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Pork Carnitas

Ingredients
  

  • 4 - 5 pound pork shoulder/pork butt
  • 1 yellow onion chopped in small wedges
  • 1/2 jalapeno seeded and chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 oranges juiced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

For the rub:

  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano

Instructions
 

  • 1. Rinse pork shoulder in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
  • 2. Combine rub ingredients in small bowl. Drizzle olive oil over pork and apply rub all over meat. Trim excess fat if you prefer. I did and there was still plenty of fat marbling to keep meat from drying out.
  • 3. Place pork in crock-pot and top with onion wedges, garlic, jalapeno and pour Worcestershire sauce and juice from 2 oranges over meat.
  • 4. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. I really recommend the low and slow method for this recipe.
  • 5. Let pork cool for 10-15 minutes, and then shred with 2 forks. The meat will literally fall apart, making your job take about 2 minutes.
  • 6. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to large cast iron or frying pan on high heat. Cook meat in batches just until bottom layer gets crispy. Remove meat and set aside. You will need to do this process in batches. I had close to 5 pounds of meat and was able to do it in 3 batches. The first batch took almost 5 minutes as the oil was still heating up, but the second and third batch only took about 3 minutes to pan fry.
  • Optional- skim off excess fat from juices in crock-pot and discard. Add 1-2 ladles full of juices to meat.
  • 7. Serve and enjoy!
  • Recipe adapted from Nagi at RecipeTin Eats