have stocked up on Chimayo chile powder, too. Guess we have to go back!
P.S. Your Carnad Adovada looks terrific!
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:07 pmYes! Go Back! 🙂 But do we really need an excuse? Love ❤️ New Mexico Food.
Scotty G says
October 1, 2019 at 9:47 amWell this isn’t Tex-Mex 🙂 Cheese would ruin this dish IMO.
PS I adore The Shed!
Lea Ann Brown says
October 1, 2019 at 1:49 pmGood Call Scotty! 🙂
Sandy says
April 28, 2019 at 7:26 amCould you pressure cooker the pork instead of baked
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:06 pmAbsolutely. But I’d have to really study some recipes to make sure I’m getting it right.
Milentry says
April 28, 2019 at 8:23 amA great post! I love your blog < 3
I am following you and invite you to me
https://milentry-blog.blogspot.com
Abbe@This is How I Cook says
April 28, 2019 at 11:36 amI’m with you on red chile from Chimayo. So ready to head back but first I’ll have to make this!
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:05 pmChimayo is the best!
Becky says
April 28, 2019 at 4:34 pmI’ve seen recipes for carne adovada that uses cinnamon in the recipe…do you have any comments on that?
Thank you so much!
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:04 pmI do love cinnamon in some Mexican/Southwestern dishes. But I’m not sure it would enhance the beautiful flavor of this one. And may distract.
Becky Lake says
May 3, 2019 at 10:50 pmThank you so much!
Larry says
May 1, 2019 at 6:51 amI don’t know how I missed this and glad I finally saw it. I remember I really enjoyed my first taste of it in Las Cruces NM during our winter trip. Yours looks fantastic and I would like a plate just as you showed. This will be tried when we get home.
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:03 pmLook forward to hear what you think about it. I hope you still have some of that chimayo chile powder I gave you.
John / Kitchen Riffs says
May 1, 2019 at 8:30 amI want this. Right now. For breakfast! Love this dish and your version looks superb. Thanks!
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2019 at 12:02 pmI always have some of the leftovers for breakfast. Great way to start the day.:)
Jean | Delightful Repast says
May 5, 2019 at 10:23 amLea Ann, I just picked up some ground New Mexico red chiles last week with nothing in mind to do with them. Well, here it is! Will be making this soon. Pinning and emailing it to myself so it won’t fall through the cracks!
Lea Ann Brown says
May 6, 2019 at 9:16 amLet me know how you like it Jean.
John says
May 6, 2019 at 11:35 amAny thoughts/suggestions on cooking this in a slow cooker? (Probably step 7 and beyond?)
Tina says
September 10, 2019 at 2:47 pmUnfortunately you forgot to mention when to add the red Chile powder!
Lea Ann Brown says
September 10, 2019 at 3:39 pmMy apologies, the recipe has been corrected.
Nancy Leonard says
September 15, 2019 at 7:49 amHi Lea Ann, Ordered about a pound of chimayo powder for your enchilada sauce. It was fabulous but I used less chimayo than you recommended. SO DELICIOUS! ! This recipe sounds so good so I will have another occasion to use my Chile. Thank you
Lea Ann Brown says
September 15, 2019 at 8:42 amHi Nancy! Thanks so much for your note and letting me know. That Chimayo Chile powder can be hot. Wise decision to go add less. You can always add more but you can’t take it out. 🙂
Linda says
December 4, 2019 at 10:03 pmCan you use dried whole New Mexico chiles that I rehydrated for this recipe?
Linda says
December 5, 2019 at 10:07 amCan you use whole, dried New Mexican Chiles that have been rehydrated for this recipe?
Lea Ann Brown says
December 6, 2019 at 5:15 amHi Linda. Absolutely. Just remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles. Using a food grinder or food processor, grind enough chiles to equal the amount called for in the recipe. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Patrick Kerwin says
January 30, 2020 at 12:50 pmHi. I’m somewhat new to cooking, but am trying this wonderful recipe this weekend! You mention “cider vinegar”. I have apple cider vinegar, are they the same?
Lea Ann Brown says
January 30, 2020 at 4:17 pmHi Patrick, thanks for reaching out.
Apple Cider and Cider Vinegar = They are absolutely the same.
I’m so glad you’re trying this recipe. Carne adovada is one of my most favorite dishes.
The only comment I’ve had about my version is that it’s a little too sweet.
Maybe add just 1 tablespoon of molasses – taste and then decide if you want to add more.
Please let me know how it turns out.
Colleen says
May 2, 2020 at 1:06 pmHad to improvise 3 ingredients and hopefully it will not hurt the recipe. I used reg chile powder, cumin instead of coriander (was told that was an acceptable substitute and dark corn syrup because I do not have molasses. Fingers crossed this is a success.
Lea Ann Brown says
May 2, 2020 at 2:15 pmColleen, let me know. I think you’ll be fine.