CARNITAS RECIPE (MEXICAN SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK)
The
best of the best of Mexican food, seasoned pork is slow cooked until tender
before gently teasing apart with forks and pan frying to golden, crispy
perfection. Pork Carnitas are that elusive combination of juicy and crispy with
perfect seasoning – and this Carnitas recipe requires just 5 minutes prep!
Prep
Time : 15 mins
Cook
Time : 6 hours
Total
Time : 6 hours 15 mins
Servings : 10-12
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)
RUB
·
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 6 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.
TO CRISP
1. 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.
2.
Remove
pork from skillet. Repeat in batches (takes me 4 batches) - don't crowd the
pan.
3. 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
· 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.
· 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.
· 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.
· 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.
· 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.
· 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.
· Nutrition
per serving, pork only, assuming 12 servings. Calories is higher than it
actually is because it does not take into account discarded fat.
Recipe
from recipetineats.com
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