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Home » Recipes

Crock-pot Red Pork Tamale Filling Recipe

Published: November 6, 2019 | Updated: November 14, 2019 | By Ashlee

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This red pork tamale filling is tender and spicy— just how I like it! Serve it with beans and sour cream to complement.

homemade red pork tamale recipe

Why I make these Red Pork Tamales

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is Cousin Christmas – we get together with my siblings and nieces and nephews. We make tamales and gingerbread houses and just enjoy each other.

Even though my Grandma grew up in Mexico and made tamales her whole life my mom never learned and so I didn’t either. In fact I didn’t have my first tamale until I was 20, and it was love at first taste.

My Brother in law, a fellow foodie, lived in Mexico for 2 years and also fell in love with tamales so years ago we got my cousin’s wife to teach us how to make them.

It became an instant tradition we enjoy every year at Christmas. Tamales are a time consuming dish but 100% worth it.

While I’ve made them many times alone it’s always faster with an assembly line. We have an amazing system down and it takes barely any time now!

Chelsea (my sister) makes the masa and masa balls and dries the corn husks, I flatten the balls and place them in the corn husks, and Shawn (my brother in law) fills, folds and stacks them.

We fill the pot with tamales and then while the first round is steaming we assemble round two of the tamales and freeze them to steam fresh tamales at home later.

Every year me make green chicken tomatillo filling and this spicy red pork filling!  This recipe is not only great for tamales, but we ate the leftovers in burritos, tacos and anything else you can think of- even by itself!

Just take me to the Red Pork Filling Recipe already!

If you’d rather skip my tips and tricks for making tamales, along with links to other Mexican recipes and get straight to this delicious red pork tamale filling – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.

red pork tamale recipe and video

Tips to Make the Perfect Red Pork Tamale

  • Weigh down your soaking chilies with another smaller water-filled bowl so they soak up the water quicker.
  • Keep the leftover chili water for later in the recipe.
  • Toast your bay leaves however you like. I cooked them in a dry skillet over low heat on the stove.
  • If you’re using stronger peppers add just one to the blender to start with and as you puree the sauce add more peppers, tasting in between.
  • If it’s too thick or not blending well add some of your chile water to the blender. I used about half a cup

To make these Red Pork Tamales you’ll need

  • Maseca
  • Lard
  • Plastic bags—I prefer the stronger freezer gallon bags
  • Tortilla press
  • Corn husks
  • Tamale steamer

How to make tamales

First thing you do is soak corn husks. You can always dry them out again so we soak an entire bag at a time – place them in a bowl with water and keep them weighed down with another bowl on top.

Make the Tamale masa dough

Make the Masa dough for tamales – Start with the masa flour – we like Maseca brand – whisk in the salt and baking powder. Now mix in the chicken broth until combined. mixing the broth in here helps soften the masa leaving a smoother final dough

In a separate bowl your going to beat the lard until it is light and fluffy. This is the key to the best texture for your dough. Now add the beaten lard to the masa mixture a little at a time, mixing it together by hand until you get the right texture.

You can always add more lard, but if you add too much it’s hard to “dry out” the dough more – because adding straight masa at this point (without mixing it with some broth first) leaves the dough with a slightly grainy feel.

The final mixture should feel like a mix between playdough and moon sand. To test is make a ball – it should come together easily and smoothly – then flatten it out – it should flatten smoothly without cracking.

You don’t want the dough to dry out while your assembling the tamales so when your not making dough balls keep a damp paper towel on top of the dough. Also we never make a double batch, we make a fresh batch every time, and we do usually do 2-3 batches a session.

Assembling the tamales

Once your happy with the dough start by making a dough ball – about 1 1/2 inches is the size we found we like best.

Pull out a softened corn husk and wipe it dry with a paper towel.

We use a tortilla press and a plastic bag (we like the freezer back for thickness – cut off the sides and top so it’s just the plastic sheet) to flatten our dough.

Place the ball in the plastic in the press and flatten – I turn the bag/dough and flatten again to keep it even. Then peel the bag away from the dough and top with the corn husk – flip and peel the bag off the other side.

if the dough rips it needs more whipped lard – so we always test a ball before starting the full assembly line. Add the circle towards the top, wide side of the corn husk.

Now add 1 1/2-2 Tbsp filling (be careful not to let it get too wet) and now it’s time to fold up the dough and enclose the filling. Start by folding one side of the dough in – using the corn husk to help with the folding vs using your hands.

Fold the other side over as well, now fold up the bottom and now wrap the corn husk around the tamale tightly, fold up the thin side of the husk and now pinch the bottom – this will seal the dough folds we just made.

Now use a finger to fold over the top of the dough enclosing the top and pinch the top to seal that as well. The filling should be completely enclosed by the dough. (see the video if this explanation doesn’t make sense)

If you want to be fancy you can now take a strip of a corn husk and tie a bowl around the tamales, holding the folded bottom into place. Personally we don’t bother – it just takes extra time and if you stack them with the fold down it isn’t necessary.

Now in a tamale pot or a steamer basket in a normal pot start stacking the tamales. I see some people stack them vertically but it takes a lot longer to steam that way – we have found the best results by stacking them chimney style, horizontally in a circle then off setting each additional round.

Cover the pot with a damp towel and steam until the mass dough pulls away from the corn husks easily and isn’t wet. It usually takes about an hour we’ve found. Just make sure you don’t run out of water in the bottom of the pot while cooking.

crock pot red pork tamale filling

Can you freeze Tamales?

YES! you can freeze the filling if you have extra – always make the masa dough fresh though.

You can freeze the assembled tamales before steaming, just stack in a freezer bag and freeze right away.

You can also freeze them after they’ve been steamed – let them cool til they are easy to handle, stack them in a freezer bag and freeze. They are good in the freezer up to 3 months.

How do you reheat tamales?

You can steam them again – just until heated through as the dough is already cooked so it’s much faster – about 15 mins. (I do this if I’m heating up enough for everyone)

You can unwrap them from the corn husk, wrap the tamale in a damp paper towel and microwave them for a min or two. (I do this if I’m only heating a few for me)

Or you can wrap them in foil and bake them at 350 for about 15 mins – my least favorite way though.

Red Pork Tamales

If you love these tamales as much as I do, I’d love a 5 star review. Be sure to share on social media and tag me if you make it @ashleemariecakes! If you want to stay updated on new recipes sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook Group!

instant pot beans and tamales

If you love Red Pork Tamales you’ll love these with them!

  • creamy cilantro ranch pickled jalapeno dip
  • green chicken tamale recipe
  • instant pot pinto bean recipe

Jalapeno Dip | Green Chicken tamales | Grandma’s Pinto Beans

  • homemade churros
  • homemade flour tortilla recipe
  • Sandies Mexican wedding cookies recipe

Churros | Homemade Tortillas | Sandies

Connect with Ashlee Marie Online!

To watch me make this Red Pork Tamales play the video in the recipe card. There will also be a short teaser video auto playing. 

You can find all my cooking show style recipe videos on YouTube, or my short recipe videos on Facebook Watch, or my Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.

red pork tamales

Crock-pot Red Pork Tamale Filling Recipe

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.
4.55 from 22 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 9 hours
marinade: 3 hours
Total Time: 12 hours 50 minutes
Servings: 50 tamales
Calories: 50kcal
Author: Ashlee Marie
Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

Red pork filling

  • 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

Tamale dough – you”ll probably need a few batches

  • 2 C maseca
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 C chicken broth
  • 2/3 C lard
  • Dried Corn husks
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Red Pork Filling

  • 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!

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.

Steaming

  • 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

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 50kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 130mg | Potassium: 105mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Did you make this recipe?Mention @ashleemariecakes or tag #makesomeawesome and I’ll share your image in my Instagram stories!

  • Rachel

    April 3, 2012 at 6:45 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      April 23, 2012 at 1:39 am

      This is actually not to spicy the way I did it, next time I’m tripling my chilies!

  • Beth @ Aunt B's Kitchen

    April 16, 2012 at 10:29 pm

    I love a good crock pot recipe. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      April 23, 2012 at 4:41 am

      our so welcome! This meat was amazing, it would be great in so many dishes!

  • Christine

    April 22, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      April 23, 2012 at 4:58 am

      GAH@! 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.

  • Christine

    April 23, 2012 at 5:24 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      April 23, 2012 at 12:22 pm

      Crazy right???? Oh well, better late then never!

  • Taylor @ Goings on in Texas

    April 29, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    Looks yummy! Great pics too! I would love for you to share this with my “Unveil Your Genius” link party.

    Happy Sunday!

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      April 30, 2012 at 1:53 pm

      Thanks so much! It is REALLY yummy!!! Time to get together again and make a summer tamale batch!

  • Jenny

    December 22, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, or mild oregano, or 1 Tbs. dried Mexican oregano

    How much majoram and oregano should i add?

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      December 26, 2012 at 4:43 pm

      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.

  • A_Boleyn

    March 16, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      March 27, 2013 at 1:53 am

      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!

  • Valerie

    December 19, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    What do you do with the toasted Bay leaves? I don’t see those mentioned again after they’re toasted.

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      February 1, 2015 at 2:27 am

      you add it to the marinade (after it’s blended)

  • Rachel

    April 9, 2015 at 9:32 pm

     I assure you that you will not find these tamales at any store. Absolutely delicious!

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      May 26, 2015 at 6:05 pm

      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!

  • Lianne Lau

    October 31, 2015 at 10:46 am

    Hi – recipe looks great! How many tamales are you able to make from this one recipe?

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      November 15, 2015 at 6:07 pm

      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?

  • Maggie

    June 16, 2016 at 1:04 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      September 19, 2016 at 10:45 pm

      so glad it worked out for you!

  • Nicole

    December 20, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    the marinade seems/smells really spicy, does it mellow out?

    Reply
    • Ashlee

      January 25, 2017 at 6:33 pm

      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

  • Tand3

    November 11, 2017 at 10:26 am

    Where do the pepperdorns go, in the blender, or in the bag to marinate?

    Reply
    • Ashlee Marie

      February 2, 2020 at 6:57 pm

      in the blender

  • Kim

    December 19, 2017 at 6:55 am

    Can you make the meat two days before you use it to make the tamales?

    Reply
    • Ashlee Marie

      February 2, 2020 at 6:57 pm

      totally! I keep the extra meat in the freezer for a few months! you can totally prepare it ahead of time!

  • Sloane Brogan

    September 8, 2018 at 10:27 am

    Marinated over night, in the crock pot this morning, first time using chili pods and making tamales. Making them keto so fingers crossed. If I flub up the tamales at least I’ll know the meat will be great 🙂 Thanks so much for the recipe. I wanted something I could crock pot.

    Reply
    • Ashlee Marie

      February 2, 2020 at 6:56 pm

      you are so welcome! I hope you like them as much as we do!

  • Tatyanna Longoria

    November 11, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    What do u add to the crock pot to cook the tamales

    Reply
    • Ashlee Marie

      February 2, 2020 at 6:55 pm

      the filling is made in the crockpot, the tamales are steamed in a pot (you can also use an instant pot)

  • Susan

    January 16, 2019 at 1:46 pm

    5 stars
    I see from the dated comments, you posted this recipe years ago. Where’s your recipe for the green chicken tamales you rave about??? I’ve searched your website for this, but not finding it. Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Ashlee Marie

      February 2, 2020 at 6:55 pm

      https://ashleemarie.com/green-tomatillo-chicken-tamales-recipe/ here you go!

  • Billie

    August 14, 2019 at 9:45 am

    Could you sub chicken or beef for the pork? I would love the pork too.

    Reply
    • Ashlee Marie

      February 2, 2020 at 6:54 pm

      yes – just change the cooking time of course

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