Every tortilla dreams of being stuffed with Carnitas. Picture seasoned pork slow-cooked into tender submission, gently shredded and pan-fried to golden, crispy perfection. Carnitas has that elusive combination of juicy and crispy that’s so irresistible. The best part of this Carnitas? 5 minutes prep!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Carnitas
Is there anything better in this world than pork slowly cooked until it’s crazy juicy and fall apart tender, then crisped to golden perfection?
Yes.
When it’s inside a taco. 😂
Carnitas is one of my specialities. I make this recipe often – for everyday purposes, a freezer standby and for taco-bar gatherings with friends!
The one and only Pork Carnitas
I went through A LOT of Pork Carnitas recipes before settling on this as The One. I’ve been loyal to it for over a decade because it ticks all my boxes:
✅ Extremely quick 5 minute preparation
✅ Made with easy to find natural ingredients
✅ Enough flavour to eat plain (and you will pick it out of the pan!)
✅ Subtle enough flavour so it can be used in any Mexican dish (over salting and over spicing is a common problem);
✅ Perfect caramelized brown bits while retaining the incredible juiciness from slow cooking;
✅ Perfect freezer food – reheats 100% perfectly; and
✅ Excellent food for gatherings – big batch recipe, stays fresh even hours after cooking it
What are Carnitas?
If you’re new to Carnitas, let me be the first to welcome you to your new addiction.
Carnitas are Mexico’s version of pulled pork. It’s the first thing you seek upon landing in Mexico. It’s why we trawled the back streets of Mexico City in torrential rains, hunting down a hole-in-the-wall carnitas joint that was popular with locals.
Made by slow cooking pork fully submerged in lard, this confit method of cooking yields pork that’s unbelievably rich and tender with loads of crispy golden bits.
Unfortunately for most home cooks, a huge cauldron of lard isn’t viable or practical.
But fortunately, it is possible to make carnitas that tastes very similar to authentic Pork Carnitas without gallons of lard. And it’s unbelievably simple.
How to make Pork Carnitas
Best Pork Cut for Pork Carnitas – for ultimate juicy pulled pork full of flavour, you can’t beat pork shoulder, aka pork butt. Bone in or out, it needs to be skinless so it can be rubbed with the Carnitas seasoning
Carnitas seasoning – rub pork with a simple spice mix of oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.
Flavour for cooking – top pork in slow cooker with onion, garlic and jalapeño, then pour over orange juice (the secret ingredient!). It sounds so simple, but with hours of slow cooking, mingling with the pork juices, it transforms into the most incredible braising broth that more than makes up for the absence of gallons of lard.
Slow cook until the pork is pull-apart tender and infused with incredible flavour
Pan fry until golden, doused with the juices from the slow cooker. Pan frying is so much better than broiling/grill or oven!
Can Carnitas be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker?
Yes! The outcome is exactly the same – no one can the difference once browned in the skillet. I make this in a pressure cooker when time is of the essence!
The BEST Pork Carnitas are browned in a skillet!
Don’t skip the step to brown the Pork Carnitas! This is the key that makes this the best Pork Carnitas you will have outside of Mexico.
Hand on heart, it is as good as the carnitas I had at a really authentic Mexican joint called Old Town Mexican Cafe in San Diego which is famous for its Pork Carnitas.
So if you think you’ve had great carnitas before, but you haven’t tried browning in a skillet, this is going to be a game changer!
What to serve with Pork Carnitas
While I have a great fondness and tendency to favour Tacos de Carnitas (Pork Carnitas Tacos), pork this juicy and full of flavour is highly versatile – plus it freezes 10000% perfectly.
I use Pork Carnitas to make Enchiladas, Burritos, Quesadillas, Sliders, Mexican pizzas. I toss them into my Mexican Fried Rice (don’t laugh, this is a firm favourite with many readers!), and I make Carnitas Plates – pile Carnitas over Mexican Red Rice with a side of Pico de Gallo or Guacamole, and steamed corn.
And of course, I eat it straight out of the skillet. 😂
And the best part?
• You’re just 5 minutes away from getting this Pork Carnitas in your slow cooker, pressure cooker or oven.
• It can be frozen without any loss of quality.
• There are easy ways to pan fry to golden perfection and still be juicy and fresh hours later – even after refrigerating.
There’s a reason I am rarely without a stash of Carnitas in my freezer!!! – Nagi xx
Mexican recipe favourites
Mexican Fiesta Menu and recipes
Carnitas
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
Is that a pressure cooker in the video??
Yes and no! My slow cooker (Breville Fast-Slow Cooker) is like an Instant Pot. It’s multi-functional, a pressure cooker and slow cooker in one. Hence why it looks like a pressure cooker with the twisting top. The slow cooking function is no different to any standard slow cooker.
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Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Pork)
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lb pork shoulder (pork butt) , skinless, boneless (5lb/2.5kg bone in) (Note 1)
- 2 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 onion , chopped
- 1 jalapeno , deseeded, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup juice from orange (2 oranges)
Rub
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper.
- Combine the Rub ingredients then rub all over the pork.
- Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic (don’t worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
- Slow Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 7 hours. (Note 2 for other cook methods)
- Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
- Optional: Skim off the fat from the juices remaining in the slow cooker and discard.
- If you have a lot more than 2 cups of juice, then reduce it down to about 2 cups. The liquid will be salty, it is the seasoning for the pork. Set liquid aside – don’t bother straining onion etc, it’s super soft.
To Crisp:
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large non stick pan or well seasoned skillet over high heat. Spread pork in the pan, drizzle over some juices. Wait until the juices evaporate and the bottom side is golden brown and crusty. Turn and just briefly sear the other side – you don’t want to make it brown all over because then it’s too crispy, need tender juicy bits.
- Remove pork from skillet. Repeat in batches (takes me 4 batches) – don’t crowd the pan.
- Just before serving, drizzle over more juices and serve hot, stuffed in tacos (see notes for sides, other serving suggestion and storage/make ahead).
Recipe Notes:
1.5 – 3 kg / 3 – 6 lb: Cook time per recipe.
3 – 4 kg / 6 – 8 lb: Use large oval slow cooker, 12 hours on low. 2. Other cooking methods: Electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot: 1 h 30 minutes on high. Let pressure release naturally. Proceed with Step 5 of recipe. Stove pressure cooker: use a rack or balls of scrunched up foil to elevate it from the base OR add 3/4 cup of water. Cook 1 h 30 minutes. Proceed with Step 5 of recipe. Oven: Follow recipe but put pork in roasting pan. Add 2 cups water around pork. Cover tightly with foil, roast in 325F/160C oven for 2 hours, then roast for a further 1 to 1.5 hours uncovered. Add more water if the liquid dries out too much. You should end up with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid when it finishes cooking, and you can skip the pan frying step because you will get a nice brown crust on your pork. Shred pork then drizzled with juices. 3. Taco Fixings: Diced avocado or make a real proper Guacamole, Pico de Gallo or Restaurant Style Salsa or even just sliced tomato, grated cheese, sour cream. Sliced lettuce or pickled cabbage / red onions would also be great, but unlike other tacos, you don’t need it for the texture because the carnitas have the crispy bits! Also see this Carnitas Tacos dinner spread. 4. Other Ways to use Carnitas: Burritos (switch for the beef), Quesadillas (baked version here), Enchiladas, Sliders, with Mexican Red Rice, in Taco Soup or Enchilada Soup. 5. Storing / Make Ahead: Crispiness is retained very well, main thing is loss of moisture as meat cools (happens with all meat, shredded meat cools faster). a) Best way to store: Shred pork but don’t pan fry. Keep pork and juice separate, refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months (for freezer, I put pork in containers/ bags and put juice in ziplock bags in the same container). Gently reheat juice to make it pourable (congeals when cold). Pan fry per recipe, drizzling with juice. b) Storing leftovers after pan frying: Keeps extremely well, but tends to lose juiciness when it cools down. Just drizzle with juice, cover with cling wrap and reheat – the crispy bits hold up very well. It’s not quite as crispy as when cooked fresh, but still seriously tasty. c) Brown pork a few hours ahead / keep warm: Works extremely well. Brown pork per recipe, then transfer to slow cooker on warm setting or food warmer and drizzle generously with juices to keep it moist. Cover loosely. As long as the pork is warm when served, it’s really juicy. The crispiness holds up extremely well. 6. Source: This is a recipe I’ve been making for over a decade now, with minor tweaks over time so I can’t remember the exact source. I want to say Rick Bayless but I can’t find the recipe, however, I did find this one from Food Network which is very similar. However, I’m not sure when it was published. 7. Nutrition per serving, pork only, assuming 12 servings. Calories is higher than it actually is because it does not take into account discarded fat.
Nutrition Information:
Carnitas recipe originally published 2014. Updated with new photos and video in 2018, and some housekeeping in March 2019. No change to recipe, I wouldn’t dare! This has been one of the all time most popular recipes since I first published it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use pork tenderloin? Sorry to say it’s not suitable for this recipe. Tenderloin is too lean so the long cook time will dry it out. Also, it does not shred into strands well.
Just to confirm – no liquid other than the juice from the oranges?? Really? YES, really. 🙂 The small amount of liquid from the oranges is all you need to keep it from drying out while it comes to temperature, then while it cooks the pork will drop juices. When this finishes cooking you will have more liquid than you started with.
Will it taste of oranges???? Nope, not at all! It magically turns into the most incredible broth that is then poured over the shredded pork.
Can I cook a frozen pork? Please don’t! This will mess with the cook time a lot because it will take sooooo long for the middle of the pork to cook, by which time the outside will be overcooked and when you shred it, it will almost look like mush! The pork must be defrosted!
After I skim off the fat, do I include the onions garlic and jalapeños when topping the meat, or do I discard these and only use the juices? It is up to you! Because it’s been slow cooked, the onion etc is really soft and it just melds into the pulled pork. I don’t bother straining it, but you can if you want to.
Will this work with pork stew chunks? It will definitely work and still be tasty but won’t be quite the same because smaller pieces of pork will cook faster so you won’t get quite the same amount of flavour. 🙂
Just to confirm – no pan frying to brown the pork before putting it in the slow cooker? That’s right! You brown the pork AFTER it is cooked and shredded.
What size slow cooker do you use? Mine is 6 quarts / 6 litres. I use this Breville Fast / Slow Cooker (I’m in Australia) which I love because it’s a pressure cooker and slow cooker in one, plus it has a saute setting! It’s basically an Instant Pot – but without one touch cook functions (like rice etc).
Life of Dozer
I first published this recipe back in 2014, when I was new to blogging. I took sooooo long with the photos – prolonged torture for Dozer!
Thanks for the fantastic recipe. i’ve made lots of Mexican style slow cooker pork for freezing and multiple uses, this is the best! My family’s comment are the others are too wet, your method of browning solves that problem. Crispy brown bits are better! We like a little more spice so will try adding some chipotle adobo sauce to the liquid for our freezer stash. Thanks again.
That’s so fantastic to hear Karen! Thanks for trying my recipe and letting me know you enjoyed it! N xx
Oops! Never mind.
❤️
So, I’ve read the instructions and watched the video. When do you add the salt and pepper?
Hi my slow cooking has multi fuction its a pressure cooker and slow cooker is that ok ty
Yes! Mine does too 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I’ve made this in the slow cooker and it was excellent!
I have a multi cooker like Lisa too, and I want to know approximately how long will this take to cook using the pressure cooker function? Will I need to modify the recipe at all?
Thanks,
Lou
I’m so pleased to hear that LouMini! The pressure cooked directions are in the recipe 🙂 1 1/2 hours on high. N x
Can’t wait to make this for mine and my sister’s family!
I hope you LOVE IT Kristen!!!
It’s in the slow cooker! Can’t wait until tomorrow!
Like you, I have tried so many recipes only to try another because it just wasn’t great. This recipe is perfect! It will be my go- to for pork carnitas. Thank you.
I’m so thrilled to hear that Lesley! Thank you for letting me know! N xx
My local butcher only have 10lb pork shoulder. How much longer should I extend the cooking time for the oven option? Thank you!
I think 3 hours for the covered time plus the uncovered time should do the trick! Even though your piece is much larger, the thickest part doesn’t increase as much as the overall weight, if that makes sense? So you don’t need double the time. Definitely leave an extra hour as a buffer, if you’re cooking to a schedule. Just in case!
LOVE this recipe!!!! We have had this once a week since discovering your recipe and I crave it almost daily. It is sooooo good! We like it with homemade corn tortillas topped with a homemade slaw and sharp cheddar. Mmmmmmmmmm ( we are definitely having this for dinner tonight)
MMMMMM!!!!! That sounds amaaaaaazing!!!
Hi Nagi!
The pork carnitas are cooking right now as I type, and I’m soooo excited to eat it for dinner tonight!
I have a quick question – the way I put everything in the cooker, the chopped onions, pepper, garlic, etc. are sitting on top of the pork as I poured the juice directly into the pan. Will all this cook up ok with those bits just sitting on top?
By the way, this is my first slow cooker attempt so I’m a bit nervous!
Mary
Hi Mary! Don’t be nervous, this is a very forgiving recipe! Yep they cook up perfectly just sitting on top of the pork and the flavour drips down, flavouring the pork 🙂
I have made this dish 4 times now and it is delicious, flavorful and easy to make. My new go-to dish!
You rock Nagi.
Fantastic! So pleased to hear that Laura, thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know! N xx
Thank you for this recipe! I was looking for super easy, big batch recipes because I’m getting married in 2 weeks!
Straightforward, and the directions and notes were easy to understand.
Tonight its in burrito bowl form, but I’ll be using the leftovers for burritos and the whatnot.
CONGRATULATIONS!! ? I wish you all the best for your wedding! So pleased you enjoyed this Meghan, thanks for letting me know! N xx
I just made this…..Oh myeeeeeee! So good!
That’s so fantastic to hear! Thanks for letting me know Holly 🙂 N xx
I’m making this for the second time in the past week. It is so easy and everyone in my family loved it. First time I made it with a bone in pork shoulder and tonight I’m making it without a bone. I’m hoping it turns out just as good as the first time. Thank you. I’ll look for more of your recipes!
Thank you, this was enjoyed by the whole family!
I may add a splash of lime near the end to see if it gives a nice tang to it, although I like that the orange was not an overpowering flavor. You helped make this dish less intimidating.
I’m so pleased to hear that Maggie, thanks for sharing your thoughts! N xx
Hi, I’m about to cook this. Can I use canned jalapeño instead of fesh one?
Yep you sure can! I usually do actually because I always have canned on hand 🙂 Canned diced green chillies also works great!
if they are pickled, I wouldn’t. But you should be able to substitute any fresh hot pepper
I’m making this tomorrow for a neighbourhood Mexican night at or house! There is going to be SO much food, so I’m thinking of only cooking a 1.5kg pork shoulder. It will still be delicious, right?! Should I halve (or almost halve) the other innredients? Thanks so much! (From australia) x
I’m sorry for delayed response, weekend was manic! I would just reduce the other ingredients by about 1/4, not 1/3. Just because you’ve still got a fairly similar surface area to flavour 🙂
This is currently cooking away in my kitchen. Thanks for the recipe. I’m sure it will be fantastic!
I hope you love it Cimmy!
*sigh* ok…I recently moved from San Jose, CA, there is NO pork worth ordering anywhere near me. I was having severe withdrawals! I found your recipe and got giggly. I checked with 3 of my friends whose nationality makes this dish just an ever day but closely gaurded family secret thing and as I rattled off the ingredients they all said, “yes mija, you’ve got it!”
As of right now…This is the LONGEST 10 hours of m’life!! (I chose to go ‘low & slow’ based on flavor, it’s torture but going to be SO worth it!) Thank you!!
I HOPE YOU LOVED IT!!!!!
These are amazing! I’ve made them at least a dozen times already. Thank you for sharing. ?
That’s so fantastic to hear Zacha! Thank you for letting me know! N xx
Ditto! I have these carnitas slow cooking right now for probably the 4th time this winter. Love your recipes, Nagi!
Thank you BJ! So glad you love these carnitas as much as I do! 🙂