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!
I followed the recipe exactly and it’s in the slow cooker right now for a cinco de mayo dinner we are having tomorrow!! Can’t wait!!
I hope you LOVED IT Trevi!!!
I only have tenderloin in the house…will more liquid help in cooking and not drying out? Should I cook on low for longer or high for shorter?
I’m sorry, it won’t, it’s just that tenderloin is not fatty enough 🙁
Is a non-stick pan the best option for browning or would stainless steel or cast iron work better?
Hi Lady E! Either is fine, but I am partial to cast iron because it heats up so quickly which means it browns faster which means less moisture loss! 🙂
Can this wonderful recipe be made with beef??
Hi Dotty! It sure can, with a brisket or similar beef suitable for shredding, nicely marbled with fat. I double the Rub though because beef has slightly stronger flavours 🙂
Gosh, this is delicious! I made this last night and my whole family loved it. Such a simple rub but it is just so darn good! The meat was tender and very flavorful. We don’t need to go to a restaurant to have carnitas anymore. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thanks Lina, I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed it!! 🙂
This is THE BEST! My family loves this recipe. Do not skip frying the pork in a skillet and getting it good and crusty…this is KEY!
Woo hoo! So glad you enjoyed it Carrie, thanks for letting me know! N x
OMG- this was delicious. After dinner I found myself repeatedly going in the refrigerator to snack on the meat. The only change I made was to add the juice of 1 lime to the orange juice. I’ve made pork carnitas before but never thought to brown in the pan. This is TOTALLY worth the added effort. Served it with avocados, cotija cheese, cilantro crema, and red cabbage dressed with lime juice, honey and oil. Thank you for this out if this world recipe.
Fantastic to hear Donna! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know! N x
Hello, can you taste the orange at all when cooked?
Nope, you wouldn’t even know it was there unless you knew! 🙂
hi nagi,
can i not trim the fat on my pork ?
Hi Bella! You sure can if you want 🙂 There is plenty of fat marbled through pork shoulder to keep it juicy
I need to make enough for 18 adults but I am going to have tortillas there so they can make tacos with the meat if they wish. What size pork butt would you recommend (bone in or boneless) and do you find that the bone in tastes better or do you notice a difference?
Hi Liisa! Love the way your name is spelt 🙂 Bone in is always juicier, I promise 🙂 But even no bone is really good with this, very juicy still. For 18 people I would get one around 8 – 10lb/4-5kg. Better to have too much than too little!!! 🙂
Can you make this with pork cheeks? I realise they will need longer cooking
I’m sorry Johnny, I haven’t tried this with pork cheeks before!
Thanks for the reply, I will have a go and let you know if it works. I’ll be doing it in a slow cooker so 12vhrs on high
I prefer my pressure cooker over my slow cooker so I was wondering if anyone has tried cooking this using the pressure cooker? If yes, what setting and time did you use?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Monica
Hi Monica! I make this in my pressure cooker, 1 hr 30 min on high. 🙂
Thanks Nagi!
Can I use a smoked pork picnic?
Sorry Kelly, that won’t be the same 🙂 Needs to be a raw plain pork shoulder!
Hi! Can I put the spices on it and marinate overnight?
I always prepare mine at night, that way I just need to start it cooking before I go to work. Works great!
I also add a little extra garlic (we LOVE garlic in this house) and substitute lime juice for part of the orange juice.
Love the addition of extra garlic! N x
Hi Beth! You can add any touch you want to this, but I promise this has plenty of flavour as is! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I have just read your recipe and am about to make the carnitas, I have spent a huge amount of time in Mexico, California and Texas so have consumed mucho Mexican food!
I also live in Australia and would pork scotch fillet be suitable? I don’t mean to deviate from your recipe but I find the flavour and fat in the scotch fillet to be wonderful.
Kind regards
Graeme
Hi Graeme, I’m sorry for the late response! Scotch fillet is unfortunately too lean for carnitas so it will be a bit dry and won’t shred as well. I know scotch fillet is beautifully fatty for searing, but shoulder is even more fatty! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
many thanks for your reply which I respect and will abide by, will let you know how it all turns out!
Kind regards
Graeme Smith
Hi Nagi
Where on earth do you purchase jalapeños in Australia ?
Regards Lisa
Hi Lisa! Woolworths and Coles both sell them fresh in the fruit veg section and canned in the pickles aisle 🙂
Having a hispanic husband and trying to perfect carnitas has been a struggle.They never were just right until now.This recipe is AMAZING!!! You must follow the instructions to get the best results.After cooking you must strain and save the juice to fry them in to get a little crisp.This is where you get all the flavor.I threw mine over Jasmine rice with black beans, mexican cheese, red onion, cilantro, avacado and lots of fresh lime.I’m so happy that I found this recipe..
Having a hispanic husband and trying to perfect carnitas has been a struggle.They never were just right until now.This recipe is AMAZING!!! You must follow it exactly.The most important part is straining and saving the juice and after cooking frying them in a scoop of juice until they get a little crisp.That’s where you get the flavor.I threw mine over Jasmine rice with black beans,mexican cheese,red onion,cilantro, avacado and lots of fresh lime.I’m so happy I found this recipe.
ooh! Approval from your hubby is quite a stamp of approval!!! 🙂
Love love love. This is so simple and so good.
So glad you enjoyed it Rene! 🙂
I have made this recipe about 15 times. It is just fantastic! Even shared it with friends a few times. Tonight, after making it for dinner–I shared it on facebook. I need to shout it on the rooftops how tasty this is! Thanks for the recipe!
So happy to hear from someone who loves this as much as I do!!! 🙂 ❤️