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Pork Carnitas Tacos
Yield: 8 – 10 servings
Adapted from Marcela Valladolid
Ingredients
- 2 to 2 ½ lbs pork shoulder or Boston butt roast, cut into 5 or 6 small pieces (in Charlotte we use pork from Grateful Growers Farm, which is sold at the Matthews Farmers’ Market and Hillbilly Produce)
- 3 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 onion, cut into 6 or 8 chunks
- 3 garlic cloves, whole
- 1 recipe tomatillo salsa (use recipe below or can be purchased at Trader Joe’s)
- 1 ½ recipes whole-grain corn tortillas
- 2 avocados, sliced
- Fresh cilantro
Directions
- Mix together oregano, pepper, salt, and cumin and rub on outside of pork pieces in bottom of slow cooker.
- Throw onion and garlic on top of pork.
- Slow cook on low for 6 – 8 hours or until meat is falling apart.
- When finished discard the onion and garlic. Drain meat and shred with a fork.
- Serve warm with tortillas, tomatillo salsa, avocados and cilantro.
Print This RecipeTomatillo Salsa
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs tomatillos (they look like little green tomatoes with husks around them)
- ½ cup white onion
- ¾ cup cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
Directions
- Preheat broiler on high.
- Peel and discard husks off tomatillos. Rinse and cut tomatillos in half. Place cut side down on foil or parchment lined baking sheet. Broil for 5 – 7 minutes until skin is lightly blackened.
- Puree tomatillos and rest of ingredients together including onion, cilantro, lime, and pepper using a food processor, blender, or hand immersion blender until ingredients are finely chopped and mixed.
- Cool in refrigerator until ready to serve.
In other news: Check out my weekly newspaper column in some of today’s papers including the Miami Herald. Today’s article details one of our first “broken rules” that occurred during our original 100 Days of Real Food pledge. If you like it please click “like” next to the article title: “Traveling during a real food pledge – Part II”
You don’t add any liquid to the crock pot at all?
Nope…no liquid!
Yummy- I am always looking for slow cooker recipes, especially in the summer! We have Mexican every Thurs. or Sat. depending on our schedule. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks!
Thank you, I have been looking for a good pork roast crock pot recipe for tacos. This is awesome.
We dearly LOVE carnitas & I can’t wait to try out this recipe. Thanks!
I find that adding 1/2 water makes the carnitas more moist. Other than that follow exactly!
1/2 Cup.
Can I ask which brand slow cooker you use?
My husband and I are in the market to buy a new one, but I’ve been reading that most brands leak lead and other chemicals into the food. I would love to find a safe brand to purchase, but will likely go with a cast iron dutch oven as an alternative.
Thank you for another delicious recipe! I can’t wait to try this one.
What do you do with the leftovers?
We made quesadillas with the leftovers and they were awesome!!
Looks great! I recently made my first batch of pulled chicken tacos in the slow cooker, and they were a huge hit as well.
I have a recipe similar to this I use as well but would love to find one that uses beef rather then pork….. have you tried beef instead of pork and what cut would be best?
thanks!
I did made a beef fajita recipe in the slow cooker recently using flank steak and it was awesome!
Do you peel the skins off the tomatillos after you broil them or leave the skin on?
Nope you can leave the skins on.
Marcela,
When I saw this I almost fell off my chair!!! I live in Los Angeles, and it made me want to run out & get some tacos. All I can say is way to go!!! Keep the recipes going it’s tough to find good authentic!!! Are you going to put up anymore???
P.S.
I’ve already bookmarked your post.
Thanks,
Ben
Oh my gosh, this just finished in the crockpot after 6 hours on low (my crockpot is a little aggressive, so it only took 6 hours) and it is AMAZING. The only thing I did different was added the juice of one orange and then put the whole orange in to cook, then discarded. I just saw that on a cooking show, something about the acid of the orange with pork. Might be too spicy for my 3 and 5 year old, but we’ll give it a try. Anyway, thank you so much! I am new to the whole foods thing and am absolutely loving your website!
This looks great! We are huge Mexican lovers. I have never tried pork in my taco’s before, so I am excited to try it!
Lisa,
I wanted you to know that my husband made this recipe for dinner tonight. Not only was it simple, but it was delicious. We made a large amount and are already discussing how we are going to use the leftovers. I made guacamole and refried beans to go with the carnitas, and the meal was a hit.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
So glad it was a hit! We used our leftovers in quesadillas for the next two days and it was awesome!
I took 10 minutes this morning to prep this and throw it in the crockpot. Yum! I didn’t make the salsa b/c I had a ton of pico de gallo, guacamole, etc. in the fridge, but the meat came out perfectly! I didn’t add water, and it was definitely juicy enough on its own. Thanks for another great recipe!
I LOVE tomatilla sauce and can’t wait to make this.
Your post mentions “The Best Whole Chicken in a Crockpot” but the link is broken, which makes me want it all the more. Can you help? Thanks.
Not sure what happened…is working for me. Try this one: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/02/25/recipe-the-best-whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/
hi lisa,
oh my goodness, this is AWESOME!! made it for dinner this weekend. Followed directions exactly but cooked on high for 4 hours (that’s all the time i had). the flavor was absolutely divine. we made soft tacos with a little salsa verde, avocado, cherry tomatoes and mont. jack cheese. i served with an arugula & tomato salad. simple yet perfect for perfect for entertaining. i can’t tell you how delicious it was.
thank you so much!
I make a larger amount of pork without any seasoning. When it’s falling apart, I shred it with two forks and divide it into meal-sized portions. Most gets frozen, and when it comes out of the freezer some of it gets Mexican seasoning for dishes like this, and some gets BBQ sauce. Some just gets frazzled around in a skillet, maybe with a bit of red pepper flakes, and served with fried eggs.
These were really good! I added a little apple cider vinegar in the bottom for moisture but otherwise followed the recipe. My kids wanted more!
These. Were. Awesome!
[...] favorite recipe so far: pork carnitas tacos with tomatillo salsa. photo via {100 days of Real Food}* Go now! Make this! Though I will admit that I bought the [...]
So glad you added the “FRESH” tomatillo salsa recipe. After almost of year of clean eating the any market brand store bought green sauce is horribly salty and ruins the meal. We made the home made salsa but also added peppers when making chicken enchilada’s a few weeks back. Here is the downside it was the first meal I made after being on a fresh veggie juice and green smoothie week long de tox…not the best choice for the first supper, thought it was going to be the last supper. /sarcasm
Wow – Thanks for the reminder. I have “taco meat” and tomatillo salsa in my freezer right now! At another time, I’ll do the pork one, but thanks for the recipe and giving me the opportunity to eat something from my freezer!
[...] recipe from 100 days of real food [...]
These are absolutely the best! My family devoured them and I went back to the farmers market to get a larger Boston butt so I could make them again. Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes and the great information (even the hard to hear stuff like Chick-fil-a is no better than any other fast food!) to help figure out the best foods to feed my family.