Carnitas

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This easy, melt-in-your-mouth carnitas recipe is unbelievably juicy and has irresistible browned crispy bits. As the pork cooks low and slow, your kitchen will smell amazing!

Prep Time15

Cook Time3 30

Total Time3 45

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican, Mexican-American

Keyword: carnitas recipe, tacos de carnitas

Servings:

Author: Natasha Bull

Ingredients

4-5 pounds boneless pork shoulder
1 tablespoon chili powder see note
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt see note
1/2 teaspoon pepper or to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth
Juice from 1 large orange
Juice from 1 lime
1 medium onion chopped
1-2 jalapeno peppers chopped finely
6 cloves garlic minced
For serving: warmed corn tortillas, lime wedges, red onions, avocado, cilantro, etc. optional, to taste

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300F. For slow cooker method, see notes below.
Cut the pork shoulder into 4 smaller pieces. If there's any string around the roast, remove it. Don't cut any of the fat off.
In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. Coat the pork pieces in the spice mixture, and add them to a Dutch oven.
Add the onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, chicken broth, orange juice, and lime juice on/around the pork.
Cover and cook for 2 hours, then uncover and cook for another 1.5 hours or until it's fall-apart tender.
Take the meat out of the Dutch oven and place it on a baking sheet. Shred it with two forks. Ladle about a cup of the leftover cooking liquid over top and toss to coat. You can either serve it as-is or proceed to the next step to crisp up the meat (recommended!), using one of two methods.
Method 1 (Oven): Move the rack to the top third of the oven and set your oven to broil. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and broil until you've got some nice crispy bits. I typically check after 5 minutes and then pop it back in for more time as needed.
Method 2 (Skillet): Add the meat and some cooking juices to a skillet and cook over medium-high heat until one side is crispy. The juices should have enough fat, but if needed, add some oil or lard (I reserve bacon grease when I cook it and keep it in a jar in the fridge). Do the skillet method in batches.
Serve in tacos or as desired.
For leftovers, I don't discard the remaining cooking juices. I just mix them in with the rest of the shredded pork as it helps to keep it moist. The juices will congeal when cooled (creating lard), which is great for when you want to reheat leftovers. See blog post above for more leftovers/storage/reheating tips.

Notes

Chili powder is a blend of spices that's typically fairly mild, but it can vary from brand to brand, so be sure to double check yours if heat is a concern!
If you're not using sea salt or kosher salt, start with 1 teaspoon and add more salt when serving if needed.
If you don't own a Dutch oven, use a large, deep roasting pan that has a lid.

SLOW COOKER METHOD:

The recipe is largely the same, so follow it as indicated, but use a slow cooker instead of a Dutch oven. Use the same ingredients except skip the chicken broth. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. The meat should be fall-apart tender and shred easily with two forks.

Nutrition