Pork Carnitas
As you may have already read, my hubby loves Baja style Mexican food. Carnitas is one of those yummy dishes he used to get when he lived in the San Diego area. This is my take on Pork Carnitas. This delicious meat can be served in tacos, burritos, nachos, burrito bowls, or even a taco salad.
Pork Carnitas
Pork shoulder braised in orange, beer, and spices.
Servings: 16 tacos
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Pork Shoulder
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 2 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 2 tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 Bottle of Beer
- 2 Oranges zested and juiced
- 1 Cup Chicken Stock
- 16 Corn Tortillas soft taco size
Instructions
- Spice Rub - Mix salt, black pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and paprika in a small bowl.Cube pork shoulder into 2 -3 inch pieces. Coat all sides of the pork in the spice rub.Preheat oven to 350°
- In a large Dutch oven (make sure that the lid is also oven safe) heat vegetable oil. Working in batches sear all sides of the pork cubes and set aside. The spices leftover in the pot will look burnt, but don't worry, it won't taste burnt.
- Once all pork has been seared, deglaze pot with beer. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up all the small bits off the bottom of the pot. Zest and juice the oranges into the pot. Add the garlic cloves and bay leaves to the pot.
- Place pork back into the pan. Keep in mind that you are braising the pork and it is important that the pork is not completely submerged in the liquid. As you add the chicken stock you want to make sure that some of the pieces of pork are still poking out of the top of the liquid, like mini pork icebergs. 🙂 Add the chicken stock.
- Bake at 350° for 3 to 3.5 hours with the lid on. When you pull out the pork nearly all of the liquid should be absorbed by the meat and the pork should easily shred.
- Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then shred the pork with two forks.
- Just before serving, spread shredded pork onto a sheet pan and crisp under the broiler. This step can be skipped, but we love the crispy little bits.
- Serve as tacos, burritos, nachos or burrito bowls. It is also super yummy on a salad. If serving as tacos, I recommend that you top it with chopped cilantro and white onion.
This is excellent! We had plenty of leftovers.