It’s been a crazy week friends. Between the immense need for a serious house cleaning, plus the start of soccer twice a week for the older two, and the start of ballet for my daughter, I had to take a few days off from blogging. I seriously can’t get over how quickly this week has flown by. I am also contributing over at the FitFluential blog so you can find me there from time to time. You can check out my latest post here.
Can we just talk about Mexican food for a minute? I get that we all have different tastes…obviously. We all like different things, but some flavors are just too good and I simply don’t get how one could NOT like them.
Like Mexican food for example. I mean, I’ve lived in Texas for close to ~25 years give or take. I don’t live there now, but there is quite an obsession that us Texans have with Mexican food…it’s just some of the tastiest food out there. I really think this little carnitas taco could change your mind if you are one of the ones who “isn’t into Mexican food”.
I don’t cook with a lot of red meat, but I do love me some pork carnitas. This is delicious stuff you guys and if you aren’t into tacos for some reason, then you can do whatever you want with this meat….make burrito bowels, eat it with salad, eat it plain. Whatever. It’s so good.
You’ll do a quick sear on the stove top and then into the slow cooker it goes……
You will know it’s ready when a single fork (or two if you want it to be even easier) will shred the pork with ease. You’re looking for fall-apart tender.
That was easy! All ready to go.
I used my trusty Tortilla Land raw corn tortillas and threw them on the griddle for a “fresh” tortilla experience. See if you can find these in your area because they put the regular corn tortillas to shame. Keep in mind this is no longer Paleo if you eat it with tortillas.
My standard taco has lots of layers (all optional of course)- beans, the carnitas, a little shredded cheddar, shredded cabbage, chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, guacamole if I have it and hot sauce, a must. So so good folks.
[Tweet “The Best Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas! #paleo #slowcooker via @nutritiouseats”]
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3-4 lb boneless pork shoulder (also called pork butt), trimmed of fat
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, diced
- Combine spices (cumin through salt) in a small bowl, then rub mixture all over the pork. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add pork and sear for about 6 minutes total, a few minutes on each side. Transfer pork to the slow cooker. Add orange juice, lime juice, vegetable broth, chopped onion and garlic. Cover with the lid. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.
- Remove lid and using 2 forks, shred pork (should be fall apart tender). If you like the crispy bits of meat then put some on a foil lined cookie sheet and broil for a couple minutes or until you get some crispy bites. Make sure to spoon the juices over the meat before serving.
- For tacos:
- Fill corn tortillas with (optional) refried beans, pork, shredded cheese. top with shredded cabbage, lime juice, guacamole or avocado and hot sauce.
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This looks delicious, and I adore anything I can throw in a crock pot. Pinned for later, thanks!
Emily recently posted..How to become a Clean Eating Ninja
Oh me too! Thanks Emily!
I must try this with chicken – Mmmmmm!! I cannot eat pork (it creeps me out for some reason, LOL) but chicken, yes, chicken!
GiGi Eats recently posted..Food Babe? More Like Food Bitch
Don’t be scurred 😉
Love the spices in this dish. I just got a slow cooker so will have to add this to the list. I will try with Chicken I think! Yum!
Kierston recently posted..5 ways to add more oophm to your treadmill runs…
Thanks Kierston!
This looks perfect for a weeknight dinner. I love quick, easy recipes. Yum! =)
Miranda @ Miranda Writes Blog recently posted..Coffee Chat No. 28
Yes, and you should get some leftovers out of it too! Thanks Miranda 🙂
Yum! This looks so good! I’m definitely pinning this to make one of these days for dinner! 🙂
Thanks Jessica! Hope you enjoy it.
This looks delicious! Where in your grocery store do you find the raw tortillas? Grocery aisle, refrigerated section, frozen foods? I’d like to try them!
Refrigerated section! I buy them at bulk from Costco, but I’ve also seen them at Walmart and Safeway (occasionally). Our Walmart has them by the cheeses, butter, canned biscuits. They have a small section of fresh salsa, mexican cheese and these raw tortillas. Hope you find them- they are so good. Oh you can also go to Tortilla Land and find a store locator. 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
Love the carnitas!
Thank you!
I love shredded pork. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I love the flavors and the fact it’s so easy to make.
You’re welcome and I also love that it’s such an easy recipe. 🙂
this is also great with regular heated up corn tortilla. My family uses this to make burrito bowls. We love Chipotle but they are SO expensive. The lime rice is super easy as well. Then everything else from scratch. Sounds like a lot of work but do it together as a family and it takes no time at all including the salsas!
Do you have to sear the pork first?
Hi Leslie, the main reason to sear the meat before cooking is to caramelize the sugars in the meat which helps develop a richer, more complex flavor. With that being said, I haven’t tried it the other way with this particular dish. It would still work if you didn’t… maybe just not be AS flavorful. 🙂