Salsa Verde Braised Pork Tostadas

This delicious braised pork recipe slow cooks pork shoulder in a roasted tomatillo salsa for a flavourful, almost caramelized shreddable pork perfect for tacos, tostadas, burritos, or taco salad bowls.

It’s almost too easy. Sear the pork, add a can of homemade salsa, and braise. Done. The hardest part is frying the tostadas, and even then you can use store bought. Want to make it even easier? Throw it in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8, but please don’t skip searing the meat.

My husband LOVES these and has requested they become a more regular dinner item – for him that’s once of the highest compliments I can receive. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Using Canned Salsa

If you’re like me and love to garden and canning, you might also be in a similar situation where you have 40 or so jars of salsa sitting in your basement.

The first year I successfully grew tomatillos I made the mistake of planting 4 tomatillo plants. You need 2 for cross pollination but due to the previous year’s dissapointing yield, I thought 4 would be perfect.

I was so so wrong.

I was picking nearly a pound of tomatillos DAILY. I ended up canning 4-5 variations of tomatillo salsa which were all delicious but a girl can only eat so much salsa. Plus I had made peach salsa and tomato salsa as well!

This recipe is perfect for using up that dusty can of tomatillo salsa in the basement, or you can whip one up quickly if you have tomatillos on hand or at the grocery store.

The salsa recipe I used was prepared using Bernardin/Ball’s Complete Book Of Home Preserving’s instructions for Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, which is a half tomato, half tomatillo salsa with rehydrated dried peppers for spice! These recipes may also make a good substitute but haven’t been tested:

Frying or Baking Tostadas?

Baked tostadas are good for snacking on, but they will get soggy under the toppings used in this recipe. Store bought tostadas will hold up better than baked, and freshly fried tostadas will hold up the best.

Pork Loin versus Pork Shoulder

Pork shoulder is arguably the better cut, it has more intermuscular fat marbling which makes it a popular choice for making tender, pulled pork style dishes. Pork loin is less than half of the cost by weight, and since it’s so lean, you end up with more meat.

However, due to the leanness of the pork loin, it tends to be very dry and tough when cooked and is difficult to get a shreddable texture. I have had success with using pork loin in this recipe, but pork shoulder is preferred!

To Prepare Salsa Verde Braised Pork Tostadas

Make the Braised Pork

Cut the pork into 1 ½” – 2″ pieces and season both sides generously with kosher salt. Preheat the oven to 325℉ with a rack on the lowest shelf and room to place your pot.

Preheat a large enamelled dutch oven over medium-high to high heat. Once it’s very hot, add the lard to the pot and swirl it around until it melts and heats. Add in half of the pork (do not overcrowd) and let it cook, undisturbed for 4-5 minutes until brown. Flip and repeat on the other side. Set aside in a clean bowl and repeat with the second half of the pork.

Add the reserved pork back into the pot and adjust so that it almost fits in a single layer. Cover with a can of tomatillo salsa (~1 3/4 cup / 14 oz). Keep in mind that if your salsa is spicy, your pork will be spicy.

Stove Top: Recipe can be done on the stove instead of in the oven. If on the stove, add 1/2 cup of chicken or pork broth and make sure it’s over very very low heat and check on occasionally to make sure the liquid does not evapourate too quickly or it boils too rapidly.

Slow Cooker: In the slow cooker, either 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. If the meat is still tough and not shreddable, continue to cook until it is fork tender.

Fry the Tortillas

Using day old tortillas is best for tostadas – they crisp up better, however, fresh tortillas will work fine. Whenever I make tortillas I freeze the extras, which works wonderfully for making tostadas once thawed. Allow them to thaw completely before frying.

Heat a neutral, high-heat oil over medium-high to high (depending on your stove) for 5 minutes. You can use as little or as much as you like since the tortillas are so thin and they do not need to be fully submerged. I use about half an inch of oil.

You’ll know the oil is hot enough once you dip the corner of the tortilla in the oil and it bubbles up. Place the tortilla in gently and cook for 60-90 seconds per side, using metal tongs to flip, until lightly browned and it is fully crisped up. If there’s still a bit of give with metal tongs just flip it again and give it another 30 seconds. Remove to a wire rack and allow them to cool and drain excess oil.

Avocado Crema

In a high-walled, narrow base blender (the wider bases require more contents/liquid to blend properly), add in the flesh from one avocado, 1/4 cup sour cream, juice of half a lime, 1/2 tsp salt, a roughly chopped jalapeño, and 6-8 sprigs of cilantro. You may need 1-2 tbsp of water to help it blend.

Blend on low until everything is mostly broken down before increasing the speed slowly to medium to make a smooth sauce. If the blade starts free-spinning (no longer blending), stop, scrape down the sides a bit and stir, then set the speed lower and increase gradually again.

To Serve