Once you try this recipe for Carne Adovada, you’ll understand why its one of New Mexico’s most celebrated dishes. If you love New Mexico cuisine, you must learn to make this at home. Amazing in flavor, and one of the easiest braised pork recipes you’ll find.
If you’re a fan of authentic New Mexico recipes, don’t miss this classic, for Stacked Enchiladas. Topped with a fried egg makes it true blue New Mexico cuisine.
About This Recipe – Why It Works
It happened sometime between the Cochinita Pibil Enchladas at Bella’s restaurant 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 Pork. Carne Adovada to be exact.
Carne Adovada is a very meaty dish, where pieces of pork roast are marinated for 24 hours in a red chile sauce, then slow-roasted in the oven. The result is possibly the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten. Pieces of pork, fork tender with the flavor of earthy, spicy New Mexico red chile sauce = divine.
I’ve had this dish in New Mexico about a dozen times. It’s actually about the only thing I’ll order when traveling there.
What is Carne Adovada?
A signature dish of New Mexico, Carne Adovada combines the rich deep Southwestern flavors of red chile sauce with savory tender pork.
This red chile pork is beautiful as a stand alone dish, and absolutely amazing when used in tacos, enchiladas or burritos.
Carne Adovada marinade and sauce has a beautiful robust deeply flavored red gravy that melts around your tongue with an earthy definitive Southwestern blast. You simly can’t wait to take your next bite.
It’s a “hot but it’s not” experience. It’s divine. And the secret to a good a good Carne Adovada is using New Mexico ground red chile powder. I find this easier and more flavorful than using dried chiles.
This recipe for Carne Adovada is modeled after The Shed’s Recipe, a very popular New Mexican restaurant just off the Plaza in Santa Fe. I’ve made Carne Adovada about ten times trying to get it just as I remember from my experiences in New Mexico. I’ve studied many recipes to come up with a final method and flavor result I found to be best. Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
I have an arsenal of different varities, and I’ve made this pork dish with most of them. But the king of chile powders is New Mexico Chimayo, made from red chiles from the village of Chimayo.
- Onions: Yellow or sweet onions for this recipe.
- Molasses: Use regular molasses rather than black strap. Black strap molasses will impart a slightly stronger and bitter flavor to the sauce.
- Chile Powder: New Mexico Chile Powder is a must to make this an authentic Carne Adovada recipe. The heat level is of that chile powder is up to you. I use a medium heat powder.
- Coriander and Cumin: Go hand in hand in so many New Mexican, Southwestern Recipes.
- Oregano: I highly recommend you use dried Mexican Oregano if you can find it. It carries a more pungent and citrus flavor than regular oregano.
- Flour, Fat and Chicken Broth: to form that beautiful roux for the red chile gravy.
- Pork Loin Roast: 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 red chile sauce.
- Oil: Used to sear the pork cubes. Use a neutral oil such as canola or vegetable oil.
Recipe Ingredient Swaps
- This recipe calls for thick rich molasses. If you don’t have molasses on hand, use 1 Tablespoon brown sugar. Dark and light will work. Honey is also a good replacement for molasses.
- What if I can’t find New Mexico Chile Powder? 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 or dried ancho chiles.
- If you don’t have Mexican Oregano, use marjoram.
- If you don’t have cider vinegar, use sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, or white wine vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is discouraged as it would change the flavor profile of Carne Adovada.
- Oil: Use either a mild flavored olive oil.
Mexican Oregano is preferred for this recipe. It’s peppery, grassy, earthy flavor is a good compliment for Mexican Food. If you don’t have Mexican Oregano, substitute Marjoram. Known for its aroma and delicate flavor, its related to oregano and will bring a sweet undertone to any recipe.
Step by Step Instructions
- Step 1: 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.
- Step 2: In the meantime make the rich red chile sauce.
How To Make The Red Chile Sauce, New Mexico Style
- Step 3: Heat a 3-6 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the butter and when melted, saute the onions until tender. This should take about 5 – 7 minutes.
- Step 4: Then add the flour and stir well. Cook for a couple of minutes until flour is just starting to toast.
- Step 5: Add the chicken broth and stir well. Cook for a few minutes to thicken the consistency of gravy.
- Step 6: Add the Chile Powder, cumin, coriander and oregano. Stir to blend spices.
- Step 7 and 8: Add the molasses and stir to combine until blended.
- Step 9: Add the seared pork back into the sauce.
- Step 10: Stir the sauce and pork together, cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight, or for a least 2 – 3 hours.
- Step 11:Bake covered at 350 degrees for 2 – 3 hours, or until pork is tender. Don’t over cook, pork can become dry.
Questions You Might Have
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. I suggest a pork loin roast for this recipe.
There’s a splash of vinegar in this recipe, but why? Vinegar is magic. And in my kitchen, it’s as important as salt and pepper. Plain and simple, a splash of vinegar can brighten, balance and sharpen your food.
Absolutely yes. Just place leftovers in an airtight container and freeze. Defrost at room temperature and re-heat stovetop.
Carne Adovada is made with pork and simmered in a New Mexico Red Chile Sauce. Carne Asada is made with steak. Flank steak is commonly used, marinated, and then grilled and served with fresh vegetables such as jalapeno pepper, avocado and lime.
Tips For Success
- Pat the pork dry before searing. To get a nice golden brown crust on the pork, the dryer the meat, the better the sear.
- Don’t over crowd the pork while searing. Leave some space around each piece of pork to allow air to flow on all sided of the pieces. Over crowding the meat will cause it to steam and the texture will be compromised.
- Spicy or Mild: New Mexico Chile Powder can be hot spicy. Chose a chile powder labeled mild.
Storage
Store any leftover Carne Adovada in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Gently reheat stove top.
New Mexican Carne Adovada Recipe
I hope you give this recipe for Carne Adovada 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.
More New Mexico Recipes
And if you love Mexican food as much as we do, don’t miss my Mexican Food Category. You’ll find lots of exciting dishes including the most popular on my site for Campechana, Mexican Shrimp Cocktail.
And don’t miss one of the most famous and most popular New Mexico Recipes on my site: Hatch Green Chile Colorado Style.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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New Mexico Carne Adovada
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds Pork loin roast cubed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 Tablespoons neutral oil canola or vegetable oil
- For the gravy
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 3 Tablespoons Flour
- 2 Tablespoons Chile Powder New Mexico Chimayo Red. Add more if you want more heat
- 2 ½ cups Chicken Broth
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon coriander ground, dried
- 1 teaspoon Oregano Preferably Mexican
- 1 Tablespoons Molasses Not Blackstrap
- 2 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar Sherry Vinegar is a good choice here.
Instructions
- 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 ½ 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
New Mexico Carne Adovada … It’s What’s for Dinner
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
I love carne adovada! Such a terrific dish. I haven’t made this in a long time, and you’ve got me craving it. Nice recipe — thanks.
This looks wonderful Lea Ann. One of our holiday traditions is to make carne adovada for Christmas eve. Because it make so much, I get to freeze some and have it year round. 🙂 We have one more batch in the freezer for some enchiladas. 🙂 My recipe is quite different from yours, but like I always say “There is no set recipe for any cuisine IMO. You make a dish for how you enjoy the dish.” I’ll have to try yours to see how it differs. It sure looks good!
Hi Lee Ann,
In the photo you have beans and rice, do you have recipes for both? The beans look really good.
Isn’t Chimayo beautiful? The Rancho de Chimayo has a great cookbook!
Thanks for all the photos of Chimayo I haven’t been there in years.
Katherine
The beans are actually canned beans. They’re a mixture of pinto and kidney with chile sauce.
I haven’t been to a grocery store since March, so took a look on-line at King Soopers. I couldn’t find them to give you the brand. They’re pretty darn good and I like the combination of colors.
When I find them, I’ll let you know what they are.
My favorite bean recipe to serve with Mexican Food is my simple in flavor Cowboy Beans recipe: https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/cowboy-beans/
The rice: I buy a Spanish Rice seasoning mix at my local Mexican Market. It’s so excellent in flavor that I’ve never taken the time to develop my own spice blend. I just add two tablespoons to rice as it’s cooking it. It’s delicious.
Sorry I can’t be of more help. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Let me know if you have questions.
Had 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.
Colleen, let me know. I think you’ll be fine.
Hi. 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?
Hi 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.
Can you use whole, dried New Mexican Chiles that have been rehydrated for this recipe?
Hi 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.
Can you use dried whole New Mexico chiles that I rehydrated for this recipe?
Hi 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
Hi 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. 🙂
Unfortunately you forgot to mention when to add the red Chile powder!
My apologies, the recipe has been corrected.
Any thoughts/suggestions on cooking this in a slow cooker? (Probably step 7 and beyond?)
Lea 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!
Let me know how you like it Jean.
I want this. Right now. For breakfast! Love this dish and your version looks superb. Thanks!
I always have some of the leftovers for breakfast. Great way to start the day.:)
I 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.
Look forward to hear what you think about it. I hope you still have some of that chimayo chile powder I gave you.
I’ve seen recipes for carne adovada that uses cinnamon in the recipe…do you have any comments on that?
Thank you so much!
I 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.
Thank you so much!
I’m with you on red chile from Chimayo. So ready to head back but first I’ll have to make this!
Chimayo is the best!
A great post! I love your blog < 3
I am following you and invite you to me
https://milentry-blog.blogspot.com
Could you pressure cooker the pork instead of baked
Absolutely. But I’d have to really study some recipes to make sure I’m getting it right.
Yum! 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!
Yes! Go Back! 🙂 But do we really need an excuse? Love ❤️ New Mexico Food.
Well this isn’t Tex-Mex 🙂 Cheese would ruin this dish IMO.
PS I adore The Shed!
Good Call Scotty! 🙂
I’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. 😀
You need to plan a trip to Santa Fe/Chimayo Karen.
There’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.
I’ve tried molasses and honey and brown sugar. I’m thinking I’m partial to that molasses.