Crock Pot Carnitas

We recently published a post which turned out to be one of the most popular on this blog. That’s our entry: Air Fryer Carnitas. Now, that recipe is perfect for when you are in a time crunch and you want those Carnitas Tacos yesterday. This Crock Pot Carnitas recipe, on the other hand, is just the opposite. Leave your salsa and garnishings ready the former evening. Then in the morning, place all the ingredients in your slow-cooker, go to work and come back to your almost ready carnitas. Just crisp the Crock Pot Carnitas up, assemble your tacos, dollop some salsa, top with your favorite garnishings and enjoy!

Traditionally in Mexico, Carnitas are fried in a large, deep copper vat. They come out of this fully cooked. They are tender on the inside and somewhat crispy on the outside, but not too much so. The cook-first and then crisp-later approach is really out of necessity. After all, it’s not like we have copper vats lying around. The end result from applying the aforementioned method to today’s recipe will closely replicate the flavor and texture of Carnitas in good, old Mexico.

Now, let’s talk Salsas. The favorite salsas to go with these tacos are Tomatillo Salsa Verde, Chile de Arbol Salsa or Guacamole. The amount of Salsa recipes in Mexico is, as you well know, really vast. People enjoy their tacos with whatever salsa is their favorite, but the most popular choices are the ones above. I will use the Tomatillo Salsa Verde, my favorite.

You can also accompany your tacos with this heavenly pickled Habanero Red Onion Salsa. Other garnishings you can use are radishes and/or cubed avocados, although the traditional garnishing for Carnitas tacos are chopped white onion and cilantro.

And last, but by no means least, is the fat you choose to slightly crisp up those Carnitas. Mexicans traditionally use Pork Lard. It does deepen the pork flavor of the meat. However, if it’s hard for you to find it, you can always crisp your carnitas up with some neutral-flavor vegetable oil.

Crock Pot Carnitas

Yazzy

Print Recipe

Total Time 5 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  

• 3 lbs. boneless pork, can be ribs, shoulder, or butt, fat trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cups chicken broth
• juice of two oranges
• juice of one lime
• 1 unit red or white onion peeled and quartered
• 6 – 8 cloves garlic peeled
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin (optional)
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup pork lard or vegetable oil
• For the tacos:
• warm soft corn tortillas, your favorite salsa, chopped cilantro and onion, sliced radishes, chopped avocado and/or pickled red onions.

Instructions

 

• Place the pork at the bottom of the crock pot, cover with the broth, the juice and add the onion, garlic cloves and the spices. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Set your crock pot to High and cook for 5 hours (7 – 8 hours on Low), until meat is tender.
• Transfer the pork to a large bowl and discard the broth and solids. Shred the pork into bite-size pieces. Leave some larger pieces. Carnitas in Mexico are coarsely chopped from larger chunks, so no need to overshred. Season with salt and pepper.
• In a large non-stick skillet heat the lard or vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the shredded pork and press down some with a spatula, until crisped and browned, about 4 – 5 minutes, stirring often for even crisping. You don't want to dry out and overcrisp, just brown your Carnitas some. Transfer to a serving platter.
• Assemble tacos with warm soft corn tortillas, dollop your favorite salsa and garnish with your favorite ingredients.

Notes

Tyr not to overcrisp. You don’t want dry Carnitas.

If you don’t own a large enough skillet, brown the Carnitas in 2 or 3 batches, adding lard or vegetable oil each time.