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Crock-pot Red Pork Tamale Filling Recipe

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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!

homemade red pork tamale 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.

red pork tamale recipe and video

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!

crock pot red pork tamale filling

5 from 1 vote
red pork tamales
Print
Crock-pot Red Pork Tamale Filling Recipe
Prep Time
50 mins
Cook Time
9 hrs
marinade
3 hrs
Total Time
12 hrs 50 mins
 

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.

Course: dinner
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: pork tamale, tamale
Servings: 50 tamales
Calories: 50 kcal
Author: Ashlee Marie
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
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
Red Pork Filling
  1. First de-stem and de-seed your chilies

  2. Soak the red chilies in hot water until they are soft. Weight them down, to keep them soaking

  3. Toast your bay leaves however you like. I cooked them in a dry skillet over low heat on the stove.
  4. 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)
  5. Add the garlic, onion, thyme, marjoram, oregano, salt and pepper with the chilies to the blender and blend until smooth.
  6. If it's too thick or not blending well add some of your chile water to the blender. I used about half a cup
  7. 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.
  8. 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).
  9. When it's done shred the pork and your ready to fill your tamales!
Tamales

  1. soak the corn husks in water until soft

  2. whisk the Maseca, baking powder and salt together

  3. add the broth and combine

  4. in a separate bowl beat the lard until fluffy

  5. 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

  6. keep a damp paper towel over the dough your not using to keep it from drying out

  7. 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

  8. dry a corn husk, and place the flattened circle in the corn husk

  9. 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.

  10. wrap the corn husk around and fold up the bottom and use the husk to fold and press the top dough down, seal.

Steaming

  1. stack the wrapped tamales chimney style in a large steamer

  2. 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. 

  3. Serve with Beans!

  4. you can freeze extras before or after steaming

Recipe Video

instant pot beans and tamales

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

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

    Happy Sunday!

    Reply

  6. 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

    • 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.

      Reply

  7. 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

    • 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?

      Reply

  11. 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

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