Simplest Carnitas | Recipe
One of the best homemade simplest carnitas recipe I ever made.
Carnitas tacos are one of my favorite tacos. If you are ever in the bay area check out Taqueria San Bruno in San Bruno, CA. They have the best carnitas tacos. When I passed by this post on Reddit, it inspired me to make carnitas at home. The results? It turned out way too good not to share. Even though it didn’t beat Taqueria San Bruno carnitas, the flavor is amazing and best of all it is so easy to make. I modified the original recipe, added more flavor to mimic my favorite carnitas.
In addition to making carnitas, I also ended up making salsa verde (trying to copy Dos Coyotes’s signature salsa verde) and corn tortilla from scratch. Why not?
Here is the link to the printable recipe
What do I need? (~ 2 serving)
Carnitas
- 1 tbsp of Chili powder
- ½ tbsp of ground cinnamon
- ½ tbsp of dried cumin
- ¾ tbsp of dried oregano
- ½ tbsp of salt
- A lot of black pepper
- 2 dried ancho chili
- 3 orange or 1 ½ cups of orange juice
- ½ cup of water
- 3 jalapenos
- 2 limes
- 6 lbs of pork shoulder (ask the butcher for carnitas pork)
- 1 can of pineapple rings (or more if you like more pineapple)
Salsa Verde (Here is the original recipe) — optional, can be subs. with store bought salsa
- 9 tomatillos
- 2 jalapenos
- 3–5 garlic cloves
- ⅓ of cilantro bunch
- 2 tbsp of honey
- Juice of 2–3 limes
- 2 avocado
Fresh Corn tortilla (Unfortunately, I eyeball this and didn’t measured) — optional
- Masa flour
- Olive oil
- Water
Toppings
- Limes wedges
- Valentina hot sauce ( A must for this dish. This sauce can be found at Mexican stores)
- Cilantro
- Cojita cheese
How to?
Rinse the pork with salt and water. Use a lot of salt. This step helps remove the pork smell when cooked. Pat the pork dried with a paper towel.
Mix all the dried spices up. Rub the pork with the spices. Make sure to get it into every crack and corner. Place the pork into the slow cooker.
Soak the 2 dried ancho chili in hot water until it soften, ~ 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, drain and add it to a blender. Squeeze oranges and limes. Add the juices into the blender plus ½ cup of water. Blend everything up and pour it over the top of the pork into the slow cooker (Why don’t we add the oranges and lime peels in as well? Answer is in the Tips and Tricks section). Cut the onion in half and the jalapenos. Toss them into the slow cooker. Set the slower cooker on high heat and cook for 5 hours with the lid on.
After 5 hours, remove the lid. Shred the pork with forks. Add in 1 can of pineapple juice and continue cooking until all the liquid are absorb into the pork. Once all the liquid is gone, the pork is done! Taste and season with additional salt if needed. My tasted perfectly, so I didn’t have to add any salt.
Grill the pineapple rings on a stove top or broil them on high heat until golden brown. Try to avoid burning them like I did . Chop them into tiny chunks and add them to the carnitas. Mix the carnitas.
To make the salsa verde, peel and half the onion. Broil the onion, garlic, and tomatillo on high until lightly burned. Flip the tomatillo and onion over and broil the other side. Cut the jalapenos in half and remove the seed. Remove all the seeds from jalapenos unless you are down for the spice challenge. Add the rest of the salsa ingredients into the blender and blend it up. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the corn tortilla, add in the olive oil and massage the dough. I used roughly about 3 tbsp of oil for about 3 cups of masa flour. Add in the water slowly while mixing until a dough ball is form. To test if the dough is perfect, take a pit and press it on the tortilla press. If the dough crack then add more water to the dough. The perfect dough should flatten without any crack. Let the dough rest for 5–10 minutes and then form them into balls.
Flatten them with a tortilla press or rolling pin. Cook them in a skillet and make sure to flip them. Put the cook ones in a foil pouch to keep them warm.
Serving time. Throw some pork into a hot cast iron skillet and crisp up the meat. Put some on the tortilla. Top the tortilla with some cotija cheese and the salsa verde. Enjoy with the Valentina sauce.
Tips and Tricks (Advices :P)
Why don’t we add in the oranges and lime peels?
Although the original recipe call for adding in the oranges and lime peels, I didn’t do that because people on Reddit says it add a bitter taste to the carnitas. I started doing it in the beginning but then remove it before starting the cooking process.
Is the ancho chili makes a difference in flavor?
Yes it does. The ancho chili add a nice smoky flavor with a hint of spicy. I didn’t add this in the beginning as I totally forgot about it and ended up adding it in the end. It add a nice red color to the meat as well. The original recipe calls for ancho chili powder, but I couldn’t find it, so this is my invention to make up for it.
Why not add the pineapple juice at the beginning with the orange juice?
Orange and lime juice is already acid enough, so I didn’t want to add in the pineapple juice until the end to avoid breaking down the meat too much.
The original salsa recipe didn’t call for broiling onion or avocado…
When I made the salsa following the original salsa verde recipe, the onion (not broiled) flavor was way too strong it overpowered all the other flavors. Broiling it will definitely add a nice smoky flavor and reduce the strong onion smell. In addition, the salsa was not creamy enough for me. Adding the avocado added a rich creamy texture.
Secret to a delicious corn tortilla
I learned that the thinner you pressed the tortilla, the better and quicker it cook. Too thick of a tortilla takes longer to cook. Thicker tortilla also tends to break when fold and has a doughy taste. The thinner ones tasted better.
Education Time
Carnitas is a Mexican pork dish, where the pork is braised in its own fat, basically known as lard, over a long period of time. The pork will become tender and juicy after several hours. The lard helps crisp up the pork as well. Carnitas are served on tortillas with a bit of salsa, onion, and cilantro.
This pork dish originated in Michoacán, a Mexican state where street foods are more popular than restaurants. Traditionally the dish is made using a whole pig including livers, kidneys, etc… because it was believed to taste better. The skins are turned into chicharones and the organs are used to make chorizo.
Fun Facts 😮
- The word carnitas mean little meats
- Some recipes call for milk instead of lard when making carnitas. Other recipes call for coke or beer.
- Carnitas recipe varies depending on the region.
- The Spanish are the ones who introduce pork in Mexico.
