Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Pork) Recipe

Each tortilla desires of being full of Carnitas. Image seasoned pork slow-cooked into tender submission, gently shredded and pan-fried to golden, crispy perfection. Carnitas has that elusive mixture of juicy and crispy that’s so irresistible. The very best a part of this Carnitas? 5 minutes prep!

This can be a reader-favourite recipe included by common demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!

This can be a reader-favourite recipe included by common demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!

Is there something higher on this world than pork slowly cooked till it’s loopy juicy and collapse tender, then crisped to golden perfection?

Sure.

When it’s inside a taco. 😂

Carnitas is one among my specialities. I make this recipe usually – for on a regular basis functions, a freezer standby and for taco-bar gatherings with buddies!

I went via A LOT of Pork Carnitas recipes earlier than deciding on this as The One. I’ve been loyal to it for over a decade as a result of it ticks all my bins:

✅ Extraordinarily fast 5 minute preparation
✅ Made with straightforward to search out pure elements
✅ Sufficient flavour to eat plain (and also you will choose it out of the pan!)
✅ Adequately subtle flavour so it may be utilized in any Mexican dish (over salting and over spicing is a standard downside);
✅ Excellent caramelized brown bits whereas retaining the unimaginable juiciness from sluggish cooking;
✅ Excellent freezer meals – reheats 100% completely; and
✅ Glorious meals for gatherings – huge batch recipe, stays recent even hours after cooking it

If you happen to’re new to Carnitas, let me be the primary to welcome you to your new habit.

Carnitas are Mexico’s model of pulled pork. It’s the very first thing you search upon touchdown in Mexico. It’s why we trawled the again streets of Mexico Metropolis in torrential rains, searching down a hole-in-the-wall carnitas joint that was common with locals.

Made by sluggish cooking pork totally submerged in lard, this confit methodology of cooking yields pork that’s unbelievably wealthy and tender with a great deal of crispy golden bits.

Sadly for many house cooks, an enormous cauldron of lard isn’t viable or sensible.

However fortuitously, it is doable to make carnitas that tastes very comparable to genuine Pork Carnitas with out gallons of lard. And it’s unbelievably easy.

• Greatest Pork Minimize for Pork Carnitas – for final juicy pulled pork stuffed with flavour, you’ll be able to’t beat pork shoulder, aka pork butt. Bone in or out, it must be skinless so it may be rubbed with the Carnitas seasoning

• Carnitas seasoning – rub pork with a easy spice mixture of oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.

• Flavour for cooking – high pork in sluggish cooker with onion, garlic and jalapeño, then pour over orange juice (the key ingredient!). It sounds so easy, however with hours of sluggish cooking, mingling with the pork juices, it transforms into probably the most unimaginable braising broth that greater than makes up for the absence of gallons of lard.

• Sluggish prepare dinner till the pork is pull-apart tender and infused with unimaginable flavour

• Pan fry till golden, doused with the juices from the sluggish cooker. Pan frying is so significantly better than broiling/grill or oven!

Can Carnitas be made in an Prompt Pot or strain cooker?

Sure! The end result is precisely the identical – nobody can the distinction as soon as browned within the skillet. I make this in a strain cooker when time is of the essence!

Don’t skip the step to brown the Pork Carnitas! That is the important thing that makes this the greatest Pork Carnitas you’ll have outdoors of Mexico.

Hand on coronary heart, it’s nearly as good because the carnitas I had at a extremely genuine Mexican joint referred to as Previous City Mexican Cafe in San Diego which is well-known for its Pork Carnitas.

So if you happen to assume you’ve had nice carnitas earlier than, however you haven’t tried browning in a skillet, that is going to be a sport changer!

Whereas I’ve a fantastic fondness and tendency to favour Tacos de Carnitas (Pork Carnitas Tacos), pork this juicy and stuffed with flavour is very versatile – plus it freezes 10000% completely.

I take advantage of Pork Carnitas to make Enchiladas, Burritos, Quesadillas, Sliders, Mexican pizzas. I toss them into my Mexican Fried Rice (don’t snigger, it is a agency favorite with many readers!), and I make Carnitas Plates – pile Carnitas over Mexican Purple Rice with a aspect of Pico de Gallo or Guacamole, and steamed corn.

And naturally, I eat it straight out of the skillet. 😂

And the perfect half?

• You’re simply 5 minutes away from getting this Pork Carnitas in your sluggish cooker, strain cooker or oven.
•  It may be frozen with none lack of high quality.
• There are straightforward methods to pan fry to golden perfection and nonetheless be juicy and recent hours later – even after refrigerating.

There’s a purpose I’m hardly ever with out a stash of Carnitas in my freezer!!!

Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Pork) Recipe

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Serves: 10 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 6 hours 6 hours

Nutrition facts: 578 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 kg / 4 lb pork shoulder (pork butt) , skinless, boneless (5lb/2.5kg bone in) (Note 1)
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 onion , chopped
• 1 jalapeno , deseeded, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup juice from orange (2 oranges)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper.
2. Combine the Rub ingredients then rub all over the pork.
3. Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic (don’t worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
4. Slow Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 7 hours. (Note 2 for other cook methods)
5. Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
6. Optional: Skim off the fat from the juices remaining in the slow cooker and discard. 
7. If you have a lot more than 2 cups of juice, then reduce it down to about 2 cups. The liquid will be salty, it is the seasoning for the pork. Set liquid aside – don’t bother straining onion etc, it’s super soft.
8. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large non stick pan or well seasoned skillet over high heat. Spread pork in the pan, drizzle over some juices. Wait until the juices evaporate and the bottom side is golden brown and crusty. Turn and just briefly sear the other side – you don’t want to make it brown all over because then it’s too crispy, need tender juicy bits.
9. Remove pork from skillet. Repeat in batches (takes me 4 batches) – don’t crowd the pan.
10. Just before serving, drizzle over more juices and serve hot, stuffed in tacos (see notes for sides, other serving suggestion and storage/make ahead).

Notes

1. The Pork: Use pork with the skin removed but leaving some of the fat cap on. The fat adds juiciness to the carnitas – and excess fat can be skimmed off later.
Different sizes: Recipe fine as is for 1.7 – 2.5kg / 3.5 – 5 lb pork. If larger / smaller, scale recipe using recipe scaler (hover/click on servings and slide) and the other ingredients will change. These are boneless pork weights (add 0.5kg/1lb for bone):
1 – 1.5 kg / 2 – 3 lb: 8 hours on low.1.5 – 3 kg / 3 – 6 lb: Cook time per recipe. 3 – 4 kg / 6 – 8 lb: Use large oval slow cooker, 12 hours on low.
2. Other cooking methods:
Electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot: 1 h 30 minutes on high. Let pressure release naturally. Proceed with Step 5 of recipe.
Stove pressure cooker: use a rack or balls of scrunched up foil to elevate it from the base OR add 3/4 cup of water. Cook 1 h 30 minutes. Proceed with Step 5 of recipe.
Oven: Follow recipe but put pork in roasting pan. Add 2 cups water around pork. Cover tightly with foil, roast in 325F/160C oven for 2 hours, then roast for a further 1 to 1.5 hours uncovered. Add more water if the liquid dries out too much. You should end up with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid when it finishes cooking, and you can skip the pan frying step because you will get a nice brown crust on your pork. Shred pork then drizzled with juices.
3. Taco Fixings: Diced avocado or make a real proper Guacamole, Pico de Gallo or Restaurant Style Salsa or even just sliced tomato, grated cheese, sour cream. Sliced lettuce or pickled cabbage / red onions would also be great, but unlike other tacos, you don’t need it for the texture because the carnitas have the crispy bits! Also see this Carnitas Tacos dinner spread.
4. Other Ways to use Carnitas: Burritos (switch for the beef), Quesadillas (baked version here), Enchiladas, Sliders, with Mexican Red Rice, in Taco Soup or Enchilada Soup.
5. Storing / Make Ahead: Crispiness is retained very well, main thing is loss of moisture as meat cools (happens with all meat, shredded meat cools faster).
a) Best way to store: Shred pork but don’t pan fry. Keep pork and juice separate, refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months (for freezer, I put pork in containers/ bags and put juice in ziplock bags in the same container).
Gently reheat juice to make it pourable (congeals when cold). Pan fry per recipe, drizzling with juice.
b) Storing leftovers after pan frying: Keeps extremely well, but tends to lose juiciness when it cools down. Just drizzle with juice, cover with cling wrap and reheat – the crispy bits hold up very well. It’s not quite as crispy as when cooked fresh, but still seriously tasty.
c) Brown pork a few hours ahead / keep warm: Works extremely well. Brown pork per recipe, then transfer to slow cooker on warm setting or food warmer and drizzle generously with juices to keep it moist. Cover loosely. As long as the pork is warm when served, it’s really juicy. The crispiness holds up extremely well.
6. Source: This is a recipe I’ve been making for over a decade now, with minor tweaks over time so I can’t remember the exact source. I want to say Rick Bayless but I can’t find the recipe, however, I did find this one from Food Network which is very similar. However, I’m not sure when it was published.
7. Nutrition per serving, pork only, assuming 12 servings. Calories is higher than it actually is because it does not take into account discarded fat.