Sinaloa Shredded Pork in Chile Sauce (Chilorio)
Chilorio Say it: chee-loh-REE-oh
Chilorio is Sinaloa's deeply savory shredded pork, braised until tender then fried in a rust-red sauce of guajillo and ancho chiles, garlic, oregano, cumin, vinegar and orange juice. The long, slow cooking makes it jammy and crisp at the edges. It's eaten across northwestern Mexico at breakfast, as a filling for tacos, tortas and gorditas, and it keeps for days. Rich, tangy and mildly smoky rather than fiery.
Sinaloa Shredded Pork in Chile Sauce (Chilorio)
Chilorio
Pronounced chee-loh-REE-oh
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 25 min
- Total
- 1 hr 45 min
- Level
- Medium
Also nut-free and egg-free.
Allergens: none of the major allergens in the listed ingredients. Check labels on packaged ingredients.
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
For the pork
For the chile sauce
Method
Put the pork in a heavy pot with the onion, crushed garlic, bay leaves, salt and water. Bring to a bare simmer, skim any foam, then cover partly and cook for 60–70 minutes, until the meat shreds easily with a fork.
Lift the pork out and let it cool slightly, then pull it into rough shreds with two forks. Strain the broth and set 1 cup (240 ml) aside; keep the rest for another use.
While the pork cooks, toast the guajillo and ancho chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat for 20–30 seconds per side, pressing them flat, until they smell nutty and soften slightly. Do not let them scorch or they turn bitter.
Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and soak for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, dry-toast the unpeeled garlic in the same skillet until spotted black in places, about 8 minutes, then peel.
Drain the chiles and blend with the toasted garlic, oregano, cumin, pepper, vinegar, orange juice, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the reserved pork broth until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Strain through a sieve, pressing hard on the solids.
Heat the lard in a wide, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Pour in the strained sauce and cook, stirring, for 5–6 minutes, until it darkens to a deep brick red and thickens enough to coat the spoon.
Add the shredded pork and stir to coat. Cook for 12–15 minutes over medium heat, turning often, until the liquid is absorbed and the pork is glossy, a little crisp at the edges and frying in the fat.
Taste and adjust the salt. Serve hot, or let it cool and refrigerate — the flavor deepens overnight.
Regional variants
Some cooks add a splash of pineapple vinegar or a spoonful of tomato purée to the adobo, and in Sinaloa it is often cooked down drier for a filling than for a plate. Beef chuck can replace the pork, though it needs a longer braise.
Cook's notes
- Keep the simmer gentle: a hard boil makes the pork stringy instead of tender enough to shred.
- Straining the chile sauce gives chilorio its smooth, clinging texture; skip it only if you like a rustic, seed-flecked finish.
- Let the pork fry long enough at the end — the edges should sizzle and crisp slightly, not sit in liquid.
Serve with
Warm corn tortillas, refried beans, salsa verde or pickled onions; also good in gorditas, tortas and scrambled eggs.
Make ahead and storage
Keeps 4–5 days in a covered container in the refrigerator and 2 months frozen; reheat in a skillet with a splash of water to loosen.
