Seared pork slow cooked in a smoky chili tomato sauce with potatoes and carrots. This Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast is to die for! Only 20 minutes of hands-on time required.

Seared pork slow cooked in a smoky chili tomato sauce with potatoes and carrots. This Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast is to die for! Only 20 minutes of hands-on time required.

If you are a home cook with a full-time job, no matter you cook for one, two or a family of four people or more, you probably feel every day is hectic and exhausting. No matter how much you enjoy cooking, after a full day of stressful work, it could be tough.

But you want to make a fresh, healthy and delicious meal for yourself or for your family every day instead of eating takeaways or leftovers. You want to be a good wife, husband, mom or dad, to really look after your health. So you try to cook every day, struggling with what’s quick to cook, what’s yummy and what’s healthy? After cooking, eating and cleaning, you realize that your exhausting day is over because you hardly have time or energy left for yourself.

If that’s the case, maybe it’s time to look into slow cooking.

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You spend less than 30 minutes to place all ingredients in your slow cooker, possibly add a sauce, set and forget. It cooks when you sleep; it cooks when you are at work; it cooks when you spend time with your family. Image this. When you get back home from work, your entire house smells like heaven and the dinner is ready. All you need to do is to dish out and eat!

Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast - roma tomatoes

Now, here is an example of a slow cooker recipe that you can cook tomorrow morning, and it will be ready tomorrow night. It will take you 20 minutes of hands-on time and one pot to serve 4 to 6 people.

In 2014, we went to Mexico for a 7-day entrepreneur retreat. Han was in the workshop for the entire time whereas I spent my days in the kitchen learning real Mexican cooking. I mean making-everything-from-scratch-manually type of REAL.

If you ask me what’s my favorite dish during that 7-day crazing cooking, the answer is this pork roast, especially the sauce! I have made it multiple times the authentic Mexican way, which requires some serious efforts and time. I know you are busy and probably don’t have the time to make it but I really, really want you to be able to enjoy this amazing dish. So, I tweaked it, modified it and tested it until a simplified version is invented.

Seared pork slow cooked in a smoky chili tomato sauce with potatoes and carrots. This Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast is to die for! Only 20 minutes of hands-on time required.

What makes this pork roast so special is a homemade smokey chili tomato sauce. In Mexico, the sauce is made with Gaujillo chilies and Roma tomatoes. The whole process generates superb liquid and a good amount of chili paste which can be used to cook other food. In case you are curious, here’s how it’s done.

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AUTHENTIC MEXICAN CHILI TOMATO SAUCE

It starts with soaking dried Guajillo chilies in water. If you don’t know what type of chilies they are, they look like this.

Next, blend soaked and seeded dried Guajillo chilies with onion and roasted tomatoes in a food processor. Then screen out the chili skin from the chili tomato sauce to ensure the smoothest taste.

Here is how. Pour 1 cup of the sauce into the colander supported by a medium bowl. Use a spoon to stir constantly until the liquid gets separated completely. Scoop out the remaining chili paste into a different bowl. Repeat until all sauce is processed.

The liquid is what we want for the pork roast. However, I have made savory eggplants with the remaining chili paste.

Yea, I know, the screening part sounds no fun. I remember that I stood there stirring for hours to screen the sauce in Mexico as we were cooking for 15+ people. To ease our busy lives as home cooks here comes to the simplified version. I promise that you are going to love it.

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SIMPLIFIED MEXICAN CHILI TOMATO SAUCE

Forget about the screening. We want to pour the sauce directly over our pork from the food processor instead, right? That’s 2 minutes of work, not 20 minutes. What can we do to get that smokey chili taste? The trick is smoked paprika together with cayenne pepper.

With these two magical red powder, our sauce can be ready in seconds after you push that “blend” button. How is this simplified sauce different from the original one? Other than the color being brighter, paprika holds its own position for being bloody awesome.

After 8 hours of slow cooking, the pork is fork-tender, vegetables could melt in your mouth. With all that magic you did to your smokey chili tomato sauce, this pork roast is to die for! We enjoyed it over rice. Now it’s your turn.

Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast
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Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast

Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Sharon Chen
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 8 hours
  • Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
  • Category: Main, Gluten Free
  • Method: Slow Cooker
  • Cuisine: Mexican
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Description

Seared pork slow cooked in a smoky chili tomato sauce with potatoes and carrots. This Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Roast is to die for! Only 20 minutes of hands-on time required.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 pounds pork roast
  • 1.5 pounds Roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes
  • 2 medium Russet potatoes, chopped
  • 2 cups carrots, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1/4 cup bone broth or water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • chopped fresh parsley for garnishing

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roast tomatoes for 10 minutes. (If you have a gas stove, you may roast tomatoes over medium-high heat on a griddle.)
  2. While the tomatoes are roasting, trim fat from pork roast and cut the meat into desired sized chunks.
  3. Mix sea salt and ground black pepper, rub onto each side of the pork chunks. Set aside.
  4. Place roasted tomatoes, half onion, paprika and cayenne pepper in a food processor/blender. Add a pinch of salt and 1/4 cup water. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt if desire.
  5. Heat up a nonstick skillet on your stove. Melt butter and swirl. Use tongs to transfer pork chunks into the skillet, sear each side for 1 minute over medium-high heat.
  6. Place half chopped vegetables (including the other half of the onion) on the bottom of a 4-quart slow cooker. Transfer seared pork into the pot. Cover with the other half vegetables and add bay leaf. Pour the smokey chili tomato sauce over all ingredients.
  7. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Discard bay leaf. Dish and garnish with parsley. Serve over rice.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1
  • Calories: 277
  • Sugar: 6.3g
  • Sodium: 592.5mg
  • Fat: 3.2g
  • Saturated Fat: 0.9g
  • Carbohydrates: 23.9g
  • Fiber: 4.3g
  • Protein: 38.1g
  • Cholesterol: 93.9mg

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About the Author

Sharon Chen, StreetSmart Kitchen
Sharon Chen

Sharon Chen is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and author of the Complete Sous Vide Cookbook. She believes food not only brings healing but also connection. As the creator of StreetSmart Kitchen, she aims to make meal prep easier than ever and help you find balance, ease, joy, and simplicity in the kitchen as you improve your well-being.