Carnitas: Slow Cooked Tender Pork
The perfect hands off recipe for tacos, nachos, quesadillas, or a salad!
Servings: 8
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Oil Avocado, Coconut, or Olive
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 large Sweet or Yellow Onion Chopped
- 3 pounds Pork Shoulder or Butt At HEB you can find this already cut into pieces labeled "Pork for Carnitas"
- 2 Jalapenos Seeded and Minced
- 3 Garlic Cloves Minced
- 2 medium Oranges
Instructions
- Set your slow cooker to Low for 8 hours or High for 6 hours. Starting it now helps it heat up as your are adding ingredients. Be careful to not burn yourself!
- Mix Salt, Chili Powder, Cumin, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, and Oil together in a small bowl
- Chop the onion, peel and mince garlic, deseed and mince jalapeños, wash and slice oranges in half.
- Place onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Add your pork shoulder on top of the onion
- Pour seasoning/oil blend over the top of the pork, and use your hands to ensure the pork is fully coated in the seasoning
- Add garlic and jalapeños on top of pork mixture.
- Juice oranges over the top of the pork mixture, and toss in the rinds.
- Leave slow cooker on Low for 8 hours of High for 6 hours.
- Remove meat and eat right away reserving extra cooking juice on the side to pour on top if desired. Discard orange rinds.
- Or complete the "old school" method by using a slotted spoon to remove meat and onions to crisp up either in the oven or in a skillet.
- Oven method: Place meat fat side up on a baking sheet and Broil for 10 minutes on High (500°) or until the outside of the meat is crispy.
- Skillet Method: Add a small amount of oil or fat to a skillet over high heat. Fry up large pieces of meat until crispy on the outside.
- Eat as is or shred and put into tacos, on top of nachos, into quesadillas, or on top of a bed of salad greens.
- When I serve this we pull out all the toppings and let people pick what they want: sour cream, avocado, salsa, shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro. Sometimes I even grab a bag of Cole slaw to mix up!
