Is everyone getting ready for Cinco de Mayo?! What a great day to celebrate Mexican independence by drinking margaritas and eating tacos! What a great excuse to have a party! Who doesn’t love margaritas and tacos?
Mexican tacos! What better way to feed a large group? Slow cookers! What better way to make a meal with very little work? Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas! Sounds like a match made in heaven.
Pork Carnitas are great! They have this gorgeous crispy outside and are moist inside. Their secret? They are cooked in large amounts of lard. Lard! Yup, you read that correctly. Now while that may be all well and good for a commercial kitchen, I don’t happen to keep large quantities of lard on hand. I also don’t have the hours to stand over the stove making this dish.
Slow Cooker to the rescue! These Pork Carnitas start off in the Slow Cooker for a “Dinner While You Work”. When you get home, you shred them and broil them to make them crispy and crunchy without the lard. This is a great midweek recipe as the prep takes no time and the finished result is fantastic!
Looking for other ways to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Check out the recipes for Chicken Tinga Tacos and Mexican Braised Beef Tacos!
Prep time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 8+ hours + 5 minutes broil time; Serves: 6 – 8 (+ leftovers)
What you need:
- 3 1/2 lbs pork shoulder, bone and the large fat cap removed (you can use smaller: 2 1/2 lb)
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp Chipotle powder (you can also use chili powder)
- 2 tsp Mexican oregano (or plain oregano if you don’t have Mexican)
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 large onion, large dice
- 5 cloves garlic, rough chop
- 1 Jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
- 1 orange, juice (save shells)
- Serve with: corn tortillas, slices of avocado, cilantro (roughly chopped), pickled red onion (or thinly sliced red onion), lime wedges and pickled Jalapeños
What you do:
- Combine olive oil, Chipotle powder, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl, stir to mix
- Pat the pork dry, then rub the pork shoulder with the spice mix (if you want to make ahead, wrap with saran wrap and put in the fridge overnight – if you can, this will increase the flavour)
- Put in a slow cooker
- Top with onions, garlic and Jalapeño (to save time in the morning, dice these all up the night before and put in a container)
- Top with fresh orange juice
- Tuck orange shells on the sides
- Cook for 8+ hours on low
- Put your oven on broil
- Pull the pork apart with two forks, try to make it chunkier, rather than finely shredded (I do this in a separate bowl)
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
- Take shredded pork and spread out on baking sheet
- Broil for approximately 3 minutes, until it starts to get crispy and crunchy (keep on eye on it, you don’t want to burn it)
- Using the leftover liquid from the slow cooker, add some to the pork to moisten, then toss the pork to coat
- Put more liquid on the pork
- Put back under the broiler for 2 – 3 more minutes (this gives you a little crispness on both sides)
- Serve
- Serve on warmed corn tortillas, top with sliced avocado, cilantro, pickled red onion (or thinly sliced red onion) and fresh lime wedges
Have made these twice now since Cinco De Mayo, and both family and friends have raved about how good they are. Thanks for posting this, as it’s going to be a go-to for us for our summer hostings!
Thanks for the comment Wes! Glad to hear that it was a repeat hit!
Amazing recipe. I served these at a dinner party and everyone loved them! Then we ate the leftovers the next morning with waffles and it was just as great as dinner.
Thanks Katharine, glad to hear they were a hit! Thanks also for sharing the awesome idea for the reboot! That sounds fabulous!