Easy Carnitas, Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven
Easy Carnitas with tortillas.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder see notes
- sea salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 2 jalapeno seeded and ribs removed, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and sliced
- 1 orange cut in half
- 4 limes divided
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon chile powder
- 2-4 cups beef broth or water
- tortillas
- 2 red onions diced to serve with carnitas
- handful cilantro
- guacamole or sliced avocado
Instructions
- Trim excess fat from pork shoulder. Cut into 4 separate pieces.
- Salt liberally.
- Heat tablespoon of olive oil in dutch oven and brown pork pieces on all sides. Remove, set aside.
- Add onions, pepper to pan. Cook for two minutes. Add garlic. Cook for one minute.
- Add in juice of orange and orange pieces, juice of limes. I refrain from adding in lime pieces, as the lime can add bitterness.
- Add pork back in.
- Add in just enough water or broth to cover 2/3 of the meat. Add cinnamon Stick and chile powder.
- Cover and braise for 3 1/2 hours.
- Place in slow cooker on high for 4 hours, or low for 10 hours. (You may need to add in a little more water. Check hourly if you are using dutch oven.
- Remove from oven. Strain pork from broth., making sure to save broth. Pull pork into pieces. Strain the broth.
- Pull pork in pieces and place on large baking sheet. Pour about 1 cup of broth over pork. You want the crisp up the ends a little, but still keep pork tender.
- Bake in oven at 375 degrees F. for approximately twenty minutes until most of the broth is gone and the meat has crispy crackling edges.
- Serve with tortillas, chopped red onion, cilantro, sliced avocado, lime slices.
- You can freeze for up to three months.
Notes
I have also used 5 pound carnitas with bone.