A version of this Cuban Pork and Potato recipe was given to my mother by a friend’s dear Cuban grandmother. My friend wrote it in her bubbly middle school handwriting. She translating some of it from her grandmothers Spanish, on a piece of pharmaceutical notepad paper that I still have stuffed in one of my old cookbooks. It has been a favorite dish for our family and a beautiful childhood memory since. We have made some adjustments to the recipe over the years and the original seasoning blend she suggested is not available for us so I have done the best to recreate it.

My mother has actually made this dish for quite a few Cuban families over the years that she met through of her mission work. They all enjoyed it, though none have recognized the dish as something they had eaten back home. Pork and other meats are harder to obtain in recent years and is frequently saved for the wealthy and tourists. We are so blessed to have access to such a variety and abundance of foods in the United States that we can make meals inspired by other cultures whenever we desire.

Cuban Pork and Potatoes is my son Silas’ favorite dinner and my other children love it as well. Despite my son Gabe being more sensory about his foods and typically not enjoying dishes with lots of ingredients mixed together, he enjoys this a lot. The onion and peppers tend to break down into the sauce which kinda hides those veggies.

This dinner takes a little longer than a lot of the other dinner dishes I make, but it is well worth the effort. It is something I can make without a lot of focus so I never worry about screwing it up. It’s pretty darn forgiving and in 16 years I only burnt it once it in my early 20s, but my husband still ate it 😛

For the pork, tenderloin is best but I’ve been using organic boneless pork chops for years. It is the easiest to source and most affordable pork I can find that is organic and pasture raised. For the batch in the photo here, I used a Butcher Box tenderloin and It. Was. Phenomenal. (If you haven’t tried Butcher Box yet, you can get $15 off using this link.

Cooking instructions:

Season 2 pounds of bite sized, fat trimmed, diced pork with the all of the spice blend below. On medium-high heat, in a large pot or Dutch oven, brown the seasoned meat in a tablespoon of coconut oil or other oil choice. Once brown, add your diced onion, garlic, green pepper, tomato sauce and chicken broth to the pot. Cook for 20 minutes at a low boil. Add your potatoes, cover your pot, and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer until done (about an hour). The pork and potatoes should both be fork tender. We don’t like ours very soupy so it’s best to let the potatoes break a bit and add a bit of structure to the dish.

Spices Blend for the meat:

• 2 Tsp Onion powder
• 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 Tsp Oregano
• 2Tsp Parsley
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 1/2 Tsp Pepper

Ingredients:

• 2lb Yukon Gold potatoes, halved and quartered (you could use baking potato but the texture won’t be the same) into one inch cubes
• 2lb diced pork, cut into bite sized pieces (I like my pork about half the size of my potato pieces so that the meat is tender before all of the potatoes become mush)
• One small orange or yellow bell pepper or half red/half yellow pepper (we mix and match based on what is on hand)
• One small green bell pepper
• One small sweet yellow onion (about 1 cup diced)
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 Cup tomato sauce
• 1 Cup chicken broth or water
• Salt to taste at the end.

You could serve this over a bed of Cauliflower or White rice but we eat it stand alone with some green veg. The potato makes it a very filling dinner. Let me know what you think of my version of Cuban Pork and Potatoes. I hope you love it as much as we do!

❤

Cara