I’ve mentioned my love of Tamales a few times and was tickled to learn how to make my own a few years ago! This year for our cousin Christmas party my Brother in Law and sister and I made a huge batch! They brought the green chicken tomatillo filling (that I’ll share another time) and I was in charge of the red pork filling! I scoured the internet and found a great recipe!
First de-stem and de-seed your chilies
Soak the red chilies in hot water until they are soft. Weight them down, I used another bowl on top of the chilies. The recipe called for 20, but they are such different sizes I wasn’t sure how many to do, this mixture of chilies tasted great, but I wish I’d added even more (but I like it spicy)
Toast your bay leaves however you like. I cooked them in a dry skillet over low heat on the stove.
Your chilies should be nice and soft now, put them in a blender, but retain the chile water (use gloves or tongs)
Add the garlic, onion, thyme, marjoram, oregano, salt and pepper with the chilies to the blender and blend until smooth.
If it’s too thick or not blending well add some of your chile water to the blender. I used about half a cup
In a large enough bowl so the meat can be covered (or in a large gallon size zip-lock freezer bag, like me), add the cubed pork, bay leaves and smother with the chile mix so that it can marinate for a minimum of 3 hours.
After marinating for a sufficient amount of time, add the meat and the chile mixture to your slow cooker and cook on low overnight (or all day depending on what time your going to make your tamales, you want a good 8 hours).
When it’s done shred the pork and your ready to go! This recipe is not only great for tamales, but we ate the leftovers in burritos, taco’s and anything else you can think of, even by itself (mmmmm) over the next few days.
Serve with your favorite Beans, salsa and sour cream!
easy to make spicy red pork filling made in the crock pot perfect for homemade tamales. It's easier to make these red pork tamales than you think and so worth it.
- 3½ lbs boneless pork shoulder or Boston butt cut into 3-inch chunks and trimmed
- 2 medium onion roughly chopped
- 9 cloves garlic lightly smashed and peeled
- 4 dried bay leaves toasted
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 Tbsp Oregano
- 20-25 various types of dried red chiles guajillo,New Mexico Big Jim and/or Ancho - they all work well
- 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp Black peppercorns
- 2 C maseca
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 C chicken broth
- 2/3 C lard
- Dried Corn husks
- First de-stem and de-seed your chilies
Soak the red chilies in hot water until they are soft. Weight them down, to keep them soaking
- Toast your bay leaves however you like. I cooked them in a dry skillet over low heat on the stove.
- Your chilies should be nice and soft now, put them in a blender or food processor, but retain the chile water (use gloves or tongs)
- Add the garlic, onion, thyme, marjoram, oregano, salt and pepper with the chilies to the blender and blend until smooth.
- If it's too thick or not blending well add some of your chile water to the blender. I used about half a cup
- In a large enough bowl so the meat can be covered (or in a large gallon size zip-lock freezer bag, like me), add the cubed pork, bay leaves and smother with the chile mix so that it can marinate for a minimum of 3 hours.
- After marinating for a sufficient amount of time, add the meat and the chile mixture to your slow cooker and cook on low overnight (or all day depending on what time your going to make your tamales, you want a good 8 hours).
- When it's done shred the pork and your ready to fill your tamales!
soak the corn husks in water until soft
whisk the Maseca, baking powder and salt together
add the broth and combine
in a separate bowl beat the lard until fluffy
add add most of the beaten lard to the maseca mixture and combine with your hands - mix until the texture feels right - this might take a little playing - add more lard as needed
keep a damp paper towel over the dough your not using to keep it from drying out
roll a ball about 1 1/2 inches wide, flatten it (I use a tortilla press with a plastic bag) - if the texture is right the flattened circle won't break or crack, if it does add more whipped lard
dry a corn husk, and place the flattened circle in the corn husk
fill with a few Tablespoons of filling and fold one side, then the other over the filling, then fold up the bottom and press closed. I recommend using the corn husk vs your hands - try not to touch the filling.
wrap the corn husk around and fold up the bottom and use the husk to fold and press the top dough down, seal.
stack the wrapped tamales chimney style in a large steamer
add a damp towel over the top and steam for 1 hour - text to see if they are done - they might need to steam for an extra 30 mins.
Serve with Beans!
you can freeze extras before or after steaming
Recipe Video
Boy, do these look good! I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to spice so I’d probably have to cut back on the chilies, but my husband would love it extra-spicy! Either way, your tamales look delicious!
This is actually not to spicy the way I did it, next time I’m tripling my chilies!
I love a good crock pot recipe. Thanks for sharing this.
our so welcome! This meat was amazing, it would be great in so many dishes!
I’m confused! You call this a red beef recipe but then you say to use pork. If you actually did beef, what cut of beef did you use?
[email protected]! you are the only person who caught this! I just updated the post, it’s totally pork… I am apparently CRAZY! Thanks for the catch.
Lol! I was reading the other comments and was starting to think I was crazy that no one else noticed it. It looks great. Can’t wait to give it a try.
Crazy right???? Oh well, better late then never!
Looks yummy! Great pics too! I would love for you to share this with my “Unveil Your Genius” link party.
Happy Sunday!
Thanks so much! It is REALLY yummy!!! Time to get together again and make a summer tamale batch!
2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, or mild oregano, or 1 Tbs. dried Mexican oregano
How much majoram and oregano should i add?
it’s 2-3 sprigs of… fresh thyme, OR marjoram OR oregano, or a mixture of it all adding up to 2-3 sprigs, or if you don’t have fresh use the dried spices.
Just wanted to thank you for the great red pork tamale recipe above. I used most of the instructions with some variations in technique (didn’t marinate, nor did I have a crock pot) and additional spices and made my first ever pulled pork. It was amazingly delicious in buns and then the next day I made my first ever tamales using the pulled pork as a filling. Great recipe.
the second time I made it I totally did the same thing, added a ton more peppers, and AMAZING! Glad you liked it! Looks good!
What do you do with the toasted Bay leaves? I don’t see those mentioned again after they’re toasted.
you add it to the marinade (after it’s blended)
I assure you that you will not find these tamales at any store. Absolutely delicious!
thx so much! My chicken tomatillo tamale filling recipe that I got from my cousin is even better! I need to post that one next!
Hi – recipe looks great! How many tamales are you able to make from this one recipe?
honestly I’ve never counted! since we make a chicken filling at the same time we juts make tamales until both fillings are gone! Um more than 30 less than 100?
I made some pork tamales a few years ago and I’ve been craving the meat filling lately! This isn’t the same recipe I made (I can’t find it anywhere) but it’s very similar. Definitely good enough that it satisfied the craving. Thanks!
so glad it worked out for you!
the marinade seems/smells really spicy, does it mellow out?
it’s actually not very spicy – I doubled the chilies this year and it STILL wasn’t spicy enough for me! def smells spicier than it is