Great Southwest pork tenderloin chili with chunks of tender pork, beans, all in a spicy liquid. All with the added bonus of being low-fat and very healthy. Just follow these easy step by step photo instructions.
Introduction
I have always said that pork and Mexican are made to go together. Well, I just proved it again. With only 10 minutes of prep, a crock pot, and 4 hours, you can have a very healthy, wonderful tasty meal.
With only about 3-4 grams of fat per serving, this will fit any diet. But I don't want you to think of this as a diet dish. This will blow most other chili out of the water on taste.
There are very few recipes for a pork-based chili, but I did find an inspiration recipe Jerre's Black Bean and Pork Tenderloin Chili at Allrecipes. With my inspiration in place, I changed the beans around for some variety and modified the spices some for taste, and added a jalapeno.
My Rating:
Many times I have trouble with the rating. Not this time. This will be in the top ten for the year for sure. A healthy recipe has no right to be this good.
🐖Pork Tenderloin
Remember that pork tenderloin is NOT pork loin. This recipe is for a tenderloin, which will produce a nice tender chili where the pork loin will be tough and dry.
⏰Cooking Time
One other major change from the inspiration recipe is cooking time. 8 hours is just too long to abuse pork tenderloin. It is more than done, and the chili flavors have come together nicely in 4 hours on low.
✔️Tips
The total volume of this recipe is 3 quarts, the minimum size of the crock pot is 4 quart.
I rinsed all the beans. I have increased the chicken broth a bit to make up for the volume loss.
You should be able to do this on the stovetop with a 2-3 hour simmer.
Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.
📖Crock Pot Chili Recipes
Ultra Simple Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Prep onion and green pepper and chop medium. Prep jalapeno chop fine.
Prep tenderloin by removing all trim-able fat and the silverskin. Cut into ¾ to 1-inch cubes.
Rinse all beans. Place all ingredients in a crock pot on low for 4 hours.
📖Recipe
Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pork tenderloin
- 28 oz black beans - rinsed
- 14 oz light kidney beans - rinsed
- 4 oz green chilies
- 1 onion - medium diced
- 1 green pepper - Chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper - diced small
- 16 oz salsa
- 16 oz low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- Prep onion and green pepper and chop medium. Prep jalapeno and chop fine.
- Prep tenderloin remove all trimmable fat and the silverskin. Cut into ¾ to 1-inch cubes.
- Place all ingredients in a crock pot on low for 4 hours.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Remember that a pork tenderloin is NOT a pork loin. This recipe is for a pork tenderloin.
- This needs a crock pot of 4 quarts or larger.
- You can adjust the heat in this recipe by eliminating the jalapeno pepper and the heat of the salsa.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.
- Nutrition is for serving size of about 1 ½ cup.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published January 16, 2010. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Susan
Dr. Dan - I realize this is not a new recipe for you but I just found your blog and tried it over the weekend. I'm a bit of a spice wimp so I did not add jalapenos and I only had half the red salsa called for. I ended up with half red and half chili verde salsa. It was wonderful. Thanks for the site. I live alone and it is great to find some recipe with smaller servings. The chili made a lot but I shared with extended family. Thanks again!
DrDan
Hi Susan, I leave the comments open on all recipes (at least for now) so readers can still contribute.
I find it hard to believe this recipe is 4 yrs old. I really do love this one.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dr Dan
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umbrellalady, I feel your pain re sodium. I am new to learning ways to curb it. But so far in my education it appears that prepared stocks and bouillons are the devil for me. (I started rinsing canned vegetables so many decades ago that I can't remember the reason.) I'm not about to begin making homemade stock regularly so I am relegated to diluting regular canned stock or using the low-sodium stuff.
DrDan, I really like this recipe. Pork is just wonderful easy low-fat thing, isn't it? And lends itself well to crockpotting.
Martha (MM)
Gorgeous slow cooker dish! Thanks for linking this one up too :-)
Jeffrey and Juli
This looks great- and I love your high-tech slow cooker!I agree with Chris, it looks like Darth Vader.
One assumes that the[cooking]force is strong with this one? ;)
Dr Dan
I was thinking R2D2... it beeps
Chris
Ahhhh! Your crock pot control panel looks like Darth Vader! I now dub he, Crock Vader.
"You don't know the power of the Crock side!"
Steph@PlainChicken.com
sounds great!
Dr Dan
I thought it was just right but I like salt and my blood pressure is good. I always use low sodium broth for what little that is worth.
You can rinse the beans if you're sodium sensitive or worried. The total sodium my way is about 3 teaspoons of salt. It sounds heavy but you add salt to a recipe but you don't usually count what is in the components. From what I can find, rinsing the beans would decrease the sodium by 20-40%. You could also use low sodium beans or dry beans.
umbrellalady
This recipe sounds wonderful but I wonder about the salt content with all the canned beans and their liquids, as well as the chicken stock and salsa, especially if they are all commercially produced.
Great with the fat content being so low!