This satisfying Instant Pot Pork Soup with New Mexico Hatch Chiles achieves long-simmered flavor in a short pressure cooking time. Although made with simple ingredients, roasted green chiles add a kick of spicy flavor to this soup, making this soup an ideal comfort meal.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Hatch chiles are a variety of chile grown in the town of Hatch in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico where the rich soil gives the chiles an earthy, buttery flavor.
And don’t worry, if you don’t have access to these chiles, read my tips section below to find out what you can use as a substitute.
Hatch chiles are also grown in other parts of the Southwestern United States, but the ones coming from the Hatch Valley are the real deal and have a special flavor.
These chiles are harvested every summer for about 6 to 8 weeks in August and September. Every year the Hatch Chile Festival is held in the Hatch Valley around labor day, drawing chile aficionados from around the world.
But you don’t have to go to New Mexico to get these chiles. They are available at Whole Foods Markets from Texas to Washington during a few weeks in August and September.
I’m not sure about their availability on the East Coast, so if you live east of the Mississippi, and are able to procure New Mexico chiles or hatch chiles, let me know in the comments. You can purchase roasted hatch chiles online, including on amazon.
Here in Salt Lake City, my favorite local grocery store Harmons roasts hatch chiles in large drum-shaped chile roasters every summer.
If you drive by Harmon’s during their chile roast weekends, you can smell the roasted peppers from blocks away! The aroma announces the changing of seasons – the end of summer and the approach of fall.
Harmon’s Grocery has mild and spicy varieties and I purchase a bit of both. You can buy the chiles by the bushel or by the pound. I double-wrap them in smaller resealable bags and freeze them. I use the chilies throughout the year until I can get a fresh batch again in August.
I make a variety of hatch chile recipes including soups, Mexican dishes like tacos, nachos, enchiladas, and chile verde. I add the chiles to mashed potatoes, curries, and other recipes whenever I need a burst of smoky flavor and spiciness.
Today I’m sharing my Instant Pot hatch chile pork soup. I would even call it a pork stew because it’s quite filling and substantial. You don’t have to use a lot of spices or ingredients. The chiles give the soup plenty of smoky flavor and spices.
Here are some Instant Pot soup and stew recipes you might like to try out!
– Instant Pot Chipotle Shrimp Soup
– Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup
– Instant Pot African Peanut Stew
– Instant Pot Chicken Curry Soup
Tips and Substitutions
Chiles
Although hatch chiles are called for in this recipe, you can substitute Anaheim, cubanelle or poblano chiles.
To roast them at home:
- Pierce the chile with a skewer or meat fork and rotate it over an open gas flame until the skin is blistered and blackened. *
- Cool the peppers by placing them in a paper bag and folding the top to seal it.
- Peel and discard the blackened, loosened skin. The remaining pepper has a clean appearance but with a smoky flavor leftover from the blackened peel. Roasted peppers can also be frozen before peeling.
* Take precautions when you’re roasting over a flame! Keep children away, don’t leave the peppers unattended, and watch out for embers.
You can also roast them on the grill or in the oven. Find out more about how to roast chiles at home from my friends over at Chili Pepper Madness.
And if you don’t want to go to the trouble of roasting chiles, feel free to use chopped fresh chiles, bottled chiles or canned chiles.
Meat
I like to use pork shoulder in my Instant Pot pork recipes because it does really well when pressure cooked. However, pork shoulder can release a lot of fat into the cooking liquid and that’s why I recommend trimming off most of the fat and cutting the meat into smaller cubes.
I frequently substitute boneless country-style pork ribs which are a similar cut to pork shoulder, but more convenient for cutting up into smaller pieces.
You don’t have to use pork for this soup. You can use your choice of meat, including beef and chicken. Here are the cooking times for different meats, cut into bite size pieces:
- Chicken – 4 minutes. Cook the potatoes and chicken together.
- Beef chuck – 15 minutes, but 20 minutes would be fine too.
Mexican Oregano
Mexican Oregano comes from a very different plant family than (regular) Mediterranean Oregano. If you don’t have access to dried Mexican oregano, substitute dried marjoram. And if you need to, go ahead and use regular oregano, but you might want to decrease the quantity.
Broth
I use low sodium chicken broth. And for deglazing, feel free to use 1/4 cup of dry white wine. I frequently use wine to deglaze.
Potatoes
I’m a big fan of potatoes in general, but I really like them in this soup recipe. I like to use Yukon gold potatoes but you can also use red potatoes. Alter the pressure cooking time for the potatoes based on how well cooked you want them to be.
With the stated pressure cook time, the potatoes are fall-apart tender but you can cook them as little as 2 minutes to cook them through but keep their shape.
You don’t have to use potatoes. You can add sweet potatoes, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots and/or turnips and even finish the soup with chopped spinach and allow it to wilt in Saute mode.
If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide, Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide, or Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make this recipe.
Instant Pot Pork and Hatch Chile Soup – Ingredients
- Pork
- Potatoes
- Broth
- Chiles
- Onions
- Mexican oregano
- Garlic
- Pepper
- Cilantro
- Bay leaves
- Salt
- Oil
How to Make Pork and Hatch Chile Soup in the Instant Pot (Step by Step Instructions)
- Peel and chop roasted chile peppers
- Turn on Saute Mode
- Saute onions and garlic
- Saute pork
- Stir in broth, chiles, and spices
- Pressure cook
- Natural release pressure
- Stir in potatoes
- Pressure cook
- Quick-release pressure
- Stir in cilantro
Peel and Chop Roasted Chile Peppers
- Peel charred skin and discard
- Finely chop roasted chile peppers.
Turn on ‘Saute’ Mode
- Instant Pot DUO: Select the Saute function.
- Instant Pot ULTRA: Select the Saute function and press Start.
Saute Onions and Garlic
- Once the Instant Pot has preheated, add oil to the inner pot and let it heat up.
- Add onions and garlic
- Saute until onions are transparent, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Saute Pork
- Stir in pork, salt, and pepper.
- Saute pork until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- Deglaze as needed by adding small quantities of broth and using a spatula to loosen the brown bits.
Stir in Broth, Chiles, and Spices
- Stir in broth, Mexican oregano, chiles, and bay leaves.
Instant Pot Duo Pressure Cook 20 minutes
- Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in ‘Sealing’ position
- Press Manual (or Pressure Cook) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until the display reads ‘20′ (20 minutes).
Instant Pot Ultra Pressure Cook 20 minutes
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 20 minutes (00:20).
- Press Start.
Pressure Cooking Process (Duo and Ultra)
- Instant Pot display will change to On.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down to 0; it will then switch to Keep Warm mode and display L0:00 or 00 00 and begin to count up the number of minutes since pressure cooking completed.
How to do a 15-minute Natural Release of Pressure
- Allow the Instant Pot to stay in ‘Keep Warm’ mode for 15 minutes.
How to Release any Remaining Pressure on the DUO
- Move the steam release handle to ‘Venting’. Any remaining steam will come out of the steam release handle.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.
How to Release any Remaining Pressure on the ULTRA
- Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and any remaining steam will come out of the Steam Release Valve.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.
[You can also do a full natural release. Allow the float valve to fall on its own. This can take over 30 minutes.]
Add Potatoes
- Stir in cubed potatoes.
Instant Pot Duo Pressure Cook 4 minutes
- Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in Sealing position
- Press Manual (or Pressure Cook) and + or – until the display reads 4 (4 minutes).
Instant Pot Ultra Pressure Cook 4 minutes
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 4 minutes (00:04).
- Press ‘Start’.
Pressure Cooking Process (Duo and Ultra)
- Instant Pot display will change to On.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down to 0; it will then switch to Keep Warm mode and display L0:00 or 00 00 and begin to count up the number of minutes since pressure cooking completed.
How to Quick Release Pressure (QR) on the DUO
- Move the steam release handle to Venting. Steam will come out of the steam release handle.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.
How to Quick Release Pressure (QR) on the ULTRA
- Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and steam begins to come out of the Steam Release Valve.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.
Stir in Cilantro
- Stir in chopped cilantro.
- Serve with crusty French bread.
Instant Pot Pork Soup with Hatch Chiles
Ingredients
- 3 roasted hatch chiles *
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 cups onions chopped
- 1 Tbsp garlic minced
- 2 1/2 lbs pork shoulder cut into 1 inch cubes, trimmed of fat
- 2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 5 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 2 Tbsp Mexican oregano
- 3 bay leaves small (or 2 large)
- 4 cups potatoes cubed (preferably Yukon gold)
- 1/2 cup cilantro (chopped) to garnish
Equipment
Instructions
- Peel the charred skin from the chiles. Chop finely and set aside.
- Select the ‘Saute’ function and pre-heat the Instant Pot.
- Add oil to the pre-heated inner pot of Instant Pot and allow it to heat up.
- Stir in onions and garlic and saute till translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add pork, salt and black pepper, stirring until pork is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- Press Cancel.
- Deglaze with 2 tablespoons of broth. Stir to remove any brown bits. There should be nothing stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
- Once deglazed, stir in remaining broth, Mexican oregano, chiles, and bay leaves.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.
- Do a 15-minute natural release (wait for 15 minutes and then release remaining pressure) or a full natural pressure release.
- Select ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot lid.
- Stir in potatoes.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 4 minutes (If you have trouble closing the lid, put the steam release mechanism into 'Venting' position, close the lid and then put it back to 'Sealing'.)
- Do a quick release of pressure.
- Select ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot lid.
- Stir in cilantro. Serve the soup with crusty french bread.
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. minced garlic, cut vegetables, etc.
- I use 2 mild and 1 spicy hatch chile. Modify based your choice of spice level.
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
- * substitute roasted Anaheim, cubanelle or poblane chiles
Nutrition
I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
If you loved this recipe, please give it a five ⭐ rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much!
Recipes you Might Also Like!
Questions, Comments? I love hearing from my readers and I reply to all comments!